The Eagle Inn in Salford hosted a night of indie music on Wednesday, placing a small and vital spotlight on four fresh-faced local bands.
Bleach headlined ahead of Stockport’s Half Shallow and Manchester bands Soulist and Proma.
An eager crowd were treated to a myriad of originals and covers on all fronts, with Proma kicking off the night covering Smiths track ‘This Charming Man’ before really stamping their sound with covers of Arctic Monkeys tracks ‘I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor’ and the emphatic ‘Crying Lightning’, the rawness of which really lent itself to this young quartet.
It’s down these alleys and navigating construction sites that you often find reimaginations of songs you already know and love. Sometimes, you can cringe at their ambition, but in this particular Salford pub, I found myself pleasantly surprised at the display of some of my favourite legendary songs, with genuine first-rate guitar playing challenging, iconic riffs to a rough thirty people at one time.
Matthew, the frontman of Half Shallow, told me: “You should go to more gigs in little venues and forever live your dream life.”
Half Shallow hail from nearby Stockport, drawing their sound from places near and far with the obvious brash charisma of a Gallagher brother and more modern indie sounds of the likes of the north and Wunderhorse in their lyrics and sound.
Armed with a new guitarist, who Matthew joked they “found on the street outside,” playing through the pain of a sprained wrist, the band really stretched the walls of The Eagle Inn, with far braver riffs and ambitious tones than they’ve displayed previously, covering The Libertines’ cult classic “Don’t Look Back into the Sun” and with a new single on the way, they can only improve and narrow their sound from here.
“I just love playing live. Harry has come to the band and just added different influences which we didn’t have before, I think in doing that, we’ve got a very unique sound.”
The headliners, Bleach, are fronted by Daniel Zambartas, who spoke about his very short journey so far in music. “I met the guitarist last may, we did open mics for a few months, but in terms of forming a band and doing original songs, [we started] in September,” he said.
They had the small Salford room shaking with their rendition of Morning Glory by Oasis, which was a real treat for the locals still unable to forget the band’s reunion last summer.
“We had only been playing together for a few weeks when Half Shallow approached us to support them at The Spinning Top in Stockport. I’d only written one song at the time so I had to write a few more because we didn’t just want covers at our first gig!”
Some originals included the charming track Strangers, birthed from people watching on Market Street, and Oblivious, which is set to be released ‘soon’.
@bleachmusicuk Strangers live @The Eagle Inn | Music Venue last night! #originalsong #picadillygardens #headlineshow #bandtok #manchester ♬ original sound – 𝘽𝙇𝙀𝘼𝘾𝙃
For a band still in their infancy, Bleach brought a great sense of confidence to their set, again impressing with layered guitar pieces and a ton of energy – drawing influences from the likes of Nirvana and The Strokes, even covering the latter’s hit Someday.
In a room where you can hear every sly movement and cracking of a knuckle, it takes a lot to interest a punter, but the enjoyment on display from every band was particularly striking. These are young people applying their trade in venues that need support in the wider industry, with many across Salford and the country needing nights like this to keep afloat.
