Photo: Gigwise
New York blues-rock duo, The London Souls, are a band you should definitely be watching. Not only because they're fast on the rise, but because they have one of the more interesting and tumultuous backstories of any band we've had in our offices before. The correlation between life experience and fantastic songwriting cannot be overstated, and London Souls fully capture that essence.
Watch The London Souls perform 'Isabel' in the Gigwise Office Sessions below
The band played for us out our offices just hours before playing a sold-out show at Brixton Academy supporting Catfish and The Bottlemen, who, incidentally, hand-picked them to open. The duo played an intimate and soulful rendition of their song, 'Isobel'. With delicately plucked electric guitars, soul-enriching harmonies and the sweet pitter-patter of brushed drums - it's an entirely sensual listening experience.
"And as we fear the night / even the sun must rise again" - the story of The London Souls is one that took a turn for the worst when lead singer Tash Neal was injured severely by a hit-and-run accident that delayed their new album by three years. What they band have retained through this hardship is an overwhelming optimism that is hard to force.
Watch The London Souls perform 'Isabel' below
Speaking to Gigwise about the accident that delayed their 2015 album, Here Come The Girls: "Things sky rocketed after that. We’ve done more in the last 3 years than we’ve done so many years before that. Anyway I got hit, ended up in a Coma with severe brain trauma, wasn’t supposed to make it, ended up making it, it was kind of a miracle."
"They took out half of my skull. I wasn’t supposed to be able to play or anything like that then I got a plate put in and recovered .But that’s something you recover from your whole life, it changes your brain chemistry, it changes your whole physiology but music was the constant"
Learn more about The London Souls by swinging by their social channels below:
