Irie Method's Forum Success

Irie Method on stage at The Forum

Left to right - Daniel McConkey on guitar,
Harry Osbourne vocals, James Rivett on bass
and Owen Fox on drums (not pictured)

There was an electric moment at the Tunbridge Wells Forum last night when Irie Method played the opening bars of their first song of the set, Run.
The already pumped crowd were on their feet and raring to go for Irie thanks to The Djangos, self proclaimed as 'bigger than Jesus', Hey Joni with their stylish 'twinkly-emo' and Tower Hill's indie-pop.
Irie Method were the undisputed stars of the night however. It's not difficult to see why The Forum won the NME's Best Small Venue Award this year: a forest of hands and an ocean of closely packed leaping bodies met Irie's mix of reggae-indie-pop, and Rivett's opening bass line in Auntie Valerie had the masses screaming before Osbourne had even breathed a single lyric. Fox's punchy Caribbean-style drumming evoked the reggae tunes of Bob Marley and McConkey's lilting, Kook's-like guitar created a delicious blend of contemporary and modern. The teasingly-energetic lead singer Osbourne got the audience eating out of his hand and truly owned the stage and The Forum as a whole.
McConkey said of the atmosphere: "we've never been infront of a crowd like that, either alone or as a band,"
"The two other gigs we've done have been a battle of the bands, and a free gig in Alexandra Park at 10am on a saturday morning, so the forum crowd was pretty special" the guitarist continued.
When asked what the future has in store for the band, McConkey said, "I honestly have no idea. We have some bigger things planned though, so watch out, Irie's about"

If one thing can be said for sure, then it's that Irie Method has cemented a die-hard fan base from an already enthusiastic following. Watch this band: they're going places.

The Djangos on Souncloud

Irie Method on Soundcloud

Tower Hill on Soundcloud

Hey, Joni on Bandcamp