Yo, this be Reuben.
Milo here.
Dame Jean are nice lil’ band born from our nice lil’ hometown Bath, and it was a pleasure to see them live in that nice lil’ venue that is the Bell Inn’s backbar.
Don’t let my (Reuben) nice lil’ intro mislead you however, because this indie outfit mean business. Their main tool for doing such business is their energy, which while youthful, glittery and in-your-face, is infectious — the frontman, chaboi Sammy Crocker, really brings that energy and fun to the fore, with an impressive confidence and stage presence. The music itself is punky, heavy, but with a melodic strength and some indie feelz; with the groovy basslines, pounding drums and fuzzy guitars, their sound packs a really rather refreshing punch. Take a looksee at their music video for the debut single Wasted Love here:
It’s a good song, and with its flick of heavy and kick of catchiness it’s a very solid first single, while maybe not their best song as evidenced by their live show, which showcased a lot of quality tracks. The show itself, in a sweaty little backbar of this lively pub, was a bright affair, completely lit up and colourful, with the band’s glittery logo behind the drummer being the centrepiece as the band (and some of the audience) in some kind of gender-fluid gear (which, obviously, as the non-conservative, liberal chap I am, I was right up in it with my neon green fishnets).
Reuben left for some flaccid campsite before finishing this article — so I’ve (Milo) (once again) jacked it for the good of mankind.
The boi summed up the song pretty well, it was more his kinda thing than mine anyway. After Reuben invited me to this gig, I thought it would be a good idea to check out Wasted Love and all it’s business. While I agree Reubs on the song’s punky-indie qualities, it wasn’t particularly heavy enough for my liking and frontman Sammy Crocker was giving off some certain The 1975 vibes (197-fvibes?) that I wasn’t digging that much personally.
However, the gig was pretty great. The venue was about as big as my living room and it packed the volume in. The entire pub had a very chill vibe to it, which I was not against in the damn slightest, with a wide-ass age range and a DJ playing funk’n’soul in the main bit. The atmosphere of the place was great before the bands even came on.
With the first band, Mary’s Room, we were treated to a good half hour of ethereally-progressive-dreamy-alt rock, with the Florence-esque lead vocals and fuzzy-as-fuck bass. They powered through a selection of proggy, slow-moving rockers and a cover of Lorde’s Green Light that I personally preferred to the original, after which they packed up.
After mooching around for the night, Dame Jean finally took to the stage — blasting through a cacophony of punky indie tunes with a great wit and banter with the audience (which was, granted, made up of mostly people who knew them) that I really didn’t get from their music, and was a nice surprise. Though the Matt Healy vibes were still there, I really bought into Sammy as an engaging frontman, with that aforementioned humour and really great, eclectic stage presence. The rest of the band weren’t slouching neither, however, with the injection of energy on stage being administered to the entire crowd. Needless to say, it got a lil’ raucous.
BUY WASTED LOVE HERE:
Lots of hugs, kisses and lacerations
Milo.
Bringing redundant opinions to scrollers everywhere
Reuben.
Stuff and That. 
Neat!
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Linked video is unavailable to me here, though. Will try looking them up myself.
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Oh it’s unavailable here too — might have to update the link
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