Spiders at Camden Underworld, London, Tuesday June 9th

Spiders at Camden Underworld - photo copyright Retro Man Blog

Spiders were back in the U.K. for a rare show, this time supporting Black Moth at the Camden Underworld and it was great to see the band in action again. The last time I saw Spiders coincided with them signing a major record deal with Universal just before the release of their second album “Shake Electric” and they are now getting a pretty high profile in Scandinavia and around the rest of Europe. When I saw them for the very first time a few years back I commented that I had rarely seen a support band get such a good reaction from a London crowd and this trend continued at their next gigs in the capital. Tonight is no exception, what at first seemed a sparse Tuesday night gathering soon increased quite remarkably once the band took the stage and guitarist John Hoyles hit the Motorhead sized riff to “Hang Man”. Seguing straight into one of my favourite Spiders songs “High Society” was a great touch as both tracks highlight different facets to the band’s sound.

Spiders at Camden Underworld - photo copyright Retro Man Blog

Spiders at Camden Underworld - photo copyright Retro Man Blog

Spiders are on the surface I guess what could be termed a Heavy Rock act, a genre with which I know precious little about. However, as I have written on the Blog previously about Spiders, they have an innate groove and soul to their sound that elevates them far above many Heavy Metal or Rock bands; you can actually dance to Spiders, not just bang your head and pump your fists in the air. There are maracas and harmonicas and tambourines and melodies that stick in your head. John is certainly a great guitarist but thankfully, for my tastes at least, he’s not excessive. There’s no unnecessary meandering fretwork meaning the songs are short and punchy and perfectly formed. One of my highlights of the “Shake Electric” album is ironically what might be the biggest departure for the band so far, the soulful ballad of “Hard Times” and when it’s played tonight Ann-Sofie’s voice comes into its own and sends shivers up the spine. Strangely enough Suzi Quatro’s “Can The Can” has just come on the radio as I am typing and there’s certainly a touch of the leather clad legend’s influence on Spiders although I think they are probably growing out of the Shocking Blue, Runaways Glam-tinged sound of their earlier releases to something slightly more polished.

Spiders at Camden Underworld - photo copyright Retro Man Blog

Spiders at Camden Underworld - photo copyright Retro Man Blog

That's not to say the band are losing their edge, there's still no doubting the live energy of Spiders and Ann-Sofie is a great focal point. She's an energetic blur of flailing hair and she now plays rhythm guitar on a couple of tracks too which just adds to the power. Drummer Ricard and bassist Olle are an important factor in the equation, they are not the typical bombastic Heavy Rock rhythm section, but add the light and shade needed to do the songs justice particularly tonight on a brilliant “Love Me", which is another stand-out track. Let’s hope it’s not too long until Spiders return to the U.K. and surely next time it’ll be as headliners in their own right.

Spiders at Camden Underworld - photo copyright Retro Man Blog

Spiders at Camden Underworld - photo copyright Retro Man Blog

For more photographs of the gig then please head on over to the Retro Man Blog Facebook page and, if you are not already following, hit “Like” for access to the photo album. There's also a video featuring two songs from the show up at the Retro Man Blog YouTube channel now. Finally, there's a brief interview with Ann-Sofie and a selection of Spiders tracks played in our Swedish Music Special Retrosonic Podcast which is available to listen to or download for free from Soundcloud or iTunes.

Please note the Podcast above is from the archive, so any news will be well out of date by now...! For current news on tour dates and all other information please check out Spiders official web-site.