I realise this is a bit belated, but the 7th of December saw a very interesting show at the Annandale Hotel. Firstly, I’ll just to give you a bit of history, Future of the Left formed in 2005 and consists of guitarist Andy “Falco” Falkous, drummer Jack Egglestone and bassist Kelson Mathias. Falco and Jack were both in the Cardiff-based band mclusky and Kelson was in the Ammanford-based group Jarcrew. Their first album, Curses, was released in 2007 and their second album, Travels with Myself and Another, was released in June 2009.

Shamefully, I had not heard any Future of the Left tunes, I was basically only attending based on the fact that I have quite a soft spot for mclusky. Considering I had little idea what to expect (yes, feel free to have a go at me), the show was extremely entertaining.

Not really the style of music you’d see me enjoying generally, but yes, no wonder why it was thoroughly sold out (causing the Annandale to transform into somewhat of a sauna – aah love those steamy summer evenings). For those of you with a very short attention span, Future of the Left is probably right up your alley. Think short, sharp and shouty. A mixture of guitar, bass, drums…. your standard three-piece arrangement, but with a spatering of synth thrown into some songs for a bit of contrast. Quirky, witty, but interesting lyrics and immense amounts of energy.

Kelson

Not knowing the names of any of their songs at the time, I can’t describe any songs in particular. However, the angry “banter” (ie. abuse of various hecklers in the audience) was really quite amusing (mostly because I was right up the back and was in no danger). Especially amusing was the blaming of a certain idiot in the audience for making Kelson so angry that his towel caught on fire, which for some reason, it had.

All in all, they’ve found a new fan in me, and i’m fairly sure that those already familiar with their work were not disappointed either.