Gig Review: The Lazy Susans And Frances Willow At The Old Queens Head
What started out as an after-hours pint at a gorgeous 17th century building in the heart of Islington became a night filled with the echoes of rock music racing into the future of the genre.
Everybody knows that Thursday’s are perfect for gigs. This Thursday was no different; it was a warm, bright day in early October and Islington’s renowned pub, The Old Queen’s Head, was electric with atmosphere. Upstairs, a night of live music; a 30 minute set from The Lazy Susans, followed by a 45 minute set from Frances Willow and band. What started out as an after-hours pint at a gorgeous 17th century building in the heart of Islington became a night filled with the echoes of rock music racing into the future of the genre.
The Lazy Susans are a rock ‘n’ roll band ‘inspired by the blues of Muddy Waters and B. B. King mixed with a love of 1970s rock, The Rolling Stones and Faces’. They took to the stage dressed cohesively, denim and button shirts like something from a Tennessee Whiskey commercial. Their sound slipped into the groove of that vibe, too; they began with an original ‘Ready to Go’ starting strong with a snappy, electric chorus. Squint your eyes hard enough and we could’ve been frolicking at an underground gig fizzing energetically in the wake of the Summer of Love. Often their playing was a little cloddish, but a real, new sound was etching itself out between the melodies that came in a beat too slow, or the meeting of two voices from singers Adam Robins and Luke Watters that gave it a rough-around-the-edges feel. Surprisingly, their cover of ‘give me shelter’ was overshadowed completely by the original track, ‘The Slow One’, which is set to be recorded and released later this month. The eclectic crowd, from friends of the band to men in relaxed office-wear to twenty-somethings chatting mutedly in the corner with friends, all joined together and swayed. A few of the songs bled into one another in the confusion of covers and originals; in answer to this, Oli Palmer remained cool and collected on bass, and Dean Casey on the drums carried the band through trickier turns with confidence and finesse. Though a notoriously hard skill for most drummers, Dean’s presence was notable in the music and from the back left corner of the stage, arms pumping joyously to the stretch of sound.
The future for the band is varied and exciting; soon, they’ll be partaking in a fund-raiser for War Child UK where fans can stream a pre-recorded 30 minute set for a donation to the charity. However, before the year is out singer and guitarist Luke Watters is set to leave, and it’s easy to see that his passion and dedication to their music will leave a hole in the band’s stomach. Honing your sound whilst finding the perfect replacement is not an easy task, but the promise of their two upcoming singles, ‘The Slow One’ and ‘Raised By Wolves’ (whose catchy chorus and Arctic Monkeys sound hasn’t left my head for weeks) gives me a sneaky feeling that the band may be okay after all.
A quick break for a cigarette with layers pulled tightly around chests, freshly poured pints overflowing onto sticky tables, and Frances Willow took to the stage. Her debut single on Spotify, ‘anna banana’ was only two days old and is currently at almost 11,000 listens. Frances is both a producer and singer, and ‘experiments with new age electronic hardware blended with a classic band’; the band in question were extremely impressive. In a conversation after the gig, Frances told me they’d all recently graduated from Guildhall School of Music & Drama, hence their natural skill and the energy that bounced between them like a ping-pong ball struck back and forth. Frances moved slickly from grinning frontwoman shaking her hair to thrumming rock beats, to ethereal presence plucking elegantly on an acoustic guitar. Her voice swooped tenderly from delicate naivety to earthly grit. At surprising intervals she applied distortion to her voice, pushing the limits of the standardised live performance and perking my own interest at a moment that would’ve otherwise slipped away into the tipsy atmosphere. Within her set she covered Deftones ‘Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)’, a song she brought back for the tremendous encore, the room, my friends, myself, quaking for more. Before me was a poetic mix of Blondshell and Radiohead and something new - a mature and artfully sculptured alternative, indie sound. Though I found her live performance more memorable than her recorded single, I am eager to hear which of her originals will be produced next - wherever she goes, I hope her band are in tow.
Perhaps it was the venue, gleaming with time gone by and the perfect after-work spirit, but I left the night certain that both artists will be keeping their fingers in all the right pies; gorging on their music promises to be just as delicious and sweet.