Two
in two nights for me, and a swift return to The Roundhouse (following the
recent Menzingers gig, no. 1,247) to see Inhaler, one of the most potential-loaded
young indie guitar bands for ages, headline in their own right. Logan and I had
caught Eli and his crew at Victorious Festival in August, my debut Inhaler
performance after I’d been forced to miss them at the end of 2021 due to Covid
isolation (Rachel ending up taking Logan, and both returning with effusive
reports of their brilliance and “live” dynamism). The Victorious show for me
had underlined the promise inherent on their surprisingly varied debut album
“It Won’t Always Be Like This”, with chiming fist-pumping stadium rockers
rubbing shoulders with loose-limbed druggy dance and hazy Summer dreampop
melody, whilst acknowledging that this is still an embryonic band with a
(hopefully relatively short) way to go to become the finished article. With
last week’s announcement of their sophomore album, due February 2023, would The
Roundhouse gig, their biggest headline show to date, offer further evidence of
progress along that long and winding road?
Logan
and I had made a Camden shopping day of it for the Menzingers, so this time we
headed off mid-afternoon, still giving us enough time to tube over from
Osterley car park, meander up the high street and grab some Camden Market
street food before hitting the Roundhouse bar just before 6, passing a massive
queue on the way. As with the Menzingers gig, though, they stamped us in in the
bar (hooray!) so we joined the queue about ¼ to 7 and wandered in (no running,
or you get ejected!) to secure a barrier spot, extreme house left in front of
the speakers. I’m not going to hear anything tomorrow… what? What? No worries on
that score though from opener Sophie May, a young acoustic songstress plying a
pastoral and chilled, slightly bluesy vibe underpinning her heartbreak ballads.
I quite liked her “Bruises And Scratches” – about dating a skateboarder,
apparently! – but found the rest gossamer and forgettable, and her comment before
her set closer about writing about rock stars (“ironic, as I’m now the rock
star!”) seemed a bit wide of the mark…
However,
proper rock stars awaited in main support, young Scouse rabble Stone, who
bounded on at 8.15 and ripped into harsh, abrasive and dynamic opener “Keep
Running” with the ferocity of tinder wolves downing their prey. The brash and
brutal “Fused” recalled the excellent Murder Capital in its’ stream of
consciousness vocal delivery and caustic yet hooky choral chant, yet better was
to come in the excellent, fist pumping “A Change”, a paean to the downtrodden
melded to a Doors-ish psych verse and rabble rousing Clash-like chorus. This
high kicking, guitar strafing, knee-buckle bouncing lot really mean it, maaan,
and set closer “Leave It Out”, another dramatic amphetamine fast post punk
anthem, was preceded by a preamble from the vocalist about his battles with depression
and a message to “love each other”. Whilst sailing slightly close to the overly
harsh pounding of Idles and the monotone hectoring of Fontaines DC on (admittedly
brief) occasions, this was nonetheless a breathless and breath-taking support
from an achingly sincere and very promising band. Great stuff!
Follow
that, Inhaler! The place was very full by this time – a sell-out on the night,
maybe? – and Inhaler’s very young and predominantly female massive were fit to
burst, so when the lights smashed to black and Breakwater’s 80’s disco classic “Release
The Beast” heralded Inhaler’s stage entrance, the place went nuts. Opener “These
Are The Days” set the tone for the new material on show tonight, with chiming,
McGeoch-like guitars leading into a huge Springsteen-esque stadium-filling
chorus, clearly marking their upwards trajectory. Young Eli languidly greeted
the frenzied crowd with, “hello London, it’s been a while…” before plunging
into the Cure-like urgent, insistent and taut “Move On”. With the band generally
lacking the overt onstage kinetic dynamism of their support, Eli relied on his laid-back
Irish charm, encouraging the crowd to dance with comments like, “by the looks
of it you’re a lively bunch, can you jump up and down to this one?”, before the
calypso-tinged opening to “Who’s Your Money On”. “Our first visit to London was
5 years ago, to see Soulwax [here]; we stood over there!” he then remarked,
pointing just behind our barrier spot before the parched, “Joshua Tree” feel of
“Why Does It Hurt”, which also featured an impressive side-projected circular light
show.
The
Summery dreampop of “Slide Out The Window” was a lazy, hazy highlight before
the boys picked up the pace with a huge, singalong “It Won’t Always Be Like
This” and the undulating riff and soaring chorus of “Cheer Up Baby”, before
drifting offstage, set done, at 55 minutes! Really? Yikes! Encores of the laid-back,
almost Motown soul of newie “Break My Heart” and inevitable ringing finale “My
Honest Face” brought it over the hour before the boys took their bows, but I
was left puzzlingly wanting more – a damn fine show, no doubt, but barely an
hour at a venue like The Roundhouse seemed too brief for me…
Nonetheless,
I held out for a setlist, a friendly roadie grabbing me their keyboard player’s
list, then some slow crosstown connections got us back to Osterley at 10 to midnight,
a swift blast home getting us back just after 1. Good gig, fine support,
Inhaler continuing to show promise, but with the brevity of the set continuing
for me to show they’re still a “work in progress” right now. Tix already booked
for their sophomore album tour next February, and we’ll be going to Bristol
expecting more. I hope they deliver!
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