Tues 28/11/06 The Sunshine Underground @ King’s College, London

The Sunshine Underground are named after a Chemical Brothers track and are just as danceable, but don't call these guys indie-dance. They are often touted as the new Kaiser Chiefs, not because their sound is similar (they’re much rockier), but because they are searingly tipped to scale similar heights of success. Oh and there's also the little fact that both bands hail from Leeds. But these lads, headed up by Craig Wellington, are in fact from Shropshire; the four moved north a few years back to save themselves from market town drudgery, and have since established themselves securely as the Leeds scene’s biggest player to emerge this year, setting indie-rock ablaze on the back of the release of debut ‘Raise The Alarm’. The Sunshine Underground have been honing their unique brand of throbby bass, beats and grooves for the past three years. And thank **** we’ve finally woken up to their boisterous sound.

Craig steps up in his familiar Nike cagoule and rallies the sell-out crowd to ‘Wake Up’ and the at least two song warm-up the crowd normally requires – especially for a band on their first post-release tour – is completely superfluous here. Even the most sedate are yanked off their arses by Daley Smith’s storming bassline, Matthew Gwilt’s tenacious drumming and Craig’s histrionic vocals. You sense this place is going to go nuts.

Much of the debut is played in note for note perfection; with ‘Put You In Your Place’ sound-tracking the need for the security staff to start dousing out the water. Introducing ‘Borders’ with a matter of fact “This is our next single”, TSU strum the melancholic (lyrically speaking) track to a crowd that treat it like it’s an old fave, but for Chrissake, every single song gets this reception tonight. Seriously. Then at the refrain You gotta fight for a reason, what’s your reason, you never cared / Where where is she, where where is she, Craig’s voice reaches the very top of its impressive vocal range and the big beer swillers are willingly twanging their vocal cords too.

Guitarist Stuart Jones whispers something to the lead man. “Happy birthday Rachel …We’ve baked you a cake”, he beams. Well it feels like a ****ing oven in here as the funk-tinged riot continues inside the King’s College union. Funk tinge? What’s that about? The fact that a reprieve from all the moshing seems apt during the cowbell-for-guitar substitution for what is a groovy Fat Tuesday instrumental is what it’s about.

Then comes the funky bass prelude to re-released single and set highlight ‘Commercial Breakdown’. TSU manage to marry the two sounds together superbly and the frontman’s yelp of the title is such a small part of the making of this track but it’s enough to make you want to time it with him perfectly. The floor’s one big pogopit and everyone’s yelling “Oh I used to think that these things happen for a reason…”, You’d think even security are getting in on it, as at this point some loon jumps up on to the barrier-free stage, pumps imaginary metal for a good couple of minutes before being dragged away from the cowbells. Buoyed by the adulation and the unabating moshpit it’s hard for TSU not to appear arrogant.

Set closer and title track ‘Raise The Alarm’ uses heavily reverbed guitar for another extended intro. The melody Jones plucks, almost haunting, is fitting for the morose, brooding quality of much of the lyrics. TSU describe themselves as a “party band”, can’t disagree there, but the lyrics are enough to satisfy shoegazers.

Considering the cries from the most boisterous section of the crowd, the travelling support - “come on Leeds!” this begs the question, what’s a hometown gig for this band like?? The water mentioned never came, so Craig duly obliges, dousing us all in Evian. We needed that, and The Sunshine Underground.