REVIEW: The Good Water rock Dead Wax in Digbeth after another sell-out show
Having followed The Good Water over the years, watching them grow from a two-piece to a three-piece band – after adding even more sound with the addition of Great Barr keyboard player Stuart Webb – I have to say last night's gig was their best to date.
Every time I see them play, whether its a new set or the band simply playing their singles, I'm always blown away but I'm pretty sure anyone who was in the crowd at Dead Wax in Digbeth will vouch for the fact we all witnessed was something pretty special.
Selling out any venue is hard going for most gigging bands but Birmingham's The Good Water are clearly going places.
Their professionalism, the hold they have over their instruments and their artistic flair make them stand out against so many of the other bands touring the local scene.
The songs are different. I haven't heard any other bands play what they play, which is so important when musicians are trying to break into the mainstream.
Since being backed by Birmingham Promoters, The Good Water's trajectory has been sharp. Selling tickets to your friends is one thing but now people are coming in their troves to see them perform through word of mouth or – and this is biggest compliment you can give a band – because they have heard their music and want to see them play live.
And that's a great thing too because if any music fans have listened to any of their four singles and thought, 'these are pretty good', you haven't seen anything until you see them play live.
There's a reason the Brummie rockers – which also includes lead singer and vocalist, Rob Clements, from Redditch and drummer and backing singer, Tom Fisher, from Erdington – are now enjoying consistent sell out shows.
Their live gigs are on another level, which is why the band has released a 20-minute live session filled with solos, snippets of their hits and some mind-blowing musicianship.
They shared the release with us at Dead Wax last night but if you didn't manage to catch them the beauty of the new release is fans, or those who haven't come across one of their live sets before, can now get a feel for how they sound online.
But even still, their forte is live music and it was great to see The Good Water perform in front of a sell-out crowd once again, who were all dancing the night away, loving every second of it.
As Clements said in a previous interview with the Express & Star, "we all feel most at home playing on a stage live".
"Playing live gigs, you hope for a few hundred in some of the local venues, if you're lucky, so this is another way of getting our sound out to more people," he said.
"It's a chance for our live music to potentially be heard all around the world.
"We came up with the idea because we didn't want to release another normal single and we didn't just want to record a live set."
The live session includes a bit of singles Love, which will be the band's next proper release, as well as some of Breadcrumbs and Apples.
Clements said the best way to appreciate the live session would be for a fan to "take their headphones, sit on their bed and then just listen to the whole 20 minutes".
But the best way to really understand the band's vibe is to catch them live.
Gigging around Birmingham and the Black Country is not easy these days and there are so many bands going the extra mile, forking out vast amounts of money and giving up most of their spare time just to put some great rock music out for us all to enjoy.
So when it all comes together, like it did at Dead Wax last night, it feels good. And when you been on a journey with a band for so long you almost feel part of it.
There's a great little community following The Good Water these days. You can just rock up to one their gigs on your own if you fancy it and everyone is made to feel welcome.
That's what great rock music is about – and that's exactly what The Good Water are about too.
Long may that continue and, personally, I can't wait to see what's next in store for the band.
The live studio session is available to stream via Spotify (https://spoti.fi/31E33mP), iTunes (https://apple.co/2vdupnP) and Amazon (https://amzn.to/2OFHlK3).
For further information about the band, go to facebook.com/thegoodwatermusic or @thegoodwater on Twitter.
