Leeds based indie rock outfit Club Smith rocked the Waterfront in Norwich last night with a short but sweet set of new and exciting music. Recently gaining the expertise of the new Manchester based record label Front Wall Records and currently supporting The Pigeon Detectives on their UK tour, the gig was a great opportunity to see one of the most exciting new bands making music in the North.

Beginning the evenings proceedings was Norwich’s own indie pop advocates The Kabeedies, who provided the audience an unsurprisingly excitable and enjoyable set; a great standard of live performance we have come to expect from the seasoned band. I will try and catch up with them in a few weeks on their own UK tour.

Club Smith came on stage surprisingly early, but to a packed venue; tickets had sold out for the gig and as many as 600 people had crowded round the stage. I have always found the Waterfront a great venue to see bands; it has hosted some fantastic artists over the years on their early tours including, Pulp, Radiohead and the Arctic Monkeys. It is certainly one of the best venues in East Anglia to catch the best in new and upcoming music, and Club Smith are a worthy candidate of this title.

In Norwich, coming on after The Kabeedies is hard work, so is telling a Norwich crowd you’re from Leeds, but putting silly football rivalries aside, the audience took a few tracks to be convinced but eventually the band got their attention with their loud and proud post-punk sound. The catchy lyrics, chanted shouted and sung by the band were surprisingly clear and powerful and permeated the heavy bass and guitar riffs. Clearly drawing influences from bands such as The Sunshine Underground and Bloc Party, the angsty tones of Club Smith certainly give a sense of a young man against the world. Rough Trade creatively describes the forthcoming release as sounding like a call to arms.

By the last few tracks of the set, and particularly during one of the tracks from the bands forthcoming double A side release No Friend of Mine/Young Defeatists, the front of the crowd began move from jumping to moshing, just as band seemed to really get into their performance.
I think we all better prepare for Club Smith to be big news this year.

[Pre-order] Club Smith – No Friend of Mine/Young Defeatists @ Rough Trade

Young Defeatists by club smith
No Friend Of Mine by club smith

Catch them live on the few dates left with The Pigeon Detectives or at LIVE AT LEEDS.
Tues 5th April: Cambridge Junction
Fri 8th April: Bournemouth Old Fire Station
Sat 9th April: Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
Sun 10th April: Bristol Trinity
Mon 11th April: Coventry Kasbah