Photo: facebook.com/peaceforeverever
If you don't know who they are already, it won't be long before you do. Peace are a band who are likely to appear on all those lists and polls of who to watch out for in 2013. The Birmingham four-piece have exploded onto the scene over the course of 2012 and after support slots with Mystery jets and Manic Street Preachers, they have embarked on their very own UK headline tour.
With national radio plays coming out their ears, it appears that an awful lot of Londoners are well and truly on the Peace bandwagon already. The band played a matinée show at The Lexington before the pub in East London filled again with expectant fans for the second show of the day.
Kicking off with 'Oceans Eye' the audience get right into the show from the off. It is the first track off their recent debut 'EP Delicious' and is the perfect way to start the set. Eerie guitar hooks and an assured self confidence in what they are doing shines through as the well-rehearsed dark melodic indie tracks just keep coming.
With just a handful of released/record songs, more established fans of the band kind of knew where the set was going, but this certainly didn't take anything away from the show. The funky bass line in 'Wraith' and the haunting intro to 'Li'l Echo' both lead up to massive chorus' that will have any indie fan swooning for days on end.
The thrashier guitar part in the dreamy blast that is 'Follow Baby' is matched by vocals shrouded in angst and emotion from a stunningly impressive Harrison Koisser. The lead singer's performance throughout the night is nothing short of brilliant. His vocal range is spot on and as he stands centre stage, looking every bit the frontman you feel you are watching someone very special emerge. The frontman's interaction with the crowd is minimal, but confident and humorous but not in an arrogant way.
"Time to get emosh" croons Koisser as he introduces 'California Daze', an indie anthem waiting to happen. Everything from the title of the song to the unforgettable ‘Were you born to live or die?’ lyric hits the spot. Backing vocals from lead singer Harrison's brother Sam and drummer Dominic Boyce are just the undervalued highlights of the song.
Having a ten minute long cover of Binary Finery’s 90's trance hit ‘1998’ could be seen as either a stroke of genius or just a band recording a hopeful jam session. Luckily it fits in the first category as those in attendance are mesmerised by a high octane, pitch perfect rendition of the song. The drumming from Dominic Boyce in itself is breath-taking. Giving it his all from start to finish doesn't go unnoticed as he really does steal the show on this song.
As the second gig of the day comes to an end, the crowd still have enough in the tank to make last song 'Bloodshake' a moment to remember. The Afro-beat drums and twangly guitars parts that open Peace's recent single are followed by a clattering explosion, quite literally as two ticker-tape cannons explode either side of the stage. The front of the crowd are loving life as we see our first surfer of the night, the rest of the crowd are just left smiling after a great performance from a band who just want to make good music for people to enjoy.
