TALKS WITH MOREISH IDOLS
- La Lena
- May 29, 2023
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 28, 2024
An interview with the South London band Moreish idols during their first official tour.
On their first official tour of the UK, the South London band Moreish Idols stopped off at the modish Leeds venue Oporto found on Call Lane. Here, supported by local bands 'Mince' and 'Dim Imagery', they gave a spectacular performance with a unique, incomparable sound that blends South London jazz influences with almost psychedelic-rock stylistic aspects. By using traditional jazz instruments music mixed with synth effects and many an entrancing guitar riff, this truly is a music genre like no other and definitely worth the listen, with my personal favourite being When the River Runs Dry.
Before the concert, I sat down with the group and discussed their music career so far, here's what they had to say.
Of course, when the question of musical inspiration arises with Moreish Idols, the answer tends to be a mix as, "[they] couldn't name one" because, "each of [their] songs have different inspirations, it depends what mood [they're] in when writing it and things like that". Therefore, influences can range from Led Zeppelin and Talking Heads to Stereolab and Pavement. However, one thing for certain is that Moreish Idols' music is clearly characterised by the South London music scene. As they tell us, "there's loads of amazing bands over the last four or five years, maybe even more than that, that have just been pioneering in South East London" and this is also a "very jazz influenced scene at the start so [they] have been picking up on that as well with having more saxophones and stuff like that going on".
Despite this being their first tour, Leeds crowds are not entirely new to Moreish Idols as they performed at the Brudnell Social Club as part of the 'Live at Leeds in the City' event which invited more than 80 artists to play at 20 different venues in the city centre, all in one singular day and so far "every gig that [they've] played here has been fantastic".
For Moreish Idols, the best part about being part of a band is the song-writing aspect, that, "The way we write tunes is like all together as a team and it takes like a lot of effort and it takes a while to make a song. And therefore, it’s really, like really satisfying when everything jells and all the kind of parts, that is like just so fun and it makes it so worth doing it. Because you know when you’re all kind of jelling together in that moment, in that room it just feel great.".
Imaginably, the creation of these spectacular works is something the group find to be incredibly enriching but one of the highlights of their career so far was playing their biggest headline at the Lexicon in London where they, "just tried a bunch of new things including like a visual projection that we hadn’t done before. Everything just locked in and it was, I think from the audience’s perspective too, definitely the best we’ve played so that was really good". This gig was especially important also as they were "playing to a home crowd as well, kind of like, they’d been with us along the journey so it was really like, really comforting. And naturally you just vibe of off that seamlessly".
Due to the group meeting one another at Cornwall University, much of their music has nautical influences, as does their name Moreish Idols which comes from the fish moorish idol and pays homage to the county that brought them together.
Seeing Moreish Idols play live is an unforgettable experience that I definitely recommend if you ever get the chance due to their unmatchable sound and insane musical talent.
Take a listen:
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