By Last week saw another night of brilliant indie rock at the Horn St Albans, with a headline set from Scottish rockers Fatherson, and a support slot from The Co-Pilots.
Fatherson are one of the coolest, most quirky entertaining rock bands I’ve seen live, with a really gritty raw stage presence. Their sound was really vivid and enthralling, with the crowd extremely receptive to the band. The audience adored them, and the vibe inside the venue was fantastic- from the funny jokes and emotional stories to the blaring rock riffs and perfect stage presence they had, Fatherson wowed the crowd to pieces.
The gig opened with The Co-Pilots, a fantastically raucous, alternative rock band from the local area. Composed of Chris, Josh, Kell and Sam, The Co-Pilots performed with a brilliant indie rock edge with lots of energy and power on stage. You could tell how much fun they were having too, and this was infectious. They have a really vibrant, punchy indie rock edge and were full of power and energy on stage.
As a front man, Chris possesses the perfect amount of energy and charisma needed; the whole band play really well together, and have a gritty rock’n’roll bite to them. They maintain a solid, classic indie rock sound whilst pushing the boundaries in terms of the heaviness of their sound. There’s a pretty abrasive edge to them too, and they are very defiant and bold in their sound and image. Their set sounded wonderful too, with Chris switching from electric to acoustic guitar throughout the set.
They performed a brilliant setlist, including an immense performance of single ‘Rather Lay Down With Lions’ which showcases a more soft humbled side to the band. The band played really well together, and they had a very polished professional look and sound to them; they were also having a brilliant time on stage which just added to the feel good aura their music created. The band have a series of live dates coming up, and for updates you can follow them on Facebook.
Fatherson, the Scottish three-piece are one of the most exciting bands out there currently, and to see them in such a small intimate venue like The Horn was an unreal experience. The band play as a four-piece live, and had one of the most brilliant alternative rock sounds I’ve heard live in a long time.
They definitely have more of an edge live than on record, with a really strong sense of gritty DIY rock. There was almost this sense of momentum to their set, with a buildup in each of their tracks; the guitar rock sound was really raucous and heavy, which just added to their immense sound on stage.
The crowd was fantastic too, possibly one of the best I’ve been in at the venue since The Amazons last year. The venue was packed full of fans who knew every single line to the tracks, and danced and sung and clapped along to the band at every opportunity. This brilliant feel-good aura inside the venue gave the gig a brilliant atmosphere, and the band even came back on stage after an hour of performing to give the crowd an encore performance. They performed a brilliant mix of tracks too, including ‘Lost Little Boys’, ‘Stop The Car’ and ‘Always’.
There was an immense level of grit and passion to the set, with loads of brilliant distortions used, Ross making full use of his new guitar pedal. A good few weeks into their tour, Fatherson certainly know how to put on a gig to entertain a crowd. I loved some of their musical techniques too, with Ross often using two microphones to give their music an added layer of intensity.
Fatherson on their UK Tour at The Sugarmll, Stoke-on-Trent
My favourite track of the night was the raw and honest stripped-backversion of Foreign Waters. The story behind the track is about Ross being on holiday in Venice a few years ago with a girlfriend, where they bought a glass elephant for the girlfriends’s grandfather. Once back in England though, they ended up stuck at the airport with no way to get back home; it was then they discovered they’d left the glass elephant (which they named Rosie) behind in the hotel, and upon that discovery they received a phone call to discover the grandfather had passed away. The track reflects on love and loss, and was so heart wrenching and emotional that it let a very sombre, humbling impacton the audience. The opening line ‘all of these houses are changing their colours just for us, aren’t we blessed‘ set the tone for a very emotional track, which was a very special and intimate moment between the audience and Fatherson themselves.
This special connection was felt from the off; the band established a closeness to the audience, and this made their performance far more real and intimate, strengthened by the beautiful small crowded nature of the venue. Fatherson delivered a simply stunning, pure, faultless set which left the crowd wanting more and more.
Gig rating: ★★★★★
