Psychedelic, progressive, alternative rock with a sprinkling of ethereal soundscapes. Now please do tell me what else you want to hear on a Saturday night.
Just a little walking distance from the hustle and bustle of the busy streets of Bristol, you will find one of the city’s coolest little and best-sounding live music venues, The Louisiana, and tonight, a sold-out show is on the cards.
With no support artist, the Manchester-based alt-rock duo, consisting of Sel Balamir on vocals, guitar and pedalboard, more about the pedalboard in a moment and Matt Brobin on the electric drum kit. Both Sel and Matt make up the mighty “Amplifier”
Forming way back in the late nineties, they were a wonderful breath of fresh air and broke away from the nearing end of the whole Brit-pop genre. Thank god.
The band seem to effortlessly meld all subgenres of rock into one beautiful piece of art that can never be mistaken for anyone but them. This is what brought success, longevity and opportunities to share the stage with such bands as Opeth, Porcupine Tree, Deftones and Anathema, to name but a few. Having a few line-up changes over the years, it always seemed to be Sel and Matt who were the mainstays, and that is exactly what I and a hundred-plus people were honoured to witness tonight.
Taking the stage at 8pm on the dot, the band played for a full 2 hours and 15 minutes. Yes, I know, right! 2 hours and 15 minutes. Halfway through the set, Sel announced that “there will now be a short interval” for people to go and grab a drink etc., but as this interval took place, the band didn’t really stop playing; just kind of noodled and had a little jam. Throughout the night it was quite impossible to not keep looking in amazement at Sel’s pedalboard (pictured below) it truly is a sight to behold and for the guitar nerds in attendance, it was truly magical to watch Sel use each of these pedals in combination with each other to create some of the coolest sounds/soundscapes imaginable, it was mind-boggling, I think flying a commercial plane would be easier than knowing how that thing works.
The duo played songs from nearly every album and you are probably thinking “But they were on for over 2 hours James” Well, Amplifier songs can be incredibly long, intricate, and filled with elongated jam sections and sometimes the duo would even look at each other completely locked in before suddenly be surprised by what was played or by a crazy zany noise triggered by Sel and his spacecraft cockpit.
I have to give an insane amount of respect to Matt Brobin too, who really did not stop drumming throughout the whole set, the only time he would stop would be to take a drink of water to replace the literal pints of sweat the powerhouse drummer produced, not only is he a hell of a hard hitter but the odd time stuff and the polyrhythms this man just made look easy is out of this universe.
This is a band that you need to see to believe. For 2 people, an electric drum kit, a guitar, a wonderful amount of pedals, a headset mic, a shed load of endurance and a stack of musical intelligence to remember these incredibly difficult pieces of music. They will make your jaw drop, that I can promise.
I am a self taught Photographer and an aspiring reviewer.
I have been in and out of bands for the past 15 years and some, so thought it only makes sense to stay in the scene that has been the most important aspect of my life since I can remember, live music.
Available for:
I am available for small gigs, larger concerts, recording sessions and festivals.
First attended gig:
The first proper gig that went to that I can actually remember was Muse supported by a then lesser known Elbow and I think the main reason I remember that is because it was the first big concert that I was allowed to go to with just my friends. Obviously Muse were fantastic by the way.
First gig shot:
Im pretty sure the first gig I shot was for a friends band at a local social club with some sort of £30 Argos camera. You can only imagine the fantastic quality of the shots.
Dream gig:
My dream gig to shoot would most definitely be either Tool, not just because they are amazing but their stage and lighting is magnificent. Or I would love to shoot another one of my favourite bands which is Explosions In The Sky and that’s just because they are incredible.
