Live Review

Fly With Vampires – Barfly

• 17th Mar 2009

If KOL, the 3 Followill brothers and cousin, had grown up in Liverpool they would have sounded like Fly With Vampires. Instead of the home of Country and Christian Pop music, Fly With Vampires herald from a town steeped in it’s own musical history.

What still lingers here in the North West may be termed Magic 60’s dust but it is also viewed as lingering Mersey sewage, serving only to hold back and stereotype the Liverpool sound. While there are those who still peddle to the tune of Merseybeat, bands are now listening less to Billy Fury, Gerry Marsden and The La’s and drawing more from contemporary influences.

Fly With Vampires take the best of both worlds, combining vocals that hark back to the hallowed hayday of harmonies that graced Revolver and The La’s while harnessed in upbeat power songs are Editors-type driving choruses that leap out the speakers and lust for festival stages.

But no need to panic, jump out your seat just yet. If you haven’t heard of Fly With Vampires, don’t worry. You have just slipped off the spectrum of what’s hot on the lips of major UK A+R. You can be forgiven. After all this was only their first performance and no one gets signed after their first perfomance. Right, White Lies?

Three potential singles jump out the set. The unstoppable Tear Dried T-shirts, the anthemic sing-a-long Not Wasted on the Young, and in particular the uniquely inventive Labrat. With trademark three-part harmonies and soaring guitar riffs over an often pounding rhythm section Fly With Vampires have marked their territory.

I want to say these are the new Editors to listen to through this summer, I want to say Fly With Vampires have more life in them than the Midland quartet. I want to say they are the scouse Kings of Leon but I better just quit while I’m ahead.

From tonight’s debut setlist we’ll see how many are still around in a few months time. Chances are most of them will be.

1. Sirens & Sorrows
2. Not Wasted on the Young
3. A.D.F.N
4. Call it a Night
5. Labrat
6. Tear Dried T-Shirts
7. Broken Glass
8. Puppet Master