Some new bands completely try to come up with a unique sound that has never been heard before and that will define their era of music. Other new bands exist solely to pay homage to the musical legends of the past. However, a lot of great bands fall somewhere in between. One of those great bands is, without a doubt, Hidden Charms.
Hidden Charms is a four-piece blues/garage rock band from London. They have two interchangeable lead singers and all four of the guys are multi-instrumentalists. One of the singers is Vincent Davies, who sings lead vocals, backing vocals, and plays guitar and bass. The other lead singer is Ranald Macdonald, who sings lead vocals, backing vocals, and plays keyboards, guitar, and bass. Their third member, Josh Lewis, plays guitar and bass as well while the band's drummer, Oscar Robertson can also play bass, though you'll only ever see him on the drums, which he often chooses to bash away at while standing up.
When the band first started a few years ago, they were mainly playing the blues of the 60's, but have since evolved into a more mature, garage/psych rock sound. Some of their early tunes, "Sunny Side" and "It's Time" show that early blues sound and both of the tracks were produced by famous California singer-songwriter, Nick Waterhouse. On their more recent, officially released material, they've worked with the likes of Shel Tamy, one of the most celebrated music producers of all time, best known for his work with The Kinks and The Who.
The band have named quite a list of bands as their influences. Early on they were playing songs from Chuck Berry and a lot of those early rock and roll pioneers. They name guys like Bo Diddley, Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters as influences as well as the inevitable bands of the British Invasion: The Stones, The Beatles, The Kinks, The Who, etc. However, the great thing about the band is that they aren't solely rooted in the 50's or 60's. They love more modern day artists as well like The White Stripes, Arctic Monkeys, Jagwar Ma, Temples and Paolo Nutini. With such a good, mixed bag of influences, you know that they're bound to be great, however, they're not, in any way, too dependent on those influences and they definitely have the tunes to back up all the talk.
The band has tons of different tracks to choose from for their setlist. Even though they've only released a few 7" singles, they already have quite the repertoire. I've been digging to find as many of their songs online as possible because I haven't found a bad or even underwhelming track yet. Last year they did a session in LA where they played two songs, "Lady Like You" and "Mona", both of which are fantastic and by about the two minute mark of both songs, they're already blowing the roof off of the place with the face-melting guitar and keyboard solos. They also played a track live last year, in Austria called "Time To Make It" which displays Davies' raw, gritty vocals, Macdonald's incredible keyboard skills, and the band's tight live sound.
Though the band have only ever played LA shows in their short time in the US, they've already made quite the impression. There was a video of them playing a song live at The Lyric Theatre called "Gonna Be Your Man" and though it's short on lyrics, it's an absolutely mental live performance. Another thing that got me really excited about the band is that they can play acoustically just as well. There was a video of them playing a song called "Harder From Here" with all four members walking the streets of Germany at night while simultaneously playing the song. And of course, it's revealed that Macdonald excels at yet another instrument, the harmonica, and it seems that the band could practically be sprinting down the street and still sound just as good.
Another thing that can't go without saying with this band is just how sharp they look. They are simply and easily the best dressed band of the last few decades. They love their patterned button down shirts, scarves, suits, denim, jewelry, and nice coats, not to mention their long, scruffy hair to top off the whole look. They look so classic in all their rock and roll staples yet they never manage to look dated or cliche at all. They wear timeless staples and it looks completely natural and modern as well. You can tell that it's definitely not a forced image. These guys have got their look down to a T.
Their look has also got them a few cool opportunities in the fashion world. The guys have done a lot of work with Liam Gallagher's clothing line, Pretty Green. The band's song, "One More Night", featured in the video for the brand's spring/summer 2015 collection and the band's drummer, Oscar, models clothing and plays drums in the brand's spring/summer 2016 video entitled, "Journey of Paisley." However, Pretty Green isn't the only brand that they've done work with. Oscar and Ranald also managed to model for Burberry's autumn/winter 2015 campaign, which also features Tom Odell, which you can watch here.
The singles that the band have officially released have all come out fairly recently. Last year they released two singles, one of which was "Love You Cause You're There", which has got one the best, sleaziest intros I've ever heard and it's backed by the tasty, instrumental track "Scarab Beetle Shuffle." The other single was a double A side, which consists of "Dreaming Of Another Girl" and "Long Way Down", both of which are impressive. The band's newest single, "Cannonball" came out this summer and it's probably their best song to date. The song's dark backing vocals (the na na's and the la la's) really add depth, interest and attitude to the band's sound. It's definitely a more mature, developed, garage rock sound that's different from all of their previous work and it's a really good sign for what's to come.
The band have played lots festivals this summer like Reading and Leeds, Boardmasters, Y Not and Kendal Calling in the UK, as well as some other European festivals as well. They've supported the likes of Razorlight and Awolnation and are now to due to play their own UK tour with a band called The Vryll Society (who are also a fantastic, new band that you should definitely check out) in October and November.
With the band's amazing style and fashion sense, their incredible multi-instrumentalist abilities, their tight live sound, their legendary producers, their new and old influences and their fantastic collection of original material, there's absolutely no reason why this band can't take over the world. I'm really looking forward to seeing what a full-length Hidden Charms album would sound like and I'm dying for the chance to see these guys live, whether it's in the US or the UK. Make sure you follow them on Twitter here, so you can get all the latest updates from the band.
