Lenmania. 'What on earth is that?' I hear you ask. Well Mr Jamie Lenman (formerly of Reuben fame) decided to celebrate both the release of his excellent new record and his current run of form by setting up a small festival across the Tufnell Park Dome and Boston Music Rooms with some of his pals including the likes of Employed To Serve and Palm Reader amongst others. With such fun levels of heaviness on offer we'd have been silly not to get down there ourselves. Whilst we unfortunately missed his opening performance, Lenman conducted himself much like Europe do with The Final Countdown in their live sets, by being the opening and closing act on the day. Excellent stuff.
Our first band on the day were The St. Pierre Snake Invasion (9/13) whose infectious attitude and intensity live supersedes anything they've ever laid down on record - these tracks just take on a whole new level when performed. You'll often find the word 'raw' used in live reviews for bands but in the case of TSPSI it truly is just that with this real grinding garage rock sound gripping your focus from the off. This band have been working at it for a good couple of years now and it doesn't feel like they're a million miles away from boosting themselves to the next level - the next record will be an important one for them.
Next up for us were the far more subtle sounding In Dynamics (8/13) who were marred a little by slight sound issues down in The Boston Music Rooms. Things improved towards the latter part of their set with final track We Are Liars getting a good reception. Their set was fine enough but in comparison to some of their peers on the day it fell a little short.
Moving back upstairs to The Dome, next band on the day were South London's Rock outfit Bad Sign (9/13) who much like The St. Pierre Snake Invasion earlier in the day, triggered a level of energy beyond what they usually lay down on record. Tracks like Liars & Lovers and Intermission boosted the crowd towards the real business end of the day.
When this line-up was announced there was a real stand-out amongst the names. Employed To Serve (12/13) are on an upwards trajectory at the moment which most bands in their field are struggling to replicate. You might argue that both them and Code Orange are the most exciting 'up and coming' heavy bands plying their trade right now so it was absolutely no surprise to see The Dome explode in to a cacophony of madness for the entire 40 minute set. They did exactly as you'd hope for, they turned up, fucked the place up, and left in a whirlwind that felt like a matter of seconds. The band sounded incredibly tight throughout, displaying that their technical prowess and ability is continuing to strengthen in the live arena as much as they are on their recorded output. The duo of The Warmth Of A Dying Sun and I Spend My Days (Wishing Them Away) to close out the show was absolutely stunning and left the entire place yearning for more. Do not miss this lot live when they're next in a nearby town, each step for them feels like a 'moment' right now which you need to get yourself on board with.
Without barely a minute to catch our breath, next up on the day were the absolutely bonkers Palm Reader (11/13). Palm Reader sometimes get a bit of a raw deal, often overlooked or forgotten about, their live shows continue to grow more and more powerful yet their general standing in the heavy world hasn't really come under any great change. It is perhaps this fact which adds to their current level of venom live. Josh McKeown in particular is NOT fucking about, prowling across the small stage and eyeing up each and every member of the crowd as if they were all brains that needed to be conquered. Unfortunately for them the next act on the day was Lenman himself so towards the latter stages of the set the crowd did start to thin out somewhat, but that didn't take anything away from the overall intensity. Great band who simply need to deliver big with their new record.
So then we reach the conclusion of Lenmania with Jamie Lenman (10/13) taking on his role as the mad conductor to bring this heavy party to an end. His latest record Devolver has been greeted very favourably across all corners of the heavy music world and considering how new some of these tracks are, it was great to see them received with as much fervour as some of the older crowd favourites tonight. Lenman undoubtedley puts everything in to putting on a great show; you get a real sense that this is what he enjoys most as he stands there practically beaming throughout each track as the words are so passionately sung back at him. The drawback for him was that he had to follow Employed To Serve and Palm Reader who between them zapped up a lot of the crowd's energy.
So then the inaugural Lenmania comes to a close. Who knows if we'll get more Lenmania in the future, one can only hope so after how fun this was.