Photo Credit: Ayla Masters
Words: Lauren Pine
The Guest List, an indie-rock outfit from Manchester have been steadily growing within indie music scenes. Last year, they bagged themselves support slots on tour with major bands like the Irish rockers, Inhaler and indie icons, Razorlight. Now, they are touring across the UK, including a stop at Southampton’s The Joiners.
Before they could step onto the iconic stage, however, support came from Cardiff four-piece Shale. Despite walking on rather stern-faced, the band had an energy fighting to get out of them. By the end of their set, they had completely come alive with lead singer Samuel Hale bringing their cowbell centre stage, passionately hitting it. Later, in the same song, he pulled out a harmonica, playing it whilst frantically moving across the stage. Though most of the audience seemed to be unfamiliar with their music, it was hard to be bored during their set. Each member offered something unique to look at, and their songs often took completely unexpected turns, keeping us entirely engaged.
After Shale left and packed up, bringing their instruments through the crowd as is standard for the quaint but legendary venue, it was time for the main act.
Opening up the set with ‘Loose Tongue’, a lyrically simple but nonetheless catchy song thanks to its guitar riffs, the band immediately proved why the gig, which had been rescheduled from November, was worth the wait. The Joiners only holds a capacity of about 200 people, but the band’s indie-rock tracks and dynamic performance could have filled arenas.
After a strong start, they wasted no time in moving on to the next song, ‘Ruine’, which comes from their latest EP When The Lights Are Out. A song about longing, and featuring a French spoken-word poem performed by the band’s bassist, Sid Wallace, it offers a unique approach to indie-rock. They kept the momentum going, playing the unreleased ‘Mundane’ next, shortly followed by the EP’s title track ‘When The Lights Are Out’, a slower track tackling the heavy theme of mental health. It’s through songs like these that the band proves that they are not just another run-of-the-mill indie band, but instead using their skills in crafting strong melodies to deliver powerful messages.
The Guest List as a band are very young, as they were humorously reminded between song changes when someone brazenly asked “How old are you?” from the crowd. They only formed back in 2021 but despite this and their youth, their music is tinged with professionalism and experience, as well as emulating the sounds of early 2000s indie scenes. Their first official single, ‘Won’t You Leave Me Alone’ is exactly that, as if plucked straight from that time period, and performed live elicits an inexplicable feeling of nostalgia.
After rolling through the unreleased ‘If Ever Your Devil Is Kind’, and ‘Mary’, another EP track, the band were forced to slow things down. While the technical difficulties may have thrown them off, the band handled it like pros, swiftly moving on to perform an acoustic track, asking the fans to choose between ‘London’ and ‘Borderline’. Choosing the latter, lead singer Cai Alty performed the track solo, guiding the audience with just his voice and acoustic guitar.
Back on track and issues seemingly resolved, the band came together again to perform ‘161’. It was a clear standout in the set from both a performance stance as the band seemed especially energised during this track, and from the audience’s reaction, who loudly sang back every word. The song itself is thematically intriguing, as Alty explains it was written about a street in his hometown which saw 161 men from 60 houses serve during World War I. It pays tribute to the men in a sincere, touching way, and appreciates the rich history of a place that would’ve been walked down countless times by both Alty and many others like him.
Their next single, ‘You Should Care’, was next up on the setlist, giving us a taste of what’s to come and reminding us of its imminent release on May 1st. This was shortly followed by ‘Canada’, another early track in their discography with an undeniable ear-worm of a chorus.
Coming toward the end of the show, they dove into a performance of their most recent single, ‘Something Real’. A song which once again explores an interesting, yet culturally relevant theme, commenting upon the ways in which social media platforms and algorithms reward negative content, sucking us into “the hole that never ends”, that is our feeds.
‘Weatherman’, from When The Lights Are Out, closed out the show, with its powerful message and cinematic sound ringing in the audience’s ears as they filtered out, leaving us desperate for more.
The Guest List, who are reminiscent of artists like Arctic Monkeys, particularly mimicking (but not copying) the Sheffield band’s early work, are sure to be future indie festival headliners, perfect for dancing in a field with the sun shining bright. This summer alone they are already booked for Neighbourhood Weekender, Camp Bestival and Reading and Leeds Festival, just in time for the release of their debut album due this summer.
Taped Magazine 