By Glen Screeton
HMV Warrington recently welcomed the band GONDOLAS for their live music showcase and they turned out to be a great outfit, although they were undoubtedly held up by the dreadful Winwick Road traffic, they were worth the wait.
This was my first appointment of the day as I was due at the Pyramid Arts Centre at 3pm so when the band bundled in they were already behind the curve, but fair play to them because with their scaled down kit they were up and running in 10 mins!.
Although I had heard of them in name only, this was my first time of seeing them live and they came highly recommended by fellow music writer Janet Harding who has vast experience of many live and local bands, but for the reader who may be unaware GONDOLAS ,who formed in 2022 are:
Irish brothers Ben on lead vocals and rhythm guitar and Chris on lead guitar, long-time friend Rosh on bass, and local Waringtonian Jacques on drums, and (straight from their press kit) they describe themselves as ‘a fiery 4-piece from Liverpool that deliver dirty distorted indie punk straight to your face’ via an electrifying show. Ok, they might struggle to replicate that in a brightly lit HMV store on a wet Saturday afternoon in Warrington, where curious onlookers browse the aisles for early Christmas presents, but music lovers can see well beyond that can’t we?
GONDOLAS state their musical influences are derived from noughties garage rock such as The Strokes and The Hives, with modern post-punk such as Fontaines D.C in the mix .Musically this type of guitar-driven indie form is a well trodden path, particularly in Northern Ireland with it’s Undertones heritage. But, it is a very successful formula and the cheerful, feel good nature of GONDOLAS songs and Ben’s extremely positive attitude ‘just for the craic’ makes this a joyful experience ( can I bottle that? ) . Don’t let the ‘formed in 2022’ tag fool you, this outfit can really play……. very well and are massively confident, so when I get the chance to interview them I’m certain I will unravel their musical journey! At 2.55pm precisely with a gasping dash across town to come, I was very disappointed to leave after just two and half songs. However, after all these years I like to think I can recognise a good tune and I’m certain GONDOLAS have them in heaps.
Readers can check them out now on Spotify where you will hear singles ‘Swing And A Miss’, ‘Never Ends’ and ‘Keep In Mind’ which have all garnered thousands of listeners, streams and followers to their social media pages from all over the world, as well as support from BBC Introducing and if you like their sound why not zip along to their next headline show at The Jacaranda in Liverpool on the 25th of November where they will also launch their new single ‘Isn’t That Great’ which will be released on all platforms on the 20th of November. 4 singles since 2022, now that is hard work! Well done and I hope I can be at the performance.
