The Music. My Band

The first time I saw The Music was with my Dad at The Forum in Kentish town. The show occurred just before their second record was released, and it was a night that changed my perspective on music forever.

I had been to shows before. I had just hit 17 years old and I was really starting to get into music. It was a winter night when we went to see them, I don’t quite remember the date but I remember the show clearly. The band played songs from their debut record, which I had not really heard, and about half of the second album, I remember ‘Breakin‘ was being played on the TV quite a bit (ironic considering it‘s possibly their weakest tune). I always had a prudish attitude towards live music that I’d never heard because part of the fulfilment for me was singing along to the words and burying myself into the vibe of the tunes. That night, however, my cynicism was disbanded beneath the glare of The Music’s combustible indie-dance that span webs of noise throughout the venue and my mind, in equal measures.



In a short space of time I became absolutely hooked with the band. I had never quite heard anything like it before, nor since. The undeniable groove that cascaded the underbelly of these fiery riffs and Plant-like vocals that reached the top of mountains, howling side by side with Gods - it was the most untouchable, authentic and mind-blowing rock and roll that I had ever come across.

It must have been around 2004, something like that. Pretty soon, once my Dad realised my adoration for this band, it became an occasion, as many times a year as we could, to go and see this band play all over the country. I’ve seen them in London countless times, Leeds three times and Sheffield once, quite far considering I live in Brighton, but in retrospect, I would travel to the ends of the fucking earth to see them one more time.

Something thing that hit about The Music were there fans. While we’d travel all over the place, there were people who had always travelled further. I always recognised faces at the shows, the same people there to catch the same buzz that I was after. Even at University, once I found out someone liked The Music, whoever they were, I felt like I could talk to them for hours about the intricacies of ‘The Walls Get Smaller’ or ‘Raindance‘ - I never usually saw them again though, ha. There has always been that bond between fans that I have never encountered any where else. No pretension, no gimmicks, nothing to prove. It was as real as it got. Dedication at its rawest.

One of the highlights for me, as well as a Cockpit show, I remember seeing the band at the Brunel Social Club in 2009. This scraggy hub in the centre of a dodgy looking estate seemed the most unlikeliest of places for a rock show to happen but it couldn’t have been more fitting - a band of the people, playing for The People. Always expect the unexpected, yet always expect to be wowed. The quality of the sound in that venue was crystal while the cheap drinks and a support slot from The Mouth made it one of the greatest nights of music that I have ever witnessed. Consistency seemed to be something The Music have never had an issue with.

It has always baffled me why The Music have lacked further commercial success, owing to the fact that they make the most anthemic, face-melting indie-rock of my generation, yet, as I always go back to, I’m glad I’ve got to share these revolutionary nights with people whose faces I know yet their lives remain a mystery to me, much like the band. And in a way, I’m glad they remained relatively untouched. They always came out and spoke to the fans after the show, and it wasn’t like a celebrity had walked into the room, it was simply, ‘Oh look there’s Rob’, despite the fact that these four men from Leeds were heroes to many. Untouchable on stage, up for a drink afterwards.



The undeniable mysticism behind the sublime etherealism of ‘Too High’, ‘Disco’ and ‘The Dance’ was unconventional yet completely perfect, to me. The music towered above anything I’ve heard, emotionally rich and rife in the sort of potency that should make modern rock bands think, ‘why bother?’. ‘Welcome to the North’, ‘Freedom Fighters’ and ‘Bleed From Within’ followed with an amped-up fervour that was a little less ‘acid-doused’ than their debut but equally vibrant. Although album number three didn’t quite punch with the strength I was hoping for, ‘Drugs’ and ‘The Spike’ were strobe-heavy anthems that still rise above the majority of modern music. The still had the flair. I’m not disowning that record, it’s just impossible to follow up their first, I think most will agree.

And when I think about ‘The Music’, album number one, I know it’s something I will go back to for the rest of my life, no matter how many times I’ve already listened to it, it will be there, sound tracking my existence forever. It embodies the underdog and the good times. It represents the talent of this country and the unspoken heroes of music who will never be rewarded yet require no reward but acceptance. It represents me, everyone who ever went to the shows, every night you’ve ever listened to that album.



I went to their second to last show in Leeds on 5th August 2011. I wanted to see them out on their home turf, the same way I’ve followed them for the past six or so years. Looking back on it, there was no better way to end. The set list was perfect, the lights were perfect, the band were perfect. I was almost in tears as I thought ‘this will never happen again’ when the closing reverb of ‘The Walls Get Smaller’ faded into the abyss. Never. Never again will I go out with my Dad and my friends and the friends I don’t know to see this band that mean so much to me. It’s sad, but it’s best to go out on a high, and there was no higher point than that. So, here’s to The Music - My band. Our band.