You Heard it First: New Music Spotlight on…. THE LONDON SOULS
Artist: The London Souls
Releases: The Sound (single)
Website: http://www.thelondonsouls.com/
You must check out this power trio out of NYC… I know, I know, not another one… But no, these guys are the real McCoy.
Sounding like a cross between Jimi Hendrix’ Band of Gypsys and circa ’69 Zeppelin, The London Souls offer up an incredible blend of classic hard rock and the best of what today’s music scene has to offer.
As of yet, they’re unsigned to any label, but I don’t see how these guys don’t get picked up soon… even though, maybe they’d be better off if they weren’t and released their stuff independently.
They’ve got a bunch of live clips up on YouTube already to check out and each one of them packs a wallop…
So mosey on down to their Myspace page and be sure to take a gander of the video for their single “The Sound”, as well (seen below).
Where hath gone rock? I sometimes ask myself. It seems that any band worth listening to has the prefix alt or neo or indie associated with the type of music they play. What rock lovers are left with are mundane tribute bands or an occasional Stones tour. So, imagine three young men from New York walk up to that DeLorean DMC-12, yank out the doddering Michael J Fox, shoehorn themselves inside, slam shut the door, dial the Flux Capacitor to 11 and mash down on the throttle never lifting off the pedal until they reach Carnaby Street circa 1968. On a sweltering summer night the trio The London Souls played Williamsburg’s Cameo art space pumping out the most skillful, straight up rock to a jam-packed crowd of enthusiastic twenty-somethings. The nearly two hour set was filled with hard driving song after song that while reminiscent of the best 60’s era English rockers, always sounded fresh never derivative.
The London Souls consist of Tash Neal playing lead and rhythm guitar, Kiyoshi Matsuyama on bass and Chris Saint on drums. Neal and Matsuyama share most of the band’s vocals and comparisons to the Jimi Hendrix Experience will be obvious as Neal is African-American and Saint and Matsuyama are not. Wisely, Neal doesn’t attempt to parody the bluesier Hendrix; Neal’s precise, muscular playing is more like an Alvin Lee in his prime. The band has been playing out for only two years but sound tight and well-integrated, smoothly trading riffs and solos and the boys truly look as if they are enjoying themselves. Chris Saint the drummer plays with the assertive syncopation that is evocative of Ginger Baker. Even when they seemingly threw in a kink in their set with a Reggae-inflected tune but by the fourth stanza that song was turned on its ear into a throbbing rocker. They did a brilliant, searing cover of AC/DC’s “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)” that makes one wonder if that should have been the rendition the Young brothers recorded. The band’s finale brought on stage some of the members of the Brooklyn Funk band Turkuaz adding horns and organ, and Lily & The Parlour Tricks to sing background vocals. This brought the stage from a comfortable three to a crushing total of twelve. And to further press The London Souls’ reverence for that magical decade of pop music, ended their night with rousing renditions of “With A Little Help From My Friends” and Sly Stone’s “I Want to Take You Higher.”
My obvious enthusiasm notwithstanding, make no mistake, these guys are the real deal. Raw, skillful straight-ahead rock by three talented local blokes adding further evidence to the renaissance of New York as center of fresh, unique pop music.