Review: Splashh – The Chameleon – 1 June 2013

It’s a shame we had recently lived in an era where the current generation of ‘music lovers’had become less and less concerned and interested with artists emerging from the local UK music scene. But since the commercial success of numerous acts within the past year, those living in this country can feel a sense of pride in supporting their local acts and attending live performances. It was certainly great on this night to watch three spectacular bands from London perform and with this event’s recent coverage in the NME it was surely destined to be a night to remember and would add to the Chameleon’s legacy of holding some of the greatest gigs the city has yet to see!

HUNTING PARTY is a four piece rock band consisting of Dominic Boren, Matt Wash, James Pain and Jonathon Blayney. What was particularly surprising with these guys is the energy they bought to their performance; it’s not all too uncommon for bands to perform lacking enthusiasm and playing merely because it’s a night on their month long tour, but they played with such intensity and power it’s remarkable how professional yet talented they are. Intertwining clean and delayed guitar motifs with both guitars feeding off of their own energy is what you should expect when seeing these guys, there is quite clearly a tight bond between all of their members. For a starting band it was certainly a beyond spectacular set and an unexpected surprise to see a band perform with as much intensity and energy.

Next followed POPSTRANGERS, a slowgaze trio, that as well as having bright melodic elements to their music are also reminiscent of early 90s grunge acts and have deep-rock undertones. Orientated around pop hook choruses, distorted shoegaze guitar riffs and eerie vocals that go hand in hand, they held an interesting set with songs that would make you want to dance to their guitar and vocal-driven melodic hooks but also mosh to their aggressive and violent bass riffs, warped shoegaze guitar and relaxed dreamy vocals. It would have been great if they were more collected as a group as at times it seemed that there were slight timing issues, but overall they are definitely a band to keep a look out for.

Though the turn out for the previous acts were good, I do not think anyone had expected the amount of people that came down for the headline final act of the night, psychedelic rock band SPLASHH. The combination of rhythmic guitar riffs and spacious-yet powerful delayed guitar lead lines are the driving force behind their music alongside distinctive and attention grabbing vocals, bouncy bass motifs and indie drum patterns give a hint of warmth and brightness to their signature style. Unlike a lot of acts that have these traits, Splashh appeal to a much wider audience which was evidential with their audience at Chameleon which consisted of individuals aged 18-35. Their hits including ‘Vacation’ and ‘All I Wanna Do’ had everyone in a dream-like state and certainly was the highlight of their set, not to take away from any other points as each and every track seemed to be refreshing and different!

This night, to many, could have been regarded as one of the finest gigs that has gone down at the Chameleon for some time and it’s great to see the local music enthusiasts head down to support three bands that certainly deserve the notoriety and success they have received. With the local UK music scene receiving much more attention it would not be surprising to see nights such as this one have the same turn out and hopefully they do, to help sustain our local independent music venues. For now, we can do our own part by attending them!

Live Review by Paris Linden-Hall

Photographs by Dom Gourley & Stephanie Webb

Splashh http://www.facebook.com/splashh.band

Popstrangers http://www.facebook.com/popstrangers

Hunting Party http://www.facebook.com/huntingpartyband