Springwatch

My brother took me along to a gig at Big Hands in Manchester on Saturday night, a small venue near the university in what was a branch of Barclays bank when I was a kid. Big Hands mainly put on guitar bands in all the flavours and varieties- punk, indie, grunge, metal, garage, psyche. Playing on Saturday night were Spring, a trio of young men in their mid- twenties, friends from primary school in Leicester who formed a band when all three went to university in Sheffield, who we were keen to see. Spring make a hazy, blissed out shoegaze- inspired sound, the three instruments- drums, bass and guitar- all perfectly balanced with each other. On top of this swirling, melodic storm the drummer sings/ whispers. 

Spring took the stage at 11 pm and the crowd, most of whom were three decades younger than me and my brother, were on board straight away, drawn in by the hypnotic groove of drums and bass, guitarist Theo switching between ringing guitar toplines lines and a fuzzy, gauze wall of noise- a busy and urgent sound, driving drums and peeling guitars with nonchalant vocals. They look and sound totally assured, locked in to the music and the thrill of it being well received. 

This is Watcher, their first single, released last December. There's a second single, Bones, due out this Friday. 

Spring were supported by Leeroy Salmon, heralded as jazz punk on the flyer. A punkish looking four piece, again all in their twenties, Leeroy Salmon blasted their way into Big Hands from the moment the drummer clicked them into their first song.  

From the south coast but now based in Manchester, totally single minded and utterly focussed, Leeroy Salmon hit hard- twin guitars, bass and muscular drums and the vocalist's gutteral roar (the only words I can make out all set are 'thank you' after some of the songs and the occasional 'fucking'). The beanie hatted guitarist stage left picks out wirey leadlines while the singer/ guitarist slashes at his Gibson SG and leaps around the tiny stage space. At one point he clambers on top of the bass drum and motions for the crowd to separate leaving a space down the centre of the floor into which he's going to run. Everyone complies. 

I was watching and thinking 'I didn't know the youth were into Black Flag and Bad Brains'. I mentioned this to the singer later and it turns out I was a generation early- he said At The Drive In were their biggest influence which definitely makes sense. This is Kim Chi from 2025. 

A good night, two young bands inspired by music from the 80s, 90s and 00s, a time before they were born, making sounds of their own, playing to their peers and looking like they were having fun doing it. Go and see both or either if they're playing near you.