More about: Tribes

If you were to take every musical influence and milestone that comes from the area of Camden and plot them all on a map, you would be left with a Jackson Pollock style image of the past, present and future. One of complete and utter chaos, genres and people sporadic in both their nature and what they went on to achieve. One spec on that painting belongs to ‘Tribes’, an important part of a lot of peoples development in music as their two albums Baby and Wish To Scream are still viewed as indie classics. 

After a hiatus, the band are back, and to celebrate as much they put on an intimate show in another spec on that Camden pollock, Dublin Castle, the battleground of legends like Madness and Amy Winehouse. The place is packed to the entrance, punters pints poured and bodies mashed together as the band take to the stage with a roar edging them on. The sound of newly tuned guitars is tinny and authentic, the sea of people slowly move and merge, and water drips from an unused radiator onto empty guitar cases. 

There’s something sweet about the set, something within the intimacy of the venue and the gig, the fact the band haven’t played on stage together for so long, that lifts the whole atmosphere, knobs on amps Spinal Tap and turned to 11. It’s only heightened more after the opener when lead singer Johnny Lead takes to the mic and screams, “it’s good to be back.” Too fucking right it is. 

The first time I ever saw Tribes was at Hull City Hall when they supported The Kooks. I’ll have been about 15 at the time and thought they were the coolest people on the planet. Listening to them all of these years later, the sound is as refined as ever, songs new and old played to perfection and the chemistry second to none. It’s seen in the way they perform together but also in how they act on stage, when instruments break or tuning loosens and they laugh it off like nothing matters, because realistically in that room, nothing does matter.

It's Pollock and Camden and good times, another spec on the painting which is getting too big to look at, so stop trying to, and enjoy the moment in the same way the band are. There’s a laxed nature to everything like you’re watching the first band practice rather than a thousand and something gig, and it’s a real pleasure to be a part of. 

"a decade overdue singalong..."

New songs get played and sound tight, but realistically, the crowd are here for the bangers, and the band are aware of that, and they love and embrace it. Tunes like ‘Sappho’, ‘We Were Children’, ‘Dancehall’ and ‘Corner of an English Field’ spark a decade overdue singalong, which is nostalgic for many but even if it wasn’t, still sounds fresh and exciting. 

I’m back at that Kooks gig but remain present in the moment, feeling my first hangover, worried about GCSE’s and constantly wondering why Shona doesn’t like me back. The crowd are there, word for word on these tunes, to the point that all there is to do at the end of the gig, voice scratched and lungs deprived of air, is mimic the words of Johnny. It’s good to be back.

See the view from the pit, captured Owen Williams:

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More about: Tribes