O. Children + The Chapman Family // Ruby Lounge, Mcr // 15.3.11
Friday, April 1st, 2011, 12:06 pm
Not going to lie, went to this gig purely on the hype i’d heard on O. Children. Taking to the stage first on this leg of the joint headlining tour, the band impressed me from the first drone.
If you weren’t paying attention, you definitely were the minute imposing vocalist Tobi O’Kandi arrived to dominate the Ruby Lounge. There’s nothing like an old fashioned suspicious frontman, a trait O’Kandi has clearly nailed so early on in his career.
However it was guitarist Gauthier Ajarrista who led the sound of O. Children, battering his guitar and reverberating gloriously deafening tones. Being dreadful in my attempts to play guitar, jealousy did slightly take over. Proper guitarist.
In terms of influence, this 80’s fuelled gothic darkness ticked a lot of personal boxes. A tight performance from the London 4 piece with lead single ‘Ruins’ sounding especially aggressive. One of my mates was nagging me early one morning at Glasto last year to go and see these guys, but Brothers cider had got the better of us. Regretting it now.
Next up The Chapman Family. A band I wrote off a while back after seeing them put in a shocker in Preston. I do that too often really. In this case I was wrong.
It’s a shame some people filtered out before they came on, they missed a serious show of assertive musicianship. The total opposite of what I had previously seen of them.
True, they might not visually fit as a band. Bassist Pop Chapman is all over the shop. Take it how you want, but the majority of the audience were transfixed on his movements, probably wondering first, what he was on, and secondly, where could they get some from.
Noticeably, The Chapman Family have nailed down their sound. Kingsley’s vocals are more focussed, the all round performance makes more sense. ‘Anxiety’ showcased everything about the evolution of the band from loose cannons to a unit. It’ll still take a bit more to win me round, but fair play, this was a good start.
WORDS by Tom Corney
Follow Tom Corney on Twitter – @tomcorney
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