It’s taken until halfway through
the year for my first gig at my reigning “most visited in 2025” venue, namely Bristol
Rough Trade’s scuzzy back room venue, for one of their new album release show/
meet and greet events… Truth to tell, I’ve not caught up with much new music so
far in 2026, the increasing morass of anodyne indie landfill generally leaving
me cold. However, I was up for this one, celebrating the debut release from an
interesting new lot in Brummies Overpass. I’d picked up on them via their 5
tracker EP “Dependent” last year, enjoying the Editors-esque post-punk and
“October”-era U2 atmospherics, and whilst that occasionally strayed close to
that yawing indie landfill pit (at least one track recalling Stereophonics,
albeit when they were good), there was more than enough decent soaring tuneage
to pull them comfortably away from the edge (viz. leadoff track “Be Good To
Yourself”, a comfortable entry on my “Best of 2025” CD). So, which direction
will their de facto debut album “Elsewhere, Always” (the subject of
tonight’s release show) take them in? Intrigued to find out, I booked up for
this…
I did actually give it a late call though, as I developed a bit of a headache in the afternoon, but, Anadin-ed up, I went for it anyway, leaving just after 6 for a sunny drive down and parking in Rupert Street. First thing to note was that, since my last visit to RT, they’d clearly spent a fuckton of cash on renovating the space behind the venue room, with a new entrance, swanky bar and a wall partitioning off the venue from the record shop itself, giving it a more self-contained “gig venue” feel. The room itself was already quite full for this sold-out event, and, like contemporaries Inhaler, Overpass seem to attract quite a young crowd… anyway, I found fellow “veteran” gig-goer friend Jeremy down the front, house right, and we caught up. Overpass then joined us onstage at the appointed hour to quite the enthusiastic welcome from their young massive, and proceeded to play us the whole of the new album, start to finish…
So then, Overpass and the new album
material… rousing and soaring atmospheric indie guitar anthems, or trad-hokum “indie-by-numbers”
blah? Well, the truth is often somewhere in between, and I definitely felt that
in the early stages of their performance, although I’m happy to admit my views
might have been coloured by the low-key, understated nature of the performance
(I’m always happier when bands really crank it up and go for it), and also by
my headache… “Union Station” was a fine starter, hazy and melancholy, and the early
“Is This Real?” featured a pacy backbeat from drummer Jake Bishop on his
pared-back kit, but the subsequent couple of numbers, despite being lustily
sung back to the band by the front rows, passed me by a little, I’m afraid, and
I was waiting for a real “banger” to arrive…
And happily, one did, in “Forever You”, an absorbing and building slow burn verse leading to a massive soaring choral hook delivered with conviction by vocalist Max Newbold, and recalling U2’s “resurrection” track “Beautiful Day” to these old ears. Great stuff! The subsequent “Spinning” was also a goodie, a deliciously brooding and morose beast recalling “The Bends”-era Radiohead (i.e. when they were still good and before they disappeared up their own arses), preceded by the otherwise taciturn Newbold sincerely thanking the crowd for getting the album to number 3 in the midweek charts. Then closer “Heaven” topped even “Spinning” for sweeping melancholy, its’ metronomic build and widescreen chorus resembling windswept Celtic masters Idlewild, ensuring a strong finish to a slightly uneven but overall still very promising performance from this still-young and developing band.
By then I’d bade farewell to Jeremy and was at the back, in prime position for a good spot in the signing queue; first, actually! A few words with a polite band about their forthcoming Bristol Electric show in November (already booked for that) before I hit the still-light M4 for a return home to the ‘don at an early 9.15! So, parking the understated delivery and my muzzy head, this was still a very promising and potential-laden showing. Like Crystal Tides and Bono’s lad’s lot Inhaler, Overpass have oven-ready stadium tuneage aplenty in their metaphorical song larder, with even the numbers which drifted by for me being subject to rousing singalongs tonight. So let’s see how this material sounds at the Electric in November, when they (hopefully) really crank it up and go for it…!