FOLLOW DEEP
On a quiet Wednesday evening up in the residential area of Leeds, you wouldn’t expect such big sounds to be coming out of a bar’s basement. Yet that’s exactly the situation I found myself in last week when I walked through the doors of Hyde Park Book Club to watch Follow Deep, the Hull-based band currently touring their way through numerous pubs and music venues up and down the country.
I was on the ground floor buying myself a lovely pint of Northern Monk when Follow Deep first began their set, and while the soundproofed gig venue below blocked out the music itself, I could still physically feel the song as it vibrated through the floorboards. In my opinion, that’s a green flag. When the guitar is loud enough to split your ear-drums, you already know you’re going to be watching a good gig.
Having both listened to them live and, following that, perused through their Spotify discography as well, I’ve come to the conclusion that Follow Deep are a bit of an eclectic mix of genres, whose music doesn’t tie itself down to any particular category. While they operate under that amorphous and often-used ‘alternative/ indie’ label, I found they had elements of grunge, rock and pop running in various different degrees of intensity throughout their set, which gave them a lot of scope to perform a gig that could be enjoyed by many different ears.
I’m personally not a fussy gig-goer; I’ll listen to pretty much anything so long as it’s not too avant-garde (and even then, once I’m a few pints deep, you’ll probably find me doing my best to dance to it nevertheless), but their musical diversity kept me on my toes in more than just the dancing sense. The cheerfully pop-style ‘Closer than you think’ put you in one frame of mind, and then as soon as you’d settled into that, they sent you in a completely different direction, leaning into heavier, punchy rock and hitting you with - as succinctly described by the frontman on the night - ‘a song about sex’. And who doesn’t love a bit of that?
(By ‘that’, I mean exciting musical journeys, by the way. Get your minds out of the gutter.)
In terms of sound, Follow Deep hit the mark bang-on. I’m not going to pretend I know the first thing about music tech, or even how to tune a guitar, but I know what a song sounds like when it hits the audience, and these guys definitely seemed to have that part covered. Lead vocals by Luke Bushby were excellent – I found that he almost took on Thom Yorke-style drawl in some songs, with an eerie waver that perfectly fitted the grungy tone of the song at the time. But in a move that indicated a clear proficiency at his trade, this was easily switched out for a more powerful voice when the music required it of him, ensuring no lyrics were lost to the strong bassline of Joe Ingram or the confident guitar-playing of Damien Wade. Elliot Joesbury, on drums, was also a force to be reckoned with. A special mention has to go out to him for not only being a clearly talented musician, but also a raucous stage presence. Every hit he made against the skin of his drum was paired with a wild, excited facial expression that mirrored the direction the music was headed in, and despite the fact he was sat down with two sticks in his hands the entire time, he still managed to look as if he was dancing - bobbing around with vigour and generally having the time of his life as he drummed his way through their set. It was a riot to witness, and brought that extra layer of energy to the gig that may otherwise have been lacking.
Watching Follow Deep’s performance was a constant journey - going from high, upbeat dancing tunes to emotive rock ballads and back again. It was a small crowd in a small venue, but they made a big impression and I enjoyed every minute. Their ability to create bold, stand-out sounds that hold up both when streamed or watched live are invaluable, and they bring an energy to the stage that’s simultaneously exciting and comforting. It reminds the audience that they want to be there, making music for us to enjoy – and we enjoy it more because of that knowledge.
You can find Follow Deep on Instagram (Followdeepuk).
