Vant and Yonaka at The Lexington for NME Awards Shows 2016

The beginning of February launched this year’s NME Awards and a month-long programme showcasing some of the country’s most recognised artists, bands and a host of new and promising talent, including young four-piece rock band Vant. Echoing a strong predilection for 90s indie icons such as The Strokes, the London-based quartet immersed the Lexington’s capacity audience in speaker-blowing and infectiously clamorous garage rock.

Before the evening’s main proceedings, Brightonian four-piece Yonaka filled the support act seat with their dynamic brand of dark indie rock/pop. The quartet formed just eight months ago, but commanded the North London stage like old pros. Absorbing the scattered crowd in piercing and brooding sonorities, standout track Run saw them confront flashes of potent guitar distortion waves in the verses and indulge in a chorus filled with sumptuous harmonies and melodic vocal laments.

British indie rock has historically been a vehicle for political engagement, and Vant continued the trend with their raucous musical and social intentions. Their knack for packing an array of sonic onslaughts in “under-three-minute” tracks was pronounced form the outset with The Answer. Vant ticked all the boxes in the punk-rock formula as the track exploded with punchy rhythmic forces, the rasping vocals of frontman Mattie Vant and the provocative lyrics that were further enriched by the confrontational blasts of noise.

Birth Certificate raised the voltage with jangling tremolo-soaked guitar riffs and Vant’s unpretentious vocal character conveying a strong political monologue about immigration – perhaps the perfect track to give UKIP and the BNP a slap in the face. Equally breathtaking were Parking Lot and concluding number Do You Know Me?, the latter inducing a handful of the enthusiastic crowd to invade the stage as Vant and his entourage rumbled the venue with some memorable chorus melodies and hard-hitting guitars and drums.

By the conclusion of this new music spectacle, the audience knew that both Vant and Yonaka are exciting bands to keep a close eye on. Yonaka’s dark pop identity and Vant’s sparkling brew of musically infectious and politically tense indie/punk rock are injecting new blood in the modern rock landscape.

Isaku Takahashi
Photos: Catherine Starkey

For further information about Vant and future events visit here.

Watch the video for Do You Know Me? here: