It's so exciting to catch bands when they are on the brink of something really special.
When you find a great band playing in a pub, or a small venue in front of 20 people, you follow them on Instagram and join them on their long journey.
Or, on the flip side, you get into a band after their first mega hit single comes out and they are on the radio, and you see them in a club or bigger venue with a great atmosphere.
Some people get into bands well into their career, and see them at festivals with fireworks and stage shows.
The point is, there is no bad time to get into a band.
...but there is a best time to get into a band.
For Chapter & Verse, that time is now.
We had the pleasure of seeing the UK 5-piece supporting ALOMR favourites, Poets Of The Fall in December 2019.
We arrived part way through their first or second song, and immediately got caught up in the catchy pop-rock exposition. While not blown away, they definitely left something in me, as the following day I added songs from their first EP 'Glow' to various playlists. As I expected, I grew to really like them.
Then, they kept adding other songs, and they kept getting better. At the end of January they dropped 'Sweet Time', and that did blow me away! This is it!
Their second EP is a collection of 5 songs, and it's their best work to date. This is the edge they needed! These are their top 5 songs! I don't like them any more, I love them.
The EP gets your heart racing from the get-go with opening track 'Bad Blood'. Check out the video:
Straight to business, then, with a super catchy, quick and fun banger which sticks it's middle finger up to toxic relationships and broken hearts.
Track 2, 'Beauty Sleep' and another song about past relationships and forgotten love. Another belter that will have you longing to get out there and dance. So how cruel of Chapter & Verse to release this in the middle of a global lockdown. Let's not dwell on the nastiness outside. Unfortunately, the pandemic has meant that the band can't perform launch parties, or travel up and down the country playing the songs to new audiences and growing their fan base. The silver lining, is of course we all have more free time, and I urge you to spend some of it listening to these guys.
The third song is the first of the 2 I hadn't heard previously. With 'Always' we are in a more indie territory. The passion really shines through at this epic midpoint, and the feeling and anguish is clear as day in singer Josh's most sentimental display.
Here we go. Track 4, and my favourite Chapter and Verse song. 'Sweet Time' is just brilliant. A quick exhale and we are straight into a quick drumbeat and vocals from the start. Poppy verses are interrupted by a surprisingly heavy chorus, with chuggy guitars and the catchiness of a summer anthem that deserves to have festival crowds bouncing. Phenomenal track that I, for one, will be listening to for months. Mint! It's got a bloody guitar solo too!
How do you follow that? 'Where We've Been' closes the collection. A slower pace, the closing credits on this twisty ride through anger, heartache, picking yourself up and starting again. The theme is a new beginning in love, putting the past behind you and looking towards the future, and it runs alongside the story of this band who may have just turned the corner to something really special.
I certainly hope so, and I can't wait to see these guys again live soon.
Love & Error is out now, go check it out, it really is worth it. A solid display of talent, and a finger on the pulse of alternative music in 2020, a middle finger that is!
Chapter and Verse are:
Josh Carter - Vocals
Darren Gosling - Guitar
Jonny Hopwood - Bass
Ash Morton - Guitar
Kevin Miller - Drums
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