Rooskin: Chinnerys, Southend

Southend’s Rooskin played their hometown venue Chinnery’s this past Friday in support of fellow local band The Waterfalls. Having been away for 19months, and with a big crowd in, could they deliver?

At times, Rooskin transcended music. Maybe it’s the long wait for gigs but, their brand of hazy love songs and sunny climates was the warming embrace Southend needed. ‘Donnie’ drifted across the coastline to thaw even the coldest souls with its infectious joy. Like all special songs, it began to take on new meaning via its lyrics:

“I’ve been looking for love / in all the wrong places / it’s been tearing me up and I’m sick of waiting”

The poor life choices and dangerous crutches society have leaned on to get through the lockdown flood to the surface. However, the effortless guitars and glory of the vocals ushered the room back to positive planes.

Upcoming single ‘Eloise’ (released 20th August), got its first airing and, did not disappoint. A sense of hope permeated the room. As they sing of the West Coast, a spirit powerfully forms and feelings that all is not lost and never give up filled hearts once again.

Rooskin’s laid-back nebulous is given an injection on set closer ‘Goldfish’. The added bombast brought about a clarity and future for all to follow them off stage with. Dreams and schemes among the young crowd were almost tangible as their licks and harmonies soared upon the horizon.

Music lovers will always discuss why certain bands don’t make it. Unlucky, the look, charisma, etc. In Rooskin’s case, there’s nothing to talk about. They look like a gang, bonded together by in-jokes, love, and desire. There’s a wit to their between-song patter that forges more love with the crowd. They have all the indefinable qualities to go with sublime alt-pop melodies. You simply cannot deny this band!

Asylums: Camden Assembly, London

Southend’s Asylums celebrated their 5th birthday in style this past Friday at London’s Camden Assembly.  Supported by the raw talent of BLAB, the furiously entertaining Suspects and a certain breakout act of 2019, October Drift, it was a stark reminder just how fucking great the music scene in the UK is right now.

No one can touch Asylums on the pop-punk circuit right now. They check all the boxes of the greats with great hooks, melody and angst. However, it’s the lyrics which catapult them to another plain. Intelligent, witty and of the moment, Asylums can carry you to the mosh pit and lead you out the other side a better person.

‘Joy In A Small Wage’ is this generations ‘Live Forever’. Gallagher’s sentiment of ‘We’ll see things they’ll never see’ runs throughout. As fun as the sonics are, it’s the honesty and integrity of Luke Branch’s vocal delivery which cuts through the room. It almost makes Jarvis’ heyday look trite.  

Togetherness is thrown into disarray on ‘Napalm Bubblegum’. Worlds are torn down as their brand of cosmic guitar licks enter hyper drive. “This bubbles gonna blow” is putting it mildly. It erupted into a rabid frenzied attack of the senses.

With the success of their second album ‘Alien Human Emotions’, this was the perfect send of for the 2018 by the Essex outfit. Intimate but far reaching, feral but loving, Asylums have hit a groove that will surely win hearts and minds for a long time to come.

*Image courtesy of Rob Humm / Si Deaves / Thomas Prescott 

Get Cape Wear Cape Fly - Young Adult

Four years ago, Get Cape bid an emotional farewell to the moniker at the Forum. It was a celebration of all that was great about teenage escapism. The intervening years saw three albums released, two under his own name Sam Duckworth, and the other, ‘Baby Boomers 2’, a classic released under the name Recreations.

So, why the return? Why now? In short, Duckworth left London and returned to his native Southend. Sonically and lyrically, this album feels like Duckworth has come full circle from his debut ‘The Chronicles of Bohemian Teenager’ but, with sterner sense of wisdom only your thirties can bring.

Album opener ‘Adults’, closes with the spritely guitars and euphoric brass of the debut but lyrically, it’s a far more complex. Duckworth, wiser, can see through the political discourse around him but, like so many, is alienated by it all simultaneously. Amidst the confusion though, hope remains which is the true essence of Get Cape right?

The return to Essex takes a stark turn on ‘Man2Man’. A county where Thatcherism still reigns, this song details the cynicism and hypocrisy of the viewpoint. So often, social comment comes in the form of punk rock polemic. Here though, it’s within great melody, angelic backing vocals and a soaring urgency.

The Get Cape journey home isn’t always so clear-cut. ‘Always’ treads murkier paths of personal cataclysm. Meanwhile, ‘Scrapbook’ questions whether the teenage dreams have faded or the lack of freedom as an adulthood has taken its toll. Even in the darker moments, there is a sense of solidarity which breeds light and courage to up off the canvas.

‘Adults’ is not free flowing rock n roll music so, phrases like return of the King are unlikely to come Duckworth’s way. It is hard to view it in any other way. It’s a clarion call to all who have been forced out of city centres the world over that great art can come from anywhere.

It also highlights a remarkable clarity in song writing. There isn’t a track here which, if you took away the vocals, wouldn’t leave you thinking its anything other than a Get Cape song. The acoustic guitars, warming brass and intricate electronic production have and continue to serve him well. Make no mistakes though, this is no nostalgia trip.