Anteros, RedFaces; Arts Club Loft, Liverpool

Anteros

Both Anteros and RedFaces bring a night of perfectly crafted indie rock, and Getintothis’ Will Truby finds that guitar music has never been healthier.

As an indie rock four piece you REALLY have to deliver if you’re going to stand out in the scene, and luckily RedFaces are definitely up to the task. They blend all the best parts of 00s and current indie rock, drawing influence from the likes of The Strokes and Arctic Monkeys to Circa Waves.

They’re really quite dynamic too; there are moments where a run of the mill indie four piece would choose the obvious power chord, the balls to the wall chorus, where they take the chord less travelled. A particularly 90s vibe is provided by a synthesiser, which really goes a long way to make each song unique and interesting.

They seem to have an effortless way around generating a relationship with the audience; frontman Harry Lyon displays buckets of relaxed northern swagger while also coming across as genuine and appreciative of the audience they’ve gathered, and oddball bassist Isaac White seems to have brought a toy elephant head along for the ride, which is certainly…different?

And honestly I’m struggling to pick a song in particular because they’re all such strong earworms. It’s become so commonplace for artists to plug their Spotify accounts that I’m rarely convinced to do so, but this is one band you should definitely check out.

After a short while, the majority of Anteros arrive onstage to Donna Summer’s I Feel Love (always a good shout for a walk on song), and launch into new single Call Your Mother as front woman Laura Hayden steps onstage.

First thing’s first; Hayden is such an explosive performer, she has unreal levels of stage presence. Every song seems almost choreographed, she’s got moves and hand gestures to everything. It’s the kind of performance you’d imagine comes from someone who spend nights practising in front of the mirror with a hairbrush, drawing on influence from all those rock classic frontwomen.

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Fronting a band is certainly a separate craft to musicianship, and you can tell a lot of effort has gone into the image. The set is pretty much a masterclass on fronting and crowd interaction – there isn’t a moment where she’s not engaging with us, dancing or singing at someone or jumping into the crowd.

Anteros have a heavy 80s new wave vibe, a lot of their songs wouldn’t sound of place in a brat pack movie. A particular highlight is a partial cover of These Boots Were Made For Walking, which really doesn’t sound out of place with their other material.

About halfway through the set, Hayden invites all the ladies in the audience onstage for a rousing performance of older single Bonnie, which sees about a quarter of the audience ending up onstage. It’s a heartwarming scene, with Hayden hugging and singing passionately at awestruck fans onstage, and you see how she could easily become a hero to some of these young women.

A great gig, for many reasons.