The Camden Barfly is a damn cool venue. Nice bar downstairs and
small-ass stage area upstairs. No better place for the London debut of
Longview. The quartet from Manchester, who recently inked a
deal with 4:45 Recordings, have only released one single to date, this
week’s “Further,” which you will see reviewed next week in our Newly
Discovered section. Basically, I went to see this show on the strength
of one song I’d heard about twice, but I was not disappointed. The
frontman looked EXACTLY like the offspring of Evan Dando
and Thurston Moore, the bassist was straight
Weezer-nerdcore and the lead guitarist looked like he was one
of fellow Mancs Haven. The drummer? Well, he just seemed
to know where all the pies had gone, if you catch my drift. Sonically,
the foursome fell somewhere inbetween early ’90s shoegaze rockers
Revolver, The Verve, Coldplay (at their most
rockingest) and Teenage Fanclub. All four members sang,
with the other three providing backup vocals and harmonies on each
song. It was quite nice, the backup chorus adding a certain air of
quality to the tracks. The single was the standout song, of course, but
for the first time in “The Big Smoke,” the boys from Up North
certainly did themselves proud and are sure to return, again and again as their fanbase swells.
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