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Review: 'Bright Young People'
'Live At The Water Rats, Kings Cross'   


-  Genre: 'Indie' -  Release Date: '4.5.22.'

Our Rating:
I was invited along to this showcase gig to see new Welsh contenders Bright Young People playing to a select audience. They come from Rhyl in Wales and are a 4-piece made up of Casey, Carl, Lee and Jack although who does what remains a mystery, as the band’s website and facebook page does it best not to name these mysterious men. To help avoid my often shonky guesswork the bands PR guru provided me with a setlist so at least I'll get the song titles correct.

The show opened with Cheyne Stokes that has a blizzard of effects drenched guitars and super tight drumming squalling around the room as the singer has a casual insouciance about him like he's worshipping at the temple of Ian McCulloch but without the overcoat or overblown ego.

After some introductions the next song was Evil People which is one side of the bands super limited edition of 20 7" singles and it's full of bile for the Evil People running the country or the world who are intent on making things worse and not better, it had shards of distorting guitar noise that sort of recalled the sort of noise Come made when I saw them at the Water Rats many years ago.

Consequence Is real had a good snotty edge to the vocals and the bassline did everything it could to keep the guitars raging around him anchored down as this slowly unfurled and the people who think they really can get away with anything finally get their comeuppance.

They had a nice line in song intro's, everyone was having fun as they launched into Love Weighs A Tonne yes they insist Love is metric and they want to celebrate it no matter how much it might weigh them down.

25 I guess is about the average age of Bright Young People or the fans they should be attracting as they break out of Rhyl and attempt to conquer the world, it's also a good song that I guess is about the first time you think your having a mid-life crisis, but really are still to young for that, as all sorts of pedals get pressed and the guitars go all Levitation on us.

Sadly or not sadly Don't Look Twice isn't a cover version but the bands own take on moving on without regrets and keeping your head up while all around you musical madness unfolds, in a whirl of mangled guitars and a new band who sound like they have rehearsed every rough edge off of this song.

By now they had the audience going pretty well and Paying Heavy Now has a good message at its core of the heavy price you may have to pay for making bad decisions or if life takes a wrong turn or two, but the joy of the sound of the guitars meshing together will help lift you up to make things better moving forwards.

The singer made clear before they played Lick Of The Hand exactly what kind of Lick this was about and what he expected to happen after he licked that hand and his tongue went numb and was the sort of drug drenched party song, that would have gone down a storm at The Water Rats, back in the days when it was smoke laden den of iniquity that we all loved so much, it certainly reminded me of smoking mushrooms at a gig by The Diaboliks and wondering how on earth I'd drive home afterward, nowadays I just get another pint of beer instead, still a great tune that went down really well.

As the set drew to a close it was time for the other side of the 7" single and Lie In the Sun an angst ridden yet sun dappled guitars that presage the long hot summer days spent lazing in the Sun.

They then thanked us all for coming down before closing the show with Cremation Of Care an angry rant at the mismanagement of the Care system and all sorts of other stuff I think, but need to hear the song properly to get the lyrics as they were overwhelmed by those guitars that probably should have been left expiring on the stage as they walked off, rather than being politely put down at the end of an excellent set by a promising new band who need to be seen live on their upcoming first full British tour.
  author: simonovitch

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