Circa Waves (The Troubadour)

The Troubadour | Los Angeles, CA | September 21, 2015 | Photo Credit: Chad Elder |

There are a handful of good reasons why the Liverpool indie rock upstarts, Circa Waves, are in my Class of 2015: Have you seen them perform live? Yes, the songs on their freshly released debut album, Young Chasers, like “Good For Me,” “Fossils” and “T-Shirt Weather” are all ripe bits of pop smart guitar rock, all California summer (with an English twist) and the stuff that made us all fall for bands like The Strokes. But their live show is the clincher. At a sold out Troubadour, Kieran Shudall (vox, guitar), Sam Rourke (bass), Colin Jones (drums) and Joe Falconer (guitar) wasted zero time when taking the stage, immediately launched into “Young Chasers” and made quick, easy and wonderfully sweaty work of balancing their penchant for vibrant and energetic thrash with polish, performance and their very tangible youthful charm. Girls screamed, guys moshed, Shudhall gave up his body to a human wave, Rourke’s  shirt came off, the stage was in beautiful wreckage after the last song…

Just another outstanding night at the office for Circa Waves.