We arrived at the venue, we immediately had a drink in hand, pleased to see a thriving music scene with flocks of people amongst the trendy Northern Quarter.

Students in head to toe vintage outfits and Manchester locals dressed to impress.

Harpans Kraft were up first, a daunting task when setting the scene for a night of entertainment. They made sure we all knew they had arrived, silver hats on every band member in celebration of Night and Day’s 30th birthday, at least this is the assumption we made.

Manchester’s own post punk band gave a strong stage presence, with the lead singer seemingly paying tribute to Ian Curtis with his mannerisms. Marching on the spot with rigid arms grasping the mic. A true performer.

What sounded like a pitch bend or use of a theremin added a surprising element to their set.

Their set was significantly not as heavy in sound to what was previously heard at The Grafton Arms, although that is not a criticism, it was incredible to see them in their element playing a wider variety of new material with their sound ever evolving.

Check out Harpans Kraft on Facebook.

Birmingham based trio Total Luck were up next.

Three people walked past and in the blink of an eye were on stage introducing themselves, having never heard their sound before it took us all by surprise, it was quite a wake up call to a drowsy Sunday.

The vocals went from strength to strength, beautiful melodic singing to chanting and then later screaming. It takes a lot of talent to be able to fluctuate between all those vocal ranges in one song.

When the vocalist brought out a purple notebook where they read what seemed to be a biblical chant, it sounded just like poetry. Hard hitting, deep and punchy.

The guitarist showcased the ability to purposely create feedback and incorporate it as part of the song, as for the mad, industrial sound clash complimented by the drums and bass it was something far beyond what I could comprehend, but meant in the nicest way!

Total Luck are one to watch and one for those sleepless nights when you want to jump around furiously and seeing them live was an incredible experience I will never forget.

Check out Total Luck on Bandcamp.

This is the part where we thought we’ve got this far we need to stay out and watch the final band, with Monday morning looming over us, we awaited in anticipation.

Hotel Lux were a force in numbers, this indie band were a combination of The Streets meets IDLES meets Jamie T with their own unique spin. They had heavier moments like IDLES still with that iconic main vocalist, stylistically like Jamie T and The Streets with that spoken word style.

The front man had such a strong stage presence you could sense it from the back of the room.

The way he held his vocal notes and walked away from the mic at the end, his projection of his voice was so good you could still hear him the same.

My personal favourite song had to be The Ballad of You and I, the joint band vocals and back up la la la’s was very catchy.

Tabloid Newspaper was the track that showed off their talent collectively, with clever lyrics and emphasis on certain sounds and words gave the impression of a lightheartedness whilst talking about negative topics.

“Twister of the truth” emphasizing the twister word with the ‘er’ sound going up at the end to make it sound like they were referring to a double meaning such as something like twister movement, but also indicating twisting words in the news.

This band were new to my radar, they have been described as South London’s next great band.” by NME!

Check out Hotel Lux on YouTube

Musik Magazine 2021