Review by Gary Spiller for MPM
Meandering through the studiously stern buildings that comprise the city centre campus of Cardiff University – Prifysgol Caerdydd in the native tongue – my mind wanders off-track in the bid of escaping a dreary battleship-grey Saturday evening in the Welsh capital.
Never did quite get that brand-new car or a house in Devon; but guess we did get close on the latter in both neighbouring Somerset and Cornwall, but it’s funny how things turn out. Catapulted back to the midst of the mayhemic mid-nineties and it was a heck of a time ‘down at the pointy end’ for live music in one of the UK’s geographical extremities even with the tragic closure of the much-fabled Cornwall Coliseum.
Bustling venues such as The Sailors Arms in Newquay, Driftwood Spars nestling down in St. Agnes, The Watering Hole right on the beach in Perranporth and the now-legendary Pirate Inn overlooking Falmouth’s harbour were at the hub of the far West’s music scene. With these places playing host to rising bands such as Ash, Muse, Reef and Gorky’s Zygotic Minci it’s heady days.
In amongst these touring bands, all rubbing shoulders with local aspiring outfits like blues outfit Wamma Jamma and the ever-funky Rootjoose, is a highly energetic Welsh-Japanese trio going by the name Feeder. Instantly they catch, simultaneously, the eye and ear with their catchy hard driven indie slant on rock.
‘Buck Rogers’, at this stage, was several light years away, but The Echo Label had just snapped them up such was the surrounding buzz. Comparisons to Smashing Pumpkins and The Pixies were just around the corner. A thirty year, and still counting, career including 25 top 75 UK singles and eleven studio albums, of which all bar three have stormed the top ten UK album charts, had just begun.
A train, in the rapidly darkening evening, pulling into Cathays station, heading northwards towards the Valleys, jolts me back into ‘real-time’ as the familiar silhouette of the Great Hall looms over the railway lines. I reckon this evening is going to be akin to reacquainting oneself with a long-lost friendship, heck it’s been nearly 30 years!
At the opposite end of time’s spectrum is this evening’s support The Now. Hailing from South Wales this is a homecoming of sorts for this dynamic quintet who have just, a week prior, released their debut album ‘Too Hot To Handle’ to rave reviews. Their earnest energies are seemingly well suited to supporting Feeder and by all accounts coming out of last night’s show in Bristol they went down a veritable storm with the headliner’s crowd.
Striding out on to a darkened stage The Now provide a swerve ball right at the off with their ingenious selection of opening track ‘Time Is Over’, rather ironically the closing number on the album. It’s an astute move, two rows of blue spots pierce the darkened environs of the Great Hall as keyboardist Sam Curtis strikes the initial soaring notes. From the shadows of front-stage frontman Shane Callaghan hits the opening lines; captivation ensured.
Right on cue, two minutes in, the band join the fray and the track explodes. The accelerator is pushed through the floor with drummer Will Scott, bassist Jay Evans and guitarist Callum Bromage ultra-keen in their collective earnest to taste frontline action.
‘Tween tracks there’s time for a quick “Hi” from Callaghan and it’s headlong into the bass-driven buzz sawing rampage that is ‘Holy’. The heavy lifting gear has been ably employed to crane in this behemoth from their 2022 EP ‘The Truth Always Comes Out In The End’ with Curtis’s Hammond-infused keys and Bromage’s scorching solo prevalent.
The Cardiff crowd are firmly onside and the alternating shades of light and dark of ‘Devil Inside Me’ enthuse. “Cos Motley Crue gonna make you take it!” implores Callaghan; this is arena-ready rock in which the cross-pollination of The Stereophonics and INXS goes full bloom. It’s no surprise that it’s well received.
Grabbing a much-needed swig of liquid refreshment, at track-end, Callaghan offering a quickfire “Cheers” lifts the bottle high in salute to the gathered ensemble. The ‘Phonics are then melded with fellow Welsh rock outfit Manic Street Preachers as 2021 single ‘Dr. Jones’ pulls back the throttle hurtling along at breakneck pace. The affable Evans encourages all, “I wanna see everyone’s hands in the air” he urges. The crowd respond well, if there were any doubts of the impact this youthful outfit would make, they have been dispelled in this one triumphant moment.
Uplifted and buoyant The Now return to their EP once more as the heads down rocking ‘Rockstar’ is unleashed prior to them heading into the waters of the second ‘half’ of set. A course which takes a fine six track navigation of the debut album, a course that the crowd takes to the heart.
Scott’s cymbals crash, Evans’s rumbling bass quakes as ‘Truth Always Comes Out In The End’ slithers in venomously. Callaghan’s introspective “We all play our taxes whilst they watch us fall” could almost be a timely post-budget comment. Not afraid to mix it up the balladic strains of the beautifully emotive ‘Live & Die’. Coruscant keys courtesy of Curtis shimmer as Callaghan engages with the barrier.
The storm breaks with the raging of ‘Get Out’ as the running order of the album continues to be followed, trust and faith in the running order as the ebb and flow works. The towering clouds dispatch thundering urges within ‘His Last Dimension’ writhing in the powerage. Bromage’s six-string wails banshee-like whilst Evans’s rapid-fire meaty basslines underpin.
