The Point - Cardiff 22/03/2007

Hailing from Australia, Howling Bells relocated to London to record their debut album and start their assault on Britain and Europe, their passion for the cause is obvious, they’re toured constantly for the last 18 months and its starting to pay dividends, I wouldn’t be the first to say the album is a slow burner, it took me a good few listens to get into, but this seems to apply to the whole Howling Bells experience, they’ve slowly built up a following over 2006 taking them into 2007 and their biggest headline tour to date.

First thoughts when you hear the name Howling Bells maybe of a group of Cistercian monks doing a bit of extra curricular bell ringing after 8 pints of buckfast wine but this couldn’t be further from the truth.  This is dirty rock n roll in the true sense of the word. Dark yet Dynamic, the comparisons are easy to make, their sound has elements of Spiritualized, you can hear early nineties indie hero’s Lush along with shoegazers Slowdive and Chapterhouse all good comparisons in my eyes.  

A beautiful female lead singer always endears me to a band and Juanita Stein is no exception, it’s obvious from the word go that she possesses the potential star quality to take this band further than they may have otherwise gone had they a greasy male lead singer, but thankfully for me and the other blokes in the crowd that’s not the case !

That’s not to say they don’t have the tunes though, because they clearly do, most of their eponymous debut album gets an airing tonight. Starting with the Bell Hit and very early on moving into Setting Sun which for me is the highlight of the album and gig, the subtle blend of Joel Stein’s sleazy slide guitar coupled with sister Juanita’s sultry vocals is near perfect, the only thing hampering their sound tonight is the fact that Juanita’s mic level seems to be way higher than anything else giving her voice an ear piercing tinge to it at times.  This is the third, maybe fourth time Howling Bells have played Cardiff in the last twelve months Juanita tells the audience, she also says it’s the city where a crowd first went mad to a Howling Bells gig so its obvious the band feel some sort of connection with the Diff’.  I first saw them in the Barfly, which as we know can be a tad claustrophobic at times unlike the Point which really seems to suit Howling Bells, some how the vaulted ceilings and stained glass are a perfect match for their effortless cool.    

It’s a short set, as with most bands on their first album your lucky to get 45 minutes but what you don’t get with Howling Bells is the one or two standout tracks kept for the end of the set, every song played is strong in its own right, from Across the Avenue, to Velvet Girl and Wishing Stone they probably could have released 6 or 7 singles from this album alone. Another pleasing feature of Howling Bells sets is the lack of an encore, they announce the last song, recent single Low Happening and it actually is the last song.  So we make our way out of the venue with the sound of Howling Bells ringing in our ears, lets hope the don’t leave it too long until they return.

by Rich