Words: Darci Jackson
Photography: Izzi Glover & Maeve Wong
Autumn is in full swing, but that didn’t stop festival season continuing in Leeds.
Live at Leeds descended on the streets, bringing it with some of the most sought-after talent in the industry right now. Taking over iconic venues such as Brudenell Social Club, Belgrave Music Hall and Stylus, Dizzy Magazine headed North for a busy day.
Heading into the day, not with a hard launch, but a soft one. Despite only being one in the afternoon, Soft Launch managed to pack out The Key Club. They ignited the flame of enthusiasm for festival goers, readying them for a full day of music.
Albeit slightly apprehensive at first, Bayboards’ fast wit and tight performance lead them through a high energy set, capturing The Lending Room in a journey through big choruses and frenetic style.
Despite being barely old enough to buy a pint, Leeds’ own Gravy put their heart and soul into performing to a filled to the brim Belgrave. You’d think that they’d been doing this for years, with how much passion and exuberance they poured into the show. We caught up with Harrison (lead vocals, guitar), Jacob (bass), and Louis (drums) after their set.
‘Three years ago today we formed the band,’ started Harrison, making it quite apt that Belgrave was so busy for the band. ‘It’s lovely, it’s a bit of a surprise to be fair.’
Gravy talk about how they all met at rock school which is exactly how you’d imagine it to be. Basically, like the School of Rock.
They’ve just released their second single, Five to One, a loud, energetic number made for the stage.
‘It came together pretty quickly actually,’ starts Harrison, with Louis adding ‘when it came to the actual recording process, we changed it quite a lot but I’m really happy with how it turned out.’
The band have just announced a headline show at The Wardrobe next February.
‘We’re ecstatic, we can’t wait to headline The Wardrobe. It’s a venue we’ve sort of grown up in so it’s really exciting to be headlining that one.’
When asked what the dream is, Jacob already had something in mind.
‘Just keep doing this to big, filled rooms and see where it takes us.’
And of course, with a band name like that, they must love a bit of gravy, but what with?
‘Beef, just beef.’ Nice and classic there from Louis, no messing.
‘It’s gotta be potato; mash, chips, anything,’ said Jacob. Ah, the humble potato, so versatile and so good.
‘Roast potatoes for me, I really like roast potatoes.’ Us too, Harrison!
‘Either that or dauphinoise. I’m shit at making dauphinoise. I’m really good at making roast potatoes though.’
‘When we hit a million monthly listeners, we’ll share the roast potato recipe.’
We’ll be waiting eagerly.
A 40-minute walk away (almost too far for an inner-city festival we’d say, but because it’s such an iconic venue, we’ll let them off) we arrived at Brudenell Social Club, a bustling place which held an air of history and comfort to it.
You know you’re in the UK when people are still sat outside with pints in the middle of November. And that’s where we found our next guests (minus the pints, unfortunately.)
‘Well, I don’t like beer so I drink cider. The Somersby here is quite good on tap, it’s pretty standard, not too sweet, not too dry,’ said Tyler (lead guitar) from genre- defying, 5-piece, The Manatees, when we asked their pints of choice.
Jay (vocals, guitar) added: ‘It depends what time of year you catch me in, but at the moment, it’s a Guinness, good autumnal Guinness. If it’s the Summer, I’m just a straight up Spanish lager kind of guy.’
November is manatee awareness month, so what better way to create awareness than talking to a band named after the humble animal.
They’re fresh off of tour supporting indie pop kings, The Covasettes.
‘It was just nice to play to people that love bands and guitar music really,’ starts Tyler.
‘I think every night we were playing to nearly full rooms so we’re just so grateful to those guys and they’re also just so lovely.’
‘We rose to the occasion!’ added Jay.
Since 2023, The Manatees have been on a roll, releasing two EPs along with a couple of singles. Jay described their latest offering, Innocence of Youth, as a ‘big Summer anthem.’
‘We recorded that up North with Tarek Musa, who used to be in a band called Spring King, who are amazing and sort of like one of our childhood favourite bands.
‘We saw it as an anthemic, cathartic sort of tune and hopefully that comes across live.’
One thing Dizzy Magazine loves about The Manatees is the pure sense of fun the band bring. It feels like they’re taking everything in their stride, and enjoying every second of it, and for them, the only way is up.
‘We’ve realised that we’re definitely a live band, so it’s really important for us to play live, and I think we need to get that across a bit more in everything we’re doing,’ starts Tyler.
So, what can we expect from them in the future?
‘More of the same, more fun.’
Our favourite thing about inner-city day festivals is that if you can’t get into a venue to see an act, there’s always someone else to go and see, or something else to do. Dizzy Magazine couldn’t get into Leeds Beckett SU for English Teacher? Fear not! STONE were right up the road in Stylus, bringing that heavy singalong tone we’d been craving all day.
And next up was indie music’s current sweethearts. Fans clamouring to catch but a glimpse of Wrexham’s finest, The Royston Club. Opening with their latest single, The Patch Where Nothing Grows, the band led us through twists and turns, ups and downs to create a sensational set that never gets old.
Rounding out the day was some perfect indie pop; a gorgeous finisher to a jam-packed day. Alfie Templeman graced the Stylus stage with his band, playing us experimental tunes from his latest offering, Radiosoul, as well as old favourites that the crowd knew every word to.
Live at Leeds gets five stars from us, even though we nearly missed the train back to Manchester. <3