Live
Himalayas
Verve Bar, Leeds
May 27 2017
Words/Pictures: Danny Shackleton
Sandwiched in between Lippy and Pleasure House and drawing the biggest crowd of the night, Himalayas graced the Verve Bar for a Double Denim night for the first time since November, along with trusty sidekick ‘Eamonn Gnomes’, there to guard their debut EPs they had for sale, of course.
Recently announced to be playing the ‘Jack Rocks This Feeling’ stage at the Isle of Wight festival, Himalayas kicked off their set with ‘If I Tell You’ and straight away had the crowd hooked on their edgy, indie sound. Lead singer Joe Williams giving an intense stare to every member of their audience, sometimes playing his guitar in the crowd itself to further enhance our experience of this energetic band.
New single ‘Thank God I’m Not You’ was one of the highlights of the night, with the song itself gaining massive momentum recently with lots of plays on various streaming sites and was a great chance to see the mesmerising skills of guitarist Mike Griffiths with riffs and solos galore in this set.
One thing that caught attention was how seamlessly the front two Joe and Mike interchanged roles regularly during the set, continuously showcasing the talent on offer between the Welsh four-piece. Regardless of lead singer, passionate, snarling and in your face vocals were always present in vast amounts. The synth was added for the next few songs thanks to Mike's multi-tasking adding another level to the already impressive sound. The crowd were really up for this and made it show with plenty of dancing about and rapturous applause at the end of each song and calls for an encore once the final song was over, unfortunately not to be on this occasion.
With a ferocious set of many brilliant songs and without doubt the musical talent to add to that, I believe that should you go see this band, you will not be disappointed. These are in line to join the many great Welsh punk bands over the years such as Manic Street Preachers and Pretty Vicious, proving guitar music is alive and well should you know where to look for it.
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