1,445 OVERPASS, Bristol Rough Trade Records, Tuesday 9th June 2026

 

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…!

1,264 INHALER, Feet, Overpass, Bristol O2 Academy, Saturday 25th February 2023

 

This one represented a real “make or break” gig for highly promising newcomers Inhaler; having delivered a splendid and varied indie-rock debut set in 2021’s “It Won’t Always Be Like This” and a couple of promising if not fully realised sets last year, we were expecting a step up from young Eli Hewson and his cohorts, with their sophomore album “Cuts And Bruises” and particularly the subsequent (and quickly sold-out) tour. Initial listens to the album revealed no such progression, however; more of the same mix of catchy Killers-esque indie-pop, arena-friendly hooks and guitar riffery, and occasionally blissed out grooves, albeit polished up to a more commercial sheen. Too early in this nascent band’s career to lose faith? Surely not, but it was however notable that it took a little persuading for Logan to join us for this one, and I myself was hoping for a big performance to make sense of the new material (which to be honest, often happens “live”)…

 An early departure saw us hit Bristol at 5.30 for an intended drink in the Hatchet with old friend Martin; however they wouldn’t serve Logan (not even a cola!) so we hit a Park Street coffee shop instead, for an entertaining catch up and reminisce about our 80’s goth days! Joined the largest O2 Priority queue evah (eat your heart out, Cavetown) at 6.30, which nonetheless started moving about ¼ to 7 and pitched us up a couple of rows from the barriers, house right. Chatted with some folks (mums and daughters, mainly; Inhaler truly have a generational – and overwhelmingly female! – audience) before openers Overpass took the stage at an early 7.15. Easing in with a couple of Summery if gossamer Britpoppy numbers, initially calling to mind the likes of Supernaturals or Dodgy, their 3^rd number “Take It Or Leave It” cranked it up a notch with a roaring rocky beat and hooky chorus not dissimilar to tonight’s headliners. The robust guitar work and slightly drawling vocal of “3 A.M.”, and the darker, harder-edged closer “Other Side Of Midnight” were other notable numbers in a promising opening set. Certainly better than main support Feet, who kicked off at 8 with a couple of okayish if tinny sounding, herky-jerky 70’s NYC new wave numbers, but then descended into a morass of angular bluesy nonsense and Happy Mondays-ish sneery languidness. Again, not my cup of tea, and their frontman once again was clearly his own biggest fan, which irked me somewhat…

 By this time, however, the place was proper old school rammed, and for the second weekend in succession, I found myself awkwardly adrift in a sea of excitable young females. In fact Logan (who’d dumped his diabetes bag with me by then, declaring his intention to hit the mosh), was drifting away from me in said sea, like Wilson the basketball in “Castaway”… Inhaler themselves kept us waiting until just after 9, but took the stage to a rapturous reception, Eli suited and booted for the occasion and clearly meaning business. The final date on their tour, this, and it clearly seemed that they’d saved the best for last, as opener “These Are The Days” was absolutely superb, the ascending opening riff and quite irresistible soaring hook a feature of easily their best new number, then the subsequent “My Honest Face” was skyscraping, strafing and utterly incendiary. Doubts blown away instantly; that’s how to start a gig!

 

Thankfully, performance levels were maintained tonight, as Inhaler delivered comfortably the best performance I’d seen from them, looking now much more like the proper finished product than a work-in-progress. Ironic then that this showing was the one which reminded me most of Eli’s old man’s band; “So Far So Good” was prime combative “War”-era U2 with an impassioned vocal from Eli, and “Just To Keep You Satisfied” nodded towards “The Joshua Tree”’s stretched, widescreen Americana. No matter, “Valentine”’s insistent, potent beat and plaintive hook recalled Death Cab For Cutie’s “We Laugh Indoors”, “Dublin In Ecstacy”’s occasional leaden pall on record turned into a widescreen and epic elegy, and “Love Will Get You There” was irresistible and almost Motown girl group groovy, the otherwise fairly taciturn Eli remarking of its’ reception, “Bristol, you know how to party”! Plenty of oldies as highlights as well, such as the ringing chimes of “When It Breaks” and the lustily sung-along sneery hook of “My King Will Be Kind”, before the first-pumping “Cheer Up Baby” brought another hour-long set to a close. Yes, again a short one, but in this instance I’ll take an hour at this performance level, over a longer and more variable set anytime!

 A couple of encores concluded with a tremendous “It Won’t Always Be Like This”, before some heartfelt thanks from Eli on departure. Superb stuff, capped with a list from a friendly roadie, before a breather outside and drive home via the kebab van for a couple of tired yet happy and vindicated Inhaler fans. If this was indeed “make or break”, then Inhaler well and truly made it tonight, no doubt!