You know when something is just right? When there’s a certain way something is and nobody questions it because it seems like it’s always been that way and always will be? Take Cristiano Ronaldo scoring for United against Newcastle at the weekend, it just seems right, don’t you think? Take that thought and transfer it to a musical scene – Afflecks Palace & Pastel smashing gigs out of the park. It was my (UTR) first time seeing both bands last weekend but it all just seemed to fall into place wonderfully well.
Pastel were first up at The Bodega in Nottingham and the venue was pretty much at full capacity for the support act which is great to see. For those that don’t know, Pastel & Afflecks Palace share the same record label (Spirt of Spike Island) which was set up by J.Fender, the lead singer and front man of Afflecks Palace. More about J and Afflecks Palace later in the article, for now, let’s focus on Pastel.
South Wales meets the North West
Pastel kicked off the night in some fashion (Credit: Birchy)
They’re made up of Manchester cousins Jack Yates (Vocalist) and James Yates (Rhythm guitar) and Swansea lads Joe Anderson (Lead guitar), Rhys Wheeler (Drums) and Liam O’Shea (bass). Quite the combination, eh? You’re perhaps wondering at this point how a blend of lads from Manchester and Swansea can work and you’d be fair to do so, however, if you listen to their tunes on Spotify or wherever it is you get your music from, it simply does. They’ve released four tracks so far (She Waits For Me, Deeper Than Holy, Blu, and most-recently, Run Rabbit Run), yet from their set, you could tell they’ve got plenty more in their locker.
From the moment Pastel came on stage, the crowd was glued to them. Sometimes when support bands play, you can notice people chatting while they’re waiting around for the main act and generally not particularly caring about what’s going on until the main act are on stage. That wasn’t the case in Nottingham, people were gripped and hung on every word. While every track Pastel performed was incredibly special, the standout one for me was ‘Deeper Than Holy’. It was a case of being taken on a trip by Pastel that you never wanted to end. Much like all good things the song did come to an end and so did their set (don’t ask me if that’s how they finished as I genuinely can’t remember) but what was to come next, well, read on to find out.
Chatting to the band afterwards, they were quite open and said they didn’t think they were that good due to Jack (lead singer) having a throat problem which led me to ponder how much better they could be. They impressed me no end and they weren’t working at 100%. Much more to come.
Who the fuck are Afflecks Palace?
Afflecks Palace are unashamedly Mancunian. (Credit: Birchy)
The heading above isn’t meant to be provactive, anything but. This is the message that was emblazoned on J.Fender’s top as he came onto the stage. Having control of their own record label means they can pretty much do and say as they please. You can choose to look at this in one of two ways. Either, they can cause carnage and disrupt anything and everything around them or they can cause carnage and disrupt anything and everything around them. There are ways and means. And Afflecks Palace’s way works. And then some.
Afflecks Palace are made up of 2x Peter, J and Dan. They produce music which belongs in an era that’s been and gone. Yet everyone is in love with them and the sound. Are people living in the past or is there something new out there? Most definitely the latter. Whether you look at the Spirt of Spike Island name and logo for reference to Stone Roses or just listen their music for a trip down memory lane, it is clear that Afflecks Palace are putting a modern spin on what was a wonderful time for Mancunian music.
What of the tunes themself? Well. What can you really say? Watching Afflecks Palace perform and do their thing is somewhat of an out of body experience. It’s like a mad trip which you usually need to pay Dodgy Dave for.
This City Is Burning Alive got everybody moving, Pink Skies had people bouncing the words back at them. Smiles was a change of pace, but like I referred to earlier with Ronaldo, it just works. Afflecks Palace’s debut LP is due to drop later this year and you can be sure it’s going to be a massive hit as they continue their assualt on the music world and long may it continue.
I’ll be going for round two in Birmingham on Sunday, should be another good one.
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Awayday Radio have got gigs on the way, one at KU Bar in Stockton in November and also one in Birmingham in October.
