When a friend of mine sent me a link to a video from currently under-the-radar band Young Rebel Set, it was love at first play. The link was to “If I Was”, which when listening to, is like stumbling upon a little box of undiscovered love notes; the contrast of the gritty northern voice of Matty Chipchase the lead singer, teamed with such sensitively innocent lyrics provides an irresistibly endearing combination – not to mention a beautifully urban folk-indie hybrid style that sounds like the love child of the Arctic Monkeys and the country side of Rod Stewart.
So when I had a scout for tickets to see if they were gigging any time soon, I was happy to see they were down to play Buffalo Bar in Cardiff, and after listening to their album a few times over we headed to the gig with high expectations. The support bands were OK, and we milled around sipping our 2-4-1 cocktails (which FYI are very good) absorbing the atmosphere and waiting for the main course.
As we were chatting, a grubby looking group of lads sauntered past swigging bottles of beer and accidentally bumped into a girl that was stumbling around drunk. They proceeded to get up on stage and stand behind their various instruments and announce that they were Young Rebel Set. They are an eclectic mix to say the least; the oldest looked in his early thirties and the youngest about fourteen, wearing anything within the spectrum of modern male fashion from denim and leathers to a waistcoat and flat cap. They could have been the selection from cross section of Weatherspoons that had accidentally stumbled into the wrong room.
But when they launched into their first song, any mismatches in their appearance were plastered over by the coherence with which they just work as band. In addition to the usual instrumental set up was a harmonica which just gave that extra folk touch. It really was as if a few guys in the pub had accidentally discovered that they all had these musical talents, and were suddenly thrown into song whilst they were still a bit drunk, which only added to the feeling that we were at a barn dance. The rest of the audience obviously felt the same as a few arms were linked and a stamping spinning dance broke out, colliding with the dunk girl who was still stumbling over in her spilt beer as her friend danced so hard her boobs decided to come out over her strapless dress to say hello.
Incidentally, their debut album 'Curse Our Love' is out now, so go and have a gand, and if you get the chance to see them, don your best line dancing boots and go along for a foot stampin’ whilst it’s still relatively quiet, because these guys won’t be under-the-radar for long.
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