The Family Rain at Rough Trade East

The Family Rain concert at Rough Trade East can be summarised thus: “there is a life besides the Prince concerts in Camden”. On the day of the second concert of the genius of Minneapolis, in a city struggling by during a tube strike and cold weather, the music business keeps on doing its job. One of these duties was the live set of these three brothers from Bath.

Having just released their debut, long-playing record Under the Volcano, the band are obviously in town to promote it. These young guys – William at the bass and lead vocal, Ollie at guitar and backing vocals, Timothy at the drums and backing vocals – during 2013 toured around Europe with bands like The Courteeners and with Willy Moon, improving their live skills. In fact, The Family Rain onstage are powerful, conscious of their prowess and with great energy. These characteristics, these skills, work for their music as well: a power rock n roll with some garage features in the shade of The Jets, The White Stripes, with some hard rock attributes too à la AC/DC. That’s why their debut album is produced by Jim Abbiss, the name behind the sound of indie bands like Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian.

The live show started with the incisive Carnival, where all the best qualities of the band emerged: pop attitude, garage, rock n roll guitars and a good rhythmical section. The single Vulpicide follows on this straight line, emphasising further the blues and hard rock marks of the music of The Family Rain. Feel Better reveals an important influence on the music of the trio – Placebo (especially in the voice of singer William) – actually the best song of the band.

Because of the strike, the cold and the rain, the audience was very limited, but it is clear that this band is going to grow in popularity very soon to become a big name in the music industry.

Lorenzo Cibrario
Photos: Erol Birsen

For further information and future events visit The Family Rain’s website here.

Watch the video for Vulpicide here: