After
a very promising band of pretenders to the throne of current post-punk last
night in Thus Love, tonight here’s the real deal in Taunton’s brilliant October
Drift. Not only had this lot lain waste to The Thekla last time out in October
2024 (gig 1,353), their performance nailing down a spot in my Top 5 “live” acts
of the year (in a pretty darn high-quality field…), but they’d also restored my
appetite for “live” music after a fraught month dealing with the news of my
wife Rachel’s cancer diagnosis. So, I’d eagerly booked for this, the opening
night of a seeming continuation of their tour pushing their third album, “Blame
The Young”, not only to immerse myself in another potentially incendiary
post-punk night out, but also to share with the boys the news that things are now
generally going well with Rachel’s treatment, and prognosis seems hopeful.
A busy school parent’s evening still saw me setting off down a sun-kissed M4/ A34 route down South, parking around the corner from the excellent Joiners and hitting the scuzzy back-room venue just after 7.30. Painfully young openers Coast were already rounding off a rocking opening number in front of a busy early-doors turnout of evident friends and family. The follow-up was more slower-burn, yet “This Time”, next up, really nailed their influences to the mast with some intricate Edge-like guitar licks either side of a big yearning chorus, and the subsequent “Outside On A Friday”, an aspiring proto stadium anthem, even had a bit of an early singalong! Clearly earnest and ambitious, then, this lot (plugging their forthcoming Heartbreakers headline slot with some enthusiasm), but nowt wrong in dreaming big, I guess… Main support The Youth Play were older, more practised and accomplished, with some galloping textural mood music giving obvious nods to dour post-punk and morose shoegaze; their amphetamine-fast opener recalled My Vitriol, and more atmospheric later material touched on recent finds Soft Kill. “After A Moment” was a moody, early Ride like number and probably the best of a promising, intriguing and idea-filled set, delivered with confidence and a resonant low baritone from the vocalist.
By then, I’d once again encountered Liz from Chandlers Ford, greeted OD soundman James from Indoor Pets as he disappeared upstairs, and also enjoyed a Bunnymen-centric chat with Jonathan and Faith from Fareham, in my spot down the front, house right. At 9.20, “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” swaggered out of the pa, and white-clad vocalist Kiron Roy led the band onstage, the huge swelling hook of the swayalong “Waltzer” igniting a mass singalong and getting the party started proper. “Southampton, we’re October Drift… let’s do this!” announced Kiron, already bent double and sawing away on this guitar nineteen to the dozen for the subsequent jagged and ragged “Demons”. Blowing the cobwebs away, and no mistake…
I seem to be on a run of opening nights of
October Drift tours; like that Thekla gig, last time out, they were once again
“on it” from note one, delivering the kind of scarily committed and
rocket-fuelled full-on energetic performance that has now become their
trademark. “Hollow”’s massive anthemic hook ceded to a Bob Mould-esque
squalling outro; “Blame The Young”, thrown casually in mid-set, accelerated
into a hurtling, inexorable climactic build; and Kiron, who’d gestured and
exhorted the crowd to get more involved from the off, had his first foray into
the audience during the brooding, drum-dominated “Bleed”. A later “Airborne
Panic Attack” also accelerated from a dead stop start into a thunderous intro,
then dropped right back for an almost mumbled hushed verse before the massive
roaring Nirvana-esque chorus, but the subsequent “Cherry Red” was the cheery on
the cake and set highlight for me; this time it was wild-eyed and wild-haired
guitarist Dan Young who ploughed into the centre of the mosh, initially coaxing
squalling noise from his instrument as a punter fanned him, but thereafter
leading the bounce-along to the dark gothy chorus.
After a fist-pumping “Oh The Silence”, Kiron again took floor central, dedicating the final number “Not Running” to his recently-lost grandmother, calling the elegiac yet soaring finale a “song for solidarity”, and ending another tremendous, incendiary October Drift set on a desolate yet triumphant note. Drummer Chris happily heard my shouts for his list, then after a short wait I caught up with the man in the bar, filling him in on our current family news. Again, Chris provided an understanding ear, typical of this band’s deep connection and genuine care for its’ audience. Pondered this on my swift drive home, back in the ‘don for 12.30. Why October Drift aren’t stadium massive already is a mystery for the ages; they absolutely deserve it not just because their canon is now chock-full of humungous oven-ready stadium bangers, but because they’re just about the nicest guys in rock’n’roll today. Indeed, October Drift are very much the Real Deal!
