aaamusic | On 14, Mar 2011

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London, 11th March 2011

Imperial Leisure: the perfect mix of Rock, Punk and Ska.

I didn’t know what to expect from this gig at the Roundhouse Studio Theatre, but it took me less than 5 minutes to realise I was actually experiencing one of the best and entertaining gigs of the last few months. Guitar, bass, trumpets, drum, piano and, of course, a good dose of energy along with an excellent voice. These are the basic ingredients Imperial Leisure used to delight their crowd. The venue was packed and people jumped, sang and had fun from the first until the last song. Everyone gathered around the stage fighting for the best spot but as the music kicked in, space didn’t matter anymore. The vocalist and frontman of the band, Denis Smith, was absolutely mad; he didn’t even say a word and he was already all over the stage straight after a short intro. The sound of the first song (Jenny) wrapped everyone around while the trumpet had the power to lead the music. The stage was well-organised with a strange but appealing style: a girl’s head was showing in a glass box just beside the band; her face had messing make-up and bleeding mouth. Even their logo was very attractive. Imperial Leisure played more than 12 songs uninterruptedly, without losing the power of concentration. After a couple of songs, the band played their new single, Dead Model, followed by energetic and catchy tunes like In A Letter , Beast and Man On The Street, songs in which their spirit and soul were definitely embodied. Imperial Leisure had the skill to entertain and delight their fans for almost an hour, without losing their new band humility.  These guys really knew how to their job: how to resist to such a rock-ska-jazz-punk sound brought together by a bunch of musicians? What really struck me about the gig, was a good portion of loyal crowd, mixed with people (like me) that for the first time were enjoying this amazing band. I saw most of the people at the end of the gig with sweaty and smiley faces: this meant that Imperial Leisure accomplished their mission; in few words, as far as I’m concerned, they were simply perfect!

In my opinion, it’s very hard to predict whether a band is gonna be huge, but allow me to say that Imperial Leisure have got what it takes to be a great band. Bravo!

Author & Photos: Luca Viola