Swim deep LIVE @ KOKO, Camden 17.2.14

Swim Deep are one of the most recent indie groups to hail from Birmingham’s B- town scene, the foothold of bands such as Peace and Jaws. Their debut album, Where the Heaven Are We, released last year, may have failed to create quite as much hype as their B-town counterparts Peace- who played two shows at London’s Shepherds Bush empire last December and are even up for an NME award for their fan base- but that’s not to say Swim Deep aren’t popular in their own right. For me I felt that their debut album just did not pack enough punch, I found it rather lacklustre and just a bit underwhelming. Thus, I would be lying if I said I hadn’t been fairly sceptical about seeing them live. However, a friend told me they were phenomenal live and I decided to put my faith in her. She couldn’t have been more right.

From the outset, energetic tunes like Francisco and Honey captivated the young and lively crowd that had turned out to see the Birmingham lads. The energy in the room did drop during slower songs such as Beach Justice, Stray and new song Hotel California and while lead singer Austin Williams, (clad in a velvet shirt and corduroy pants, looking every part the 70s disco star) tried his hardest to entertain the crowd; but clearly he hasn’t quite got the hang of entertaining the crowd between songs. None the less, things looked up when the band performed their ever-catchy cover of Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Girls just wanna have fun’, getting the crowd all jeered up, and even more so after their final song King City when Williams proceeded to spray Champagne across the crowd and create the kind of frenzy that really makes a gig go off with a bang.

All in all, Swim Deep made for a great night out. If you like flares, long hair, catchy riffs and champagne showers- make sure you catch Swim Deep on their next tour.

Corrine Corrodus

@alt_ernate

Whatcorrineliked.blogspot.com

Corrine Corrodus

Corrine Corrodus

Hi, i'm Corrine. I'm 16 and from London. My hobbies include blogging (chaoticcorrine.blogspot.com), spending all my money on vinyl and clothes, gig-going and avidly procrastinating. I would love to be a journalist, but my main wish is for The Smiths and Oasis to reform.