Review: Spring King, The Big Moon & Get Inuit at Engine Rooms

While we might be living in a time where indie guitar music is arguably at its lowest point for a while, it’s reassuring to know there are bands out their fighting the good fight, and three of them were under one roof on a cold February evening. Spring King brought their debut album tour to Southampton’s Engine Rooms and brought with them two shining lights for the future; The Big Moon and Get Inuit.

 

Get Inuit opened up the nights proceedings with a fast-paced, riff-filled frenzy that went by in the blink of an eye. The four piece showed the South coast why they are so hotly tipped, with songs like ‘Teriyaki’ and ‘Barbiturates’ showing the band at their ferocious best. While set closer ‘Pro Procrastinator’ had the crowd in the palm of their hand with their Fidlar esque riff and vocals.

Photo by Isha Shah


Following on from the night’s openers were the women who were looking to steal the show, The Big Moon. The four piece stopped off in Southampton in preparation for the release of their debut album “Love In The 4th Dimension” due out in April. The band brought with them everything you’d expect to see in an up-and-coming indie band; swagger, confidence and the tunes. Well, almost the tunes. While the band sounded great it felt like something was missing, the power behind the band is the bass driven songs that really come alive in their live set. However, songs like ‘Formidable’ felt flat, while ‘Bonfire’ had the feel of a rushed song that had been pieced together all wrong. The band ooze potential, hopefully they can make that potential a reality come the debut album in April.

Photo by Isha Shah

The night’s headliners are no strangers to the live circuit, having toured relentlessly since the release of their debut album “Tell Me If You Like To”, and you can see that in their live performance. Spring King brought their A-game tonight and the crowd were happy to equal the band’s high octane energy. The band produced a feircely paced set that had the crowd captivated. As soon as the set started there was no stopping the Manchester band, with fan favourites ‘Detroit’ and ‘It’s So Dark’ causing limbs to fly everywhere while the crowd screamed every word back to them. The band sound as tight as ever and have the stage presence that would captivate an arena sized crowd, let alone a couple of hundred people. The band barely stop for a breath, but drummer and singer Tarek Musa does take the time to thank the crowd. The set finishes as it started: fast-paced riffs galore. ‘Who Are You’ and ‘Rectifier’ get the biggest reaction of the night and the band definitely return the energy given off by the crowd. The whole venue becomes a sea of raised arms and deafening riffs. Not a bad way to end a night at all.

Photo by Isha Shah

Spring King’s return to the south coast is as triumphant as one could hope and they brought what could be future indie royalty with them. The future of indie music might look bleak at the moment but tonight’s bands are only just getting started.

Words by Callum McCormack