It looks surprisingly very quiet, and it takes a little while for the room to fill up. It seems that everyone tonight just wants to hang at the very far back of the room in the dark, instead of enjoying the party right by the stage.
Thinking more people will get there soon, I realized that I’m the only photographer of the night. A great opportunity, but also a little scary to live up to the bands’ expectations regarding my photos.
With a few minutes of delay, the first band of the night, Madre Sun, gets on stage. Madre Sun is a London based rock n’ roll band formed by second-generation guitarist Tyson Schenker and Brazilian brothers Eduardo and Matt Cavina and Arnaldo Rogano on drums.
As soon as they play the first note, I realised the talent the raw energy that these guys have; simple and straight-up rock ‘n roll! After the first few songs, Eduardo prompts the crowd to make a few steps closer to the stage and they just obey.
Their debut EP “The Speed of Light” (released in July 2020) was a huge success in the Cavina brothers’ home country, where it hit incredible chart positions and received 40k Spotify streams in the first week.
Madre Sun’s music is influenced by what they all listen to, what they have learnt, and they make it their own, using their incredible energy. Bright, feel-good rock ‘n roll that not only revisits childhood memories but transports you to a happy place.
I’m sure we will all hear more from Madre Sun, so I suggest you keep your eyes peeled as you don’t want to miss their next live show. Bravo guys!
Just a little over 10 minutes break to do a change of setting up and we are ready for the main act of the night, Mother Vulture. Before they start, the crowd is already screaming from the top of their lungs, and they are ready to dance.
Mother Vulture are a hectic blues-punk from Bristol and their live shows are so chaotic to leave you incredibly sweaty and we probably have some bruises as well. From the moment they get on stage it’s a continuous jumping around, it’s frenetic, intense and a little crazy and the crowd is loveling every minute of it. Those guys are a group that cannot sit still, they exude such a powerful energy and talent that you wonder why they are not playing bigger venues.
During the performance, a mosh pit opens in the room so that everyone starts jumping and pushing into each other including Mother Vulture. Guitarist Brodie Maguire is climbing on the speaker and then jumping off the stage, joined by bassist Chris Simpson and they both disappear into the mosh pit. After getting back on stage, Maguire keeps jumping in every direction of the room and rolling on the floor, while playing his guitar of course.
I have no idea how he does it, but it is incredible to witness! The chemistry that the band has is insane and all together they create the perfect melody and guitar riffs for vocalist Georgi Valentine’s soaring vocals.
Underneath all this craziness lies a band with some genuinely great songs and there are by far one of the most exciting bands to watch in the UK right now. I would get down to one of their shows if I were you.
Photos by Selena Ferro
