Live Review
Spears
The Monarch, London
June 3 2015
Words/Photos: Linn Branson
Racing down the motorway from their Sheffield home - after completing college and GCSE exams earlier in the day - Spears make their London debut in the hipster environs of Camden. The capital can be a daunting prospect for any artist to play, not least one whose members are of such relatively tender years, and with scant experience in performing live.
For Spears, these seemed like inconsequential matters as they took to the stage to play to a small, but appreciative, early evening audience. After playing at The Great Escape festival in Brighton last month, and through word-of-mouth, the four young Yorkshire lads have been quietly picking up something of a buzz about them.
As we recorded in our recent Introducing feature when they unveiled the video to first offering 'Little White Lights', they have something that catches the attention. Not least of which perhaps for their young female fans would be 16-year-old frontman Rowan Scott. Tonight there may not be a lot of crowd interaction, but that is made up for by his belting out each song with a professionalism that belies his years.
'Swim' is a lively encounter of Tom Monk's pounding drums and raucous riffs, where Mark Willis on guitar shows that even at just 18 he has picked up some worthy axe know-how from somewhere; likewise on 'Eraser Plains', where Rowan almost spits out lyrics. 'Little White Lights' with its signature changes, and solid presence of bassist Aeddan Lockett, and closer 'Clouds', which is woven around intricate guitar structures and a three-man duelling guitar intro make for the two highlights of the night.
With just five songs, it's a fairly brief set, but with at least two potential big numbers ready for a single release (when they get around to such) and a third with promise, Spears signal that they are a band you can expect to see grow over the next 18 months.
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