The ever-filling Great Hall has been snared ‘hook, line and sinker’ with the contagion thus far and the closing one-two sucker-punch of the surging ‘Too Hot To Handle’ and the swaggering ‘Friendly Fire’ ensure that one can add a year’s subscription of Angling Times to the fold too. As the complimenting roars of approval fade so spontaneously ‘Woo-hoos’ break out around the venue. Job done for this evening lads, I’m confident in asserting that The Now have not only produced a fine, fine debut album but predicting that they will be the next ‘big thing’ to come out of Wales.
By his own, later, admission on the band’s socials Feeder’s founding frontman Grant Nicholas is somewhat under the weather tonight. It certainly explains why the setlist from the previous night in Bristol is curtailed by three songs this evening: the early warning signs being the eschewing of ‘Polythene Girl’ and an understandably slightly fragmentary feel to proceedings.
To their absolute credit the quartet rally hard throughout and the energies surrounding Nicholas from his compatriots Taka Hirose (bass), Tommy Gleeson (guitar) and Geoff Holyroyde (drums) lay bare the gritty nucleus founded upon good old-fashioned ‘roll your sleeves up and get on with it’ ethos.
With their twelfth studio long-player being released in a matter of weeks the main focus is upon ‘Black / Red’ – described as “Almost like a musical production with an interval” by Nicholas in an October ’23 interview with NME – with fully a third of the fifteen tracks aired tonight coming from the forthcoming release.
A booming intro sends atmospheric shivers out from the epicentre of the stage as hard driving set-opener ‘Elf’ serves as the first introduction to ‘B/R’. The Cardiff crowd absorb throughout and from the loud reception come track end one can conclude that this new material is eagerly awaited.
With such an extensive back catalogue compiling a balanced setlist is a herculean task by itself, but incredibly seven of the studio albums are represented. The snarling ‘Kyoto’ is thrust outwards with a hypnotic jumping beat even more frenetic than a pack of cats upon the proverbial hot tin roof. “I’ll do it again” energises Nicholas engaging the crowd. “It’s great to be back in Cardiff!” he enthuses. Incredibly this is their only date in their native Wales.
The bludgeoning of ‘Universe of Life’ warps riffage with swirling mystique. The sky glows red; six dates into the month-long tour the homecoming fires are stoked.
Indulging in swaggering “woo-hoos” the crowd are mesmerised by the gentle embrace of ‘Feeling a Moment’ – the first of seven of Feeder’s hits to be tracked tonight. This is my first tangible reconnect as the glorious strains crash upon my musical shoreline as waves upon the beach. New track ‘Lost In The Wilderness’ is sinuous and brooding whilst being distinctively Feeder with an added Celtic resonance.
The sunny disposition of ‘Fear Of Flying’ allows the V8 to purr as enigmatic bassist Taka Hirose, from behind his dark shades, leads the crowd, his right hand raised, in a lusty singalong. Top Ten smash single ‘Just The Way I’m Feeling’ elicits a loud, raucous cheer from its first characteristic notes; “You guys up for singing?” Nicholas enquires. With Oasis-infused underpinning alloyed with an alt-indie rock edge this is pure anthemic territory.
A treble from ‘B/R’ commences with the hooky hard accelerating ‘The Knock’ before the fuzzy tones of the next single ‘Hey You’ hunts its prey with the precision of a laser-guided eagle. With the healthy crowd engagement bearing testament this is destined to be a live favourite. ‘Playing With Fire’ wraps up the ‘B/R’ 1-2-3 with its deepened growling more metalliferous feel. Lighting strobes and a fury is uncaged.
The Foo Fighters-esque 2002 Top 20 hit ‘Come Back Around’ sees Feeder crank back up through the gears, it’s rightly a clear crowd favourite. This anthemic number is the first of five charting singles that ensure the set is concluded on the highest of highs.
Following up the bouncing ‘Insomnia’ is given a rousing reception whilst tender early single ‘High’ – the band’s first release to break the top 30 of the charts – takes the pace down a little but without dropping the passion and energy in the slightest. With Nicholas out on the barrier and Gleeson sat atop the backline the band, admiringly, savour the crowd’s impassioned singing. The former, punching the air several times, salutes their efforts.
“Let’s take the roof off!” urges Nicholas as the band launch headlong into ‘Buck Rogers’ in what proves to be the end of the main set. It’s as epic as it always has been with the Great Hall exploding in serious attempts at the requested structural damage. Nicholas and Hirose, animatedly, bound along seemingly synchronised with the faithful in a memorable moment in a memorable evening.
Returning for the encore Feeder tear it up one more time with the revved up ‘Just A Day’ receives a Metallica-infused treatment. The last single with founding member Jon Lee before his untimely passing in early 2002 it’s given, as the feedback penetrates, the loudest roar of the night. Nicholas, in trademark Townshend fashion, cartwheels the hammering riffs with, no doubt, a quiet thought for his fallen bandmate.
Taking the final round of deserved cheers Feeder exit stage right safe in the knowledge of a job well done despite Nicholas being sick. It’s rock n’ roll after all!
Photography by Kelly Spiller for MPM
