Wasting no time at all, swaggering on stage to the opening lines of ‘Colours to Life’, lead singer James Bagshaw launches into what is to be fifty minutes of pure psychedelic glory, tinged with the glam rock essence of the seventies.
Barely coming up for air the Kettering quartet hurtle through an impressive set that boasts recently released album, Sun Structures in its entirety; and why not?
Earlier this month their debut confidently strolled into the British Album Chart at number seven, a welcome respite from all the usual Mylie Cyrus cesspool.
It hasn’t taken long for the fledgling band to be thrust into the limelight.
Having formed in 2012 and spending most of 2013 on tour and recording Sun Structures in their bedrooms, it’s taken no time at all for Temples to cut their teeth and tonight’s gig they take well within their stride.
Yes, there is a lot of on stage posturing and big hair – but only as a way to consummate their ethereal, psych-rock guitar sound.
It’s big; there’s a lot of reverb and they have obviously been paying attention to Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound production techniques.
‘Keep in the Dark’ sounds so incredibly akin to the early stomp of T-Rex that it’s impossible not to draw comparisons, yet tracks such as ‘A Question Isn’t Answered’, a slow building, guitar crunching groove, prove that the foursome have more to offer than an imitation of what has already come before.
With a flurry of guitar changes and Adam Smith interchanging between keyboard and guitar, the band cement themselves as able multi-instrumentalists and not just some corner shop performers.
Keeping ‘Shelter Song’ to the end allows the band to whip the sold out crowd into a dancing frenzy.
It isn’t long though before the Glasweigians demand an encore and has them back on stage.
The final song of the night is current release ‘Mesmerise’, a song that has a very different quality live than it does on record, a more visceral and cavernous quality that confirms that Temples are indeed a force to be reckoned with.
Words/photos: Angela Canavan
Rave Child 