Those who have so kindly taken their time to read my reviews know that one of my biggest musical passions is Grunge. I am constantly making references to Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden etc and support act, Empyre, are what happens if you put the power and emotion of Grunge into a blender, with a sprinkling of the type of grooves you would associate with Mastodon and the intricacies and guitar flourishes that wouldn’t look out of place in a 25 minute prog rock Opus. Empyre writes music that is just itching to break out of a 150 capacity student union room and into the stratosphere, strapped onto the rocket that is the exceptional vocals of singer Henrik Steenholdt.

The one thing that struck me the most however, was Empyre’s ability to flawlessly structure their songs. When taking from a catalogue of inspirations like the ones I mentioned above, effectively structuring a song, to most bands, would be borderline impossible, with easily decipherable segues acting as the bridge from one influence to the next. Empyre shown they have the natural ability to layer different ideas and techniques over one another to create such a unique, beautiful noise, complemented perfectly by the aforementioned vocals of Henrik Steenholdt. Subtle guitar licks, beautiful arpeggio’s, at times crushing riffs and a truly tight as anything rhythm section ensured that Empyre proved themselves as a band that could stand toe to toe with anyone on their day. Regarding the vocals, I honestly believe Empyre struck gold. In all my years of attending concerts in quote-unquote “smaller venues” I have never heard a voice so powerful and commanding that it had the ability to turn a tiny hall into that of an amphitheatre or large arena, it was truly magnificent. Too often you get singers relying too much on reverb to mask shoddy, pitchy vocals. To me, reverb should be to vocals, what salt is to a steak, it should be there to enhance something that is already top quality, giving it that extra kick up the arse and that is exactly what happened with Empyre. It added this subtle bit of depth to enhance what was already a scintillating vocal performance. They were truly remarkable.

The Vintage Caravan seems to be somewhat of an underground cult phenomenon if tonight’s crowd was anything to go off. Whilst in no way a packed crowd by any means, every single member of the audience was clearly devoted to the 3 guys on stage, meaning that there wasn’t a single person standing still for the duration of the band’s 80-minute set. And who can blame them. The Vintage Caravan bring to the table the most infectious blend of 70’s psychedelic and southern blues but with a notable contemporary twist. Even those unaware of the band would find it so easy to be able to pick up the insanely catchy hooks of songs such as ‘On The Run’ and ‘Reflections’ however, this is where the beauty of The Vintage Caravan shines. They have these incredibly catchy songs, however, blend them with a sound that is truly virtuosic. This is not a band who rely on the simplicity of sticking their guitars in drop D and letting the top 3 strings do all the work, this is a band who have spent the best part of 13 years honing and perfecting their craft, allowing themselves to over time introduce such beautiful guitar tones and innovative basslines, whilst keeping their music catchy and accessible, it is truly remarkable feat.

I sometimes struggle with bands that only have 1 lead guitarist as opposed to a lead and a rhythm guitarist. It is awfully hard to conjure up any form of depth with just a guitar and a bass, and all to frequently, especially during solos and more intricate parts of the music, bassists would often be found just following the root notes that complement the guitarists playing and it ultimately sounds a bit hollow and leaves me wanting more. This however wasn’t the case for The Vintage Caravan, and for my money, bassist and backing vocalist Alexander Orn Numason proved himself to be the man of the match tonight.

That guy knows his way around a bass, and at times couldn’t even be considered a bassist but an extension of the impeccable guitar work of Oskar Logi Agustsson, one moment in particular stood out to me, when he absolutely pounded the strings of his bass with the side of his palm, and I was genuinely shocked that he didn’t draw blood. It appeared at times that these two guys were playing two completely separate songs as a result of Alexanders ability to play something so different, yet so complimentary to that of Oskar and what this created was a sound that completely smashed any ideas that conventional 3-piece bands lack any form of depth.

Every single song played by The Vintage Caravan was received so so positively by the small yet passionate crowd of the Manchester Academy 3. Arms (and in one case Crutches) were passionately raised during the more energetic moments of the set, groups of grown men wrapped their arms around each others shoulders during the quieter sections and the feeling in the room was that of absolute euphoria. I’ll even make an exception to let off the overly long Drum Solo in this one instance, as the rest of the set was sublime. All in all, The Vintage Caravan possess the hallmarks of an “if you know, then you know”, kinda band, and I truly hope that more people give these guys a chance, as they are an absolutely remarkable band.

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!