Although the Shimmer Band played to an audience of about twenty people this Saturday night at the Wardrobe, watching them perform made me feel like I was witnessing something huge. The band’s set was only about half an hour long, if even that, but make no mistake about it- it was by far one of the most excellent gigs I have ever seen in Leeds.

The band’s worship of classic rock is undeniable, and at times it must be said that they sound closer to a modern Beatles than Oasis do. But it is also undeniable that the band’s approach to their music is something wholly unique. Massive, effects-drenched guitar, padded out with heavy drums and a loud, distorted bassline, may not at first sound like a completely original idea, but it is the very way in which the songs are crafted with these tones that makes the music stand out. Their music, simply put, is insanely cool. Not radio-friendly- but not necessarily inaccessible -the band draw on an array of techniques from legendary bands before them. Yet rather than choosing emulation, the Shimmer Band have decided to incorporate the best that their heroes have to offer, and warp it into their own ambitious sound.

The actual performance was also exceptional, of course; the band’s singer showed up in sunglasses and a sparkling gold hoodie, and only became more eccentric from there, spending most of the half hour dancing around the stage, before finally jumping into the crowd in the finale. The rest of the band were similarly on point, delivering an incredibly tight performance which one would not normally expect from such an underground band. But then, if there was anything to learn from the performance, it’s that the Shimmer Band are anything but an ordinary underground band.

Zack Moore

Image: [Clash Magazine]