Live Review: Soja, Current Swell

Current Swell walk onstage, each with two beers in hand. Lead vocalist and guitarist Scott Stanton introduces the team from British Columbia before starting the night of with the folksy twang of Get What's Mine. Their roots sound sets the right vibe from the outset: Stanton takes on some feet-stomping solos and switches to the slide guitar, aviator-wearing bassist Ghostly-Boy bangs like metal despite the easy vibe, drummer Chris Peterson sips his beer between songs and Dave Lang drops his guitar for some harmonica fun. Silence is then commanded as all four harmonise for I Want A Bird before they “fuck this up for the last song” as each raise decibels and tempo for How Could They Trust Us Now.

After beers, electric fans and tea towels are set up on stage, all eight members of SOJA placidly enter to take their stations. Jacob Hemphill's familiar, child-like vocals starts off with I Don't Wanna Wait as Hellman Escorcia and Rafael Rodriguez move across the stage blowing on their brass. Bassist Bobby Lee Jefferson puts some sunnies on and lets his dreads loose to bust out some patois for Be Aware, as Trevor Young hits his lead guitar solo which livens up the dancefloor. Then it's back to easy skanking again as Hemphill changes to acoustic and, still smiling, swoons with When We Were Younger as ladies with heart-shaped pupils gather to the front. The brass boys then take control for Mentality which has the crowd's hips swaying and hands raised while Patrick O'Shea extends the dub play on the keys. They continue with the rasta message, getting everyone to start a clapping call for Revolution, an old fave from “12 years ago” which leads into a killer jam. Escorcia swaps his trumpet for a shell while percussionist Ken Brownell, drummer Ryan Berty and Young throw drumsticks to each other as they share the tool to hit their weapons of choice. While their studio tracks and quite clean and chilled out, it's the natural energy and extended plays in their performances which truly makes SOJA an act to catch live. Their jams display them in their own element, playing around naturally, even giving each other laughs and looks when someone hits the wrong note, all while sharing the welcoming energy with the crowd. Jacob confirms this with an “I've never seen 100 people rock this hard!” before they exit the stage.

This then brings on the longest encore call and, as a familiar smell lingers, Hemphill finally returns with his acoustic smilingly saying “it feels like this is the place to be tonight”. He gives out a carefree giggle after strumming in the wrong key then has everyone singing along to Everything Changes. The rest of the team then join the fray for Here I Am to give back a three-song encore which carries just as much enthusiasm as the crowd's beckoning call.