Wild Front’s show tonight also doubles up as an informal label showcase from Chalkpit Records. The line-up showcases their pop arsenal in the form of Wild Front, Submariner and Nakamarra. Each band are enjoyable to watch and clearly have a lot of potential. Every act was well rounded and polished and clearly have a lot of potential, sounding as sleek on stage as they would in the studio.

Submariner’s secret weapon comes down to an absolutely excellent lead guitar player. Their songs have all the bones together and the band show a lot of promise, but when they let loose on the guitar it all comes together. They clearly are a talented group of musicians. There are some nerves onstage, and they feel the need to apologise for slip ups which is completely unwarranted. They even get heckled during their apology with, “No one noticed!” When the band play they sound very confident and their music does the talking. They do lack a key single but they are well on their way to having one.

When Wild Front take to the stage everything changes and the bar is raised massively. They aren’t the same band live that I’d been listening to before. Their music is much rawer and in this case a little less polish is a good thing. From all the bands tonight there’s been some great guitar work. Wild Front clearly know their tech and their lead guitar is spot on. The band are very well rehearsed but their live performance still seems very natural. They’ve got the kit to be playing a much larger venue but seem to relish in these smaller shows.

They have all the ingredients to be a very successful band, they have the know how of their sound live and on recording, they’re all very good players and their songs are strong. There actually seems to be quite a big rock influence at play in their music, and if a Gibson Thunderbird on stage didn’t give that away, there are moments in their songs which get unexpectedly heavy. Tracks like ‘Physics’ are the highlights of the set. It’s where their vision is at its most clear. They juggle ambient sounds with rock and pop influences and ‘Physics’ is the single where it’s at its sharpest.

Young bands these days are always very professional. With the way the industry is at the moment you can’t afford not to be. Wild Front are no exception. The way they sound onstage, and how they come on late for no other reason than perfecting their live set up, shows just how determined they are. It’s an attitude to be admired. They project visuals behind them and not just a generic backdrop either. They’ve got different projections to suit the themes of each song. A lot of thought has gone into putting on a great live show although in the end it does all come down to the music which Wild Front do have, and the way they treat their music and gigs shows they mean business. I suspect they’re not far away from their first breakout hit.

Chris Middleton

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