THE FRONT ROW

San Quentin’s Debut EP “Feed the Ego” launch at the Moth Club, the first show in their upcoming list happening throughout September, kicked off with a bang. A band hailing from Southend-on-Sea, with a very local fanbase who managed to make it to London despite the train strikes on the day. It
seemed most of the local fans were able to attend, even if it might have been the first ever small-scale gig experience for some, with people not realising what a mosh pit was and thought a fight had broken out.

San Quentin are a guitar-heavy band, their songs seeming almost anthemic with their riffs. The band came on stage with a relaxed and confident air, which was enhanced by the eager energy of the crowd, and their reaction to Serotonin as their opener. The song caused them to immediately focus
on the music and the band. This confidence from the band remained throughout the whole show, no matter what song they played or even when the frontman started singing All Along the Watchtower during the ending
of Cross the Line, after encouraging the crowd to sing along.

Frontman Owen Eves has an air of fearlessness on stage, easily interacting and controlling the audience by asking for the West Ham score, and managed to get the crowd to be silent before they played a slow number. This turned out instead to be a cover of Come Together, reminiscent of Gary Clark Jr.’s rendition of the Beatles song, except with more energy and guitars thrown in to make it more their own. This wasn’t the only cover within their set, as they played one song which I doubt anyone expected a guitar focused indie band to do: Bad Guy by Billie Eilish.

Whilst guitar music may be dwindling from the headlines of popular music, save for the likes of the Arctic Monkeys and Sam Fender, San Quentin have shown there will always be a group of people wanting more from across the country, proven by the show ending with an uproar of chants for one
more song. The band appeared almost surprised yet pleased with the reaction, allowing them to come back on stage. There was more energy from both the crowd and band when they began to play their 2021 single Step Off.

Words – Sonny Plain

Photo – Bands Social Media.