Music / Reviews
Review: The Temperance Movement, O2 Academy
From the Louisiana back in May 2013 to a packed Academy, via the Thekla, Anglo-Scottish rockers The Temperance Movement have enjoyed an impressive upward trajectory without the benefit of mainstream media support. Their third album, A Deeper Cut, has just entered the UK chart at number three, way ahead of more high-profile, widely reviewed releases in BRITs week, providing independent extreme metal label Earache with its biggest hit since branching out into hard rock with the likes of Blackberry Smoke.
It’s Thomas Wynn’s fourth day on UK soil and the Orlando, Florida, native is clearly overjoyed to be on such a happening tour. A rootsy sextet whose style encompasses soulful country and muscular hard rock, Thomas Wynn and the Believers are built around the powerful, evocative vocals of Thomas – a ringer for Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Gary Rossington – and his heavily tattooed sister Olivia, who’ve clearly been harmonising since childhood. Frequently reminiscent of The Band, their organ and guitar-driven songs occasionally boast a rich gospel flavour – notably the title track of new album Wade Waist Deep.
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The Believers’ sixth member seems a tad superfluous for much of the set as he strums an inaudible acoustic guitar. But then he justifies his presence on stage with a blistering harmonica solo.
Springsteen’s acoustic Atlantic City is deconstructed and rebuilt from the ground up as a country rock song – the very model of how to pull off a cover version that isn’t simply a pointless facsimile. They conclude with a full-on southern rock wig-out that sees Thomas going full guitar hero and leaves us all believers.
From the moment they came on stage at the Louisiana nearly five years ago, it was clear that The Temperance Movement were not one of those bands who’d have any difficulty translating to larger venues. Already fully-formed, all they lacked was material, having released just one EP at the time.
Modestly dressed with a nice carpet and boasting unflashy but effective lighting, the Academy stage merely offers frontman Phil Campbell a larger area in which to showcase his uniquely ungainly dance moves, which range from Jagger-esque strutting and disco frugging to flapping his arms like a crazy goose, while clad in an especially loud flowery shirt and occasionally giving it some serious maraca action.
But, holy crap, what a voice! All those familiar comparisons – Rod Stewart, Steve Marriott, Paul Rodgers, Frankie Miller, Chris Robinson – remain apposite, but Campbell has never sounded better than he does tonight, from opener Caught in the Middle onwards. They play three-quarters of A Deeper Cut, omitting just three tracks, which might seem rather brave considering that it’s only been out for a few days. But this is a far more immediate collection than its predecessor White Bear, packed with those concise, fat-free, old-school catchy blues-rockers at which the band excel.
Although The Temperance Movement’s rise has been seemingly effortless, there have been ructions along the way, occasioned in part by creative differences and, ahem, the usual rock’n’roll vices. So there are two new band members on stage tonight, both of whom slot in perfectly. Drummer Simon Lea joins forces with bassist Nick Fyffe to form a rhythm section with real groove, helping to make this the most danceable of blues-rock bands. Gangly incoming guitarist Matt White also proves an effective foil for Paul Sayer, especially when they lock in to a twin bottleneck frenzy. Most impressively given their sessioner backgrounds, The Temperance Movement achieve a careful balance, being super-tight without ever sounding sterile and stretching out their songs without succumbing to self-indulgence.
Thomas and Olivia Wynn are summoned back to the stage to provide backing vocals for Love and Devotion, which proves something of a masterstroke, kicking it up a gear from the recorded version. And amid such belting fan favourites as Ain’t No Telling and Know For Sure, Campbell also gets to demonstrate his range with full-on emoting during the likes of Another Spiral. The crunchy Only Friend has the crowd singing along, after which there’s nowhere left to go apart from taking things down a notch with the gorgeous title track from A Deeper Cut.
A keyboard is hauled out for the encore, which at least means Campbell will sit reasonably still while playing Backwater Zoo. But he’s back on his feet for ecstatically received big concluding stomper Midnight Black. Now The Temperance Movement are reaching the point at which the mainstream press and broadcasters can no longer ignore them, it’ll be fascinating to see just how far they can go once they reach their huge potential audience.
All photos by Shona Cutt
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