The most unique Folk-Rock band -The Incas conquer The Fleece Bristol
I headed up to Bristol
with The Incas Manager and DJ extraordinaire Issy Hughes. Issy is a fiery bundle of fun and determination. Her
scouse charm is only matched by her mature drive and laser like
focus. Having arrived just before sound check to The Fleece we got in
with a bag of nibbles and energy drinks, these musicians need to be
fed and watered regularly. After a short sound check a few changes
were made, the banjo was dropped from the set and it was decided that
Emily, the lead singer, would play some acoustic guitar. The
accordion player Violet was unable to attend and Aninka the violinist
was also absent. The good news was a relatively new member of the
band Joe Swainson was joining the line up on Electric guitar along
with regulars Emily Jolliff on vocals, Immy Done on drums and Ed
Shakspeare on Bass.
The Blunderbuss Press
was first up, this very nice chap playing acoustic solo kicked off
the evening. His interesting choice of songs had some of the audience
swaying in time. Lions eating their loves, Octopus and Leeches are
some of the animal's that I remember from his somewhat zoological
set.
The second act was the
delightful Rachel's Last Dance, the trio of a bass player, and two
vocalists one on acoustic guitar and one on egg shaker (I have you
know it is a difficult instrument to master). I really enjoyed their
Folk sound with a mix of male and female vocals with original songs
like 'Jacket'. The highlight for me was their cover of James 'Sit
Down' which had the growing crowd singing along and I must confess I
joined in.
With the audience now
warmed up The Incas took to the stage and kicked off with new songs
'Gypsy Magic' and 'Run For The Woods', I loved this new material and
what this line up sounded like. 'Hectic Glow' was emotionally
charged and 'Oceanic Panoramic' had impressed me and I was liking
Joe's guitar work. However when 'Caramella' started I was well and
truly rocked, The Incas where kicking some ass, Immy's explosive drumming driving everything along with Ed's phat Bass, Joe's funky
Guitar and Emily's soulful voice. They were making music that would
probably raise the dead so it was a good thing we weren't near a
graveyard as things could of got messy. The audience by now had got
up on their feet and were busting some serious moves to the grooves
of The Incas. 'Feeling Good' was just sublime and rivalled Muse's
version of this Nina Simone classic. The band were rocking the
foundations of The Fleece and a number of people came up to me and
said they were 'blown away' by them. 'Swansea FC' and 'Punk Rock
Don't Pay The Bills' rounded off the set to much applause, as did
every song they did. So much applause that they were asked for an
encore which they did with 'Mr Shakspeare'.
Reeling somewhat by
just how much they rocked me I saw Emily come off stage fingers
bleeding from strumming the guitar so hard. A vocalist from Rachel's
Last Dance told me how much she was impressed by The Incas both on
stage and off. I have been to a lot of gigs and The Incas once again
raised the bar. EP’s and T-Shirts were being snatched up at the
merch stand and the audience was buzzing. The aptly named Pepper's
Ghost ended the nights music with an excellent set and they were very
good indeed but I have to say I was kind of blown away by The Incas
so I couldn't give Pepper's Ghost a proper review other than say they
sounded great. I headed back home Feeling Good.
Reviewed by The
Outsider
The Incas EP 'Feed Me'
is out now on bandcamp
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