Fresh from
supporting roles on the Jake Bugg and
Miles Kane tours, not to mention the
trip to Mallorca Rocks with Biffy Clyro,
The Family Rain hit Reds Bar at
Northumbria University on Friday night, and it was obvious these amazing
opportunities had rubbed off well on the three brothers. They oozed confidence during their
performance and had a lot more stage presence and banter with the crowd than
during their spring tour, and each track was delivered to an exceptionally high
standard (which ironically can’t be said for artists a lot more popular).
For those of
you unfamiliar with the band, The Family
Rain are an indie rock group, reminiscent of The Black Keys and The
Strokes, from Bath: twin brothers Tim and Will, and older brother Ollie. Having all been in independent fruitful projects, the
brothers joined as a unit in 2011 and their success has snowballed from there,
so much so the band practically had their pick of labels, including Lily Allen's In The Name Of.
The band opened their gig with much-loved track ‘Carnival’, and encouraged the large crowd to join
in the performance and come alive, a welcome change from the support act! Aside
from the crowd pleasers, The Family Rain
played some never-heard-before tracks which were really interesting and
brilliant rock-pop tunes. You know you’ve got a winner if the crowd are singing
along to a song they’ve never heard before after a few minutes. These unknown tracks are all from the debut
album, scheduled for release in February 2014. The reception they got in Reds
Bar indicates that this is going to be one hell of a debut album.
The stand out track of the gig has to be
‘Pushing It’, which has been my favourite of the band since I first started
listening to them at the beginning of the year. It has the kind of intro that
inspires the inner rock god in you: cue lots of head nodding and arm raising as
you sing along to the tantalising moody vocals. What I like most about this
track is how it is almost completely reliant on guitar; the percussion is only
really added to emphasise the dramatic vocal sections, the bass does everything
else.
Despite the path their career has took
them this year – rubbing shoulders with Miles Kane and Simon Neil over the
summer – The Family Rain are still
the same down-to-earth, friendly guys that I met during their spring tour.
After their set, the band stopped back to sign merchandise and tickets, and
were more than happy to get photos with everyone. It’s really refreshing to see
a band so appreciative of their fans and easy to chat to. And with this winning
formula, it’s difficult to not envisage a promising future for this talented
bunch.
