By Darren Grayer.
Brighton four-piece The Roebucks returned to Southampton on Tuesday (14/5/36) for the third time in just under a year, after impressing at Wanderlust Festival last May.
Since forming in 2021, the band have steadily built a reputation for producing harmonious guitar driven music with influences taking in Americana, Blues, and Garage Rock, and the addition of drummer/vocalist Sophie Maloney in 2024 added a powerful dimension to their already accomplished sound. Signed to the excellent local Brighton record label Goo, The Roebucks have been keeping themselves busy playing regular dates in the UK and Europe and recently completed a support slot for Australia’s Howling Bells on their UK dates.
By the time the band take to the Heartbreakers stage, the audience have already been treated to three support acts, and credit to everyone for such a quick changeover between sets, but The Roebucks are immediately into their stride and showcasing so many elements that make them a fabulous live act.
Not only is Sophie Moloney a total powerhouse behind the drumkit, she also possesses a great singing voice, as does guitarist Lola Gordon, and the two combine irresistibly for thumping opener Gone Gone Away.
In between touring, the band have found time to write some excellent new material and the set showcases that during the nine songs tonight, and although their sound is rightly built on the girls’ exceptional vocals, Tom Cotter is no mean singer himself, and certainly knows his way around a guitar, and bassist Henry Brown goes about his business in the most assured way and looking as though he’s having the time of his life.
There are so many highlights packed into 45 minutes, but the two singles already released this year show a band right at the top of their game. He’s My Man and Flowin’ River are both pop perfection if you like your tunes stacked with riff laden guitar, harmonies that couldn’t make you feel warmer inside if you had a hot water bottle strapped to your belly, and pounding drums. The former recently received an airplay on Craig Charles’ 6Music afternoon show. He described it as sounding like The Shangri- Las with guitars. I’m sure more airtime is not far away for The Roebucks, with songs of this quality.
300 Fahrenheit rolls along with a bluesy influence that sees Lola Gordon in her absolute element, with a vocal performance she practically throws everything into, backed to the hilt by her bandmates. Set closer is another Blues belter, a cover of the John Lee Hooker number, Dimples. This hands Tom Cotter the vocal duties while simultaneously allowing the band to show off their individual skills on their instruments, with Sophie Moloney’s thunderous solos drawing cheers all around the room, her arms and long flowing hair all over the place in the most joyous manner possible.
After that, there’s no way the audience are allowing the band to leave without an encore, so we get one more tune to devour. The Roebucks took my eyes and ears from the moment I was lucky enough to discover them last year and they’ve impressed even more on the occasions I’ve seen them since. A band that has so much going for them and gaining in confidence all the time, their musical prowess will be lapped up by those who get to see them in the coming months and hopefully years.
As I touched upon, Heartbreakers put on four bands for a little under a tenner, something to admire greatly. I only caught the last couple of songs from opening act Cold July, as the football at nearby St Mary’s meant finding a parking space a bit more challenging than usual, but I’ll certainly be trying to catch them again. A youthful looking five-piece who, even in those two songs, showed great capability amid harmonious pop sensibilities.
They were followed by another young outfit, local indie rockers Sugar Bang, who combined driving dual guitar driven rock and strong vocals with the amps turned right up. Definitely ones to keep an eye on.
Irish band Love Buzz were added to the bill late in the day as they had to unfortunately cancel their gig in Portsmouth. The lead guitarists Fugazi t-shirt gave us some indication of what to expect, and so it turned out. Room filling sounds that started with a Ramones influenced number and continued with others that put me in the mind of The Senseless Things and Mega City Four with a tiny sprinkling of grunge, all played with great enthusiasm.
- In Common is not for profit. We rely on donations from readers to keep the site running. Could you help to support us for as little as 25p a week? Please help us to carry on offering independent grass roots media. Visit: https://www.patreon.com/incommonsoton