The first night of The Clause’s tour in support of the release of debut album Victim Of A Casual Thing took place at Brighton’s Patterns. Despite having only been released just a few weeks ago, a tour of record store in-stores last month ensured that each and every song was already popular amongst fans.
With support from two other bands and a relatively small stage, the raised platform was rather busy with equipment. Dozens of guitars leant against either side of the stage, and huge amps stacked on top of each other blocked any entry. In fact, the first band had to weave around amps and narrowly weave through a thin gap to make it onstage!
Local indie rock’n’roll band Star Print Clad squeezed their way onto the stage, dressed in 60s attire: leather jackets, collared shirts and sunglasses to complete the look. With groovy basslines and twangy guitars, the 5-piece delighted with a half hour of upbeat tunes. Singer Joe Rohan alternated between a 6-string and 12-string guitar, though swapping them out proved a bit of difficulty as passing guitars through the narrow gap between the amp stacks and low ceiling was a tight fit. Nonetheless, the show went on smoothly and the band played strongly throughout. Ending with ‘Too Heavy To Bear’, Star Print Clad were pleasant on the growing crowds’ ears and certainly have the potential to find themselves further up the lineup at a similar sized venue very soon.
Liverpool’s The Kairos are supporting for the entirety of the 13-stop tour. Though arriving onstage a little late, the crowd didn’t seem to mind as the group walked onstage to chants of “no Kairos, no party”. Initially promising, the band began with buoyant guitar-heavy indie. Tracks like ‘Punchline Fistfight’ packed a punch, but after a short while it became clear that each song sounded quite alike. However, with a large contingent of their own fans in the audience singing along, The Kairos proved to be a nice bit of fun. What they lost in repetitiveness they made up for in atmosphere.
Yet more chants (this time of “up the, up the, up The f***ing Clause”) resounded around the small room before the headliners walked on. By this point there were clear demographics in the crowd: a mix of people reminiscent of the Britpop era and a more “ladsy” audience with nostalgia for the later 00s and 10s indie movement – the sort you’d expect at a Kasabian or Kooks concert. Clapping, chanting and cheering the entire way through, you couldn’t fault the fun and happy atmosphere throughout.
The Clause themselves performed a setlist almost entirely made up from Victim Of A Casual Thing. For those who didn’t know the words, though, it was easy to chant along with catchy hooks that repeated in each song. Even more upbeat than the previous two bands, their set featured plenty of guitar solos and a few rock breakdowns (which commenced a few pits despite the tiny space available). During ‘Never Ending Affair’, frontman Pearce Macca switched the noisy electric guitar for an acoustic for the slower and more emotive track before moving back to electric for fan favourite ‘I Don’t Care’.
Despite mixing up the order of the setlist a couple of times, Macca laughed it off with the crowd and did not let it hinder his or the band’s performance. The acoustic came back once more for ‘Where Are You Now?’, which featured the loudest crowd singalong of the gig over the gentle instrumental. Bright and bouncy, the end of the set featured yet more happy and jaunty songs. During ‘Weekend Millionaire’, the audience crouched down to the floor before leaping back up when the final chorus hit. This descended into a small but fun moshpit which occupied the majority of the front floor area. This pit continued into the final track ‘In My Element’, which is The Clause’s biggest song to date.
All three bands were a great deal of fun, and each certainly had a sizable cult following in the audience. If you’re interested in a night of upbeat, optimistic indie, then this is for you. The Clause play 12 more dates, stopping in London on 10th December and finishing in hometown Birmingham on 19th December.
