MUSIC GUIDE
AlVaREZ KINGS
Space
Upcoming gig Leopard Doncaster 28th November plus support
Diamond Live Lounge 9th November
The Alvarez Kings story starts from their humble roots in South Yorkshire. Rising to popularity quickly, the band would go on to sell out hometown shows and shift many copies of their first two releases, culminating in their single No Resolve being named Single of The Year by BBC Radio, as well as winning coveted local awards including Best Band and Best EP. With a foothold in their native county, ambitions were set further afield, which resulted in festival slots at the Isle of Wight Festival and O2 Wireless and sold-out shows in many of London’s famous venues, including KOKO and The 100 Club. Naturally, Alvarez Kings spread their music across our shores with successful tours of Europe - one supporting Echosmith - a three-week tour of Canada and industry showcases at SXSW and CMJ in Texas and New York. This presented the band with the opportunity to play a mammoth 40 date tour in the US, the infamous Vans Warped Tour, taking in 26 states and garnering them rave nationwide press reviews and a dedicated fan-base. In fact, festival owner Kevin Lyman was so impressed with the band that he invited them to perform Warped UK at the world famous Alexandra Palace in London, and to play the whole US tour again in 2015. Alvarez Kings became reality TV stars when Fuse TV filmed the band’s adventures on Vans Warped Tour for season two of the hit TV show Warped Roadies. 2015 has become the year that all the band’s hard work and dedication has finally paid off. They signed a major record deal with Sire Records. Their debut release on the label was the EP Fear To Feel, which marked a change in direction from the band’s typical indie rock sound. The sound has become bigger, introducing new timbres such as string and brass synths, alongside House production, while maintaining pop sensibilities at its core. With more tours to announce in the near future and singles to be released over the coming months, the future looks ever brighter for brothers Simon and Paul Thompson, Richard Walker and Sean Parkin. Guy Russell
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Doncaster has always had a healthy relationship with the Britpop era going right back to the legendary Britpop night at Karisma in the 90’s (currently being revived on the last Saturday of every month at Vintage Rockbar). Mark Morris of The Bluetones fame and Chris Helme from the The Seahorses are regular visitors to Doncaster and earlier this year Cast played at Diamond Live Lounge. Cast’s fellow Liverpudlians Space were the latest Britpop stars to rock up to Doncaster. After a brilliant set from local heroes 48K’s, Space took to the stage to the backdrop of a huge projection screen showing psychedelic imagery to suit their eclectic sound and launched straight into a rocked up version of Charlie M from debut album Spiders. Fellow Spiders tracks Drop Dead and Mr Psycho followed and it was surprising how beefy and rocked up Space sound live compared to on record but this made for a compelling viewing experience. Begin Again from second album Tin Planet was well received before the first big sing along to The Ballad of Tom Jones complete with a projected Cerys Matthews from Catatonia singing her part of the classic Britpop duet. A couple of new songs sandwiched crowd favourite Avenging Angels before everyone went nuts for The Female of the Species prompting mass sing alongs. From there it was all gold with new song Burn Down the School going down a storm before top 20 hit Neighbourhood had the crowd dancing. After a speeded up punky version of Me and You vs. The World, Space briefly left the stage before being shouted back by the crowd. With Diamond Live Lounge’s two pint pot for £5 offer being taken up by seemingly everyone in attendance the crowd were ready to party and a raucous cover version of The Animals classic We Gotta Get Out of This Place was worth the admission price alone. Closing the set the Liverpool band treated the crowd to another rendition of The Female of the Species with singer Tommy Scott wading into the crowd to dance amongst his fans, at one point even allowing one of the crowd to sing into the microphone. A great night, a great venue and a great band. Viva Britpop! Rob Johnson