In a world when you can read reviews of live shows from all over the globe a few short hours after they've taken place, there's precious little room for cult bands. Sure, there are bands who appeal to a select few and bands who refuse to play the corporate game, but there's no chance of a Velvet Underground or Galaxie 500 slipping through the media web only to be held up as massively influential after they've called it a day.
Or so you'd think if you haven't come across January yet. They don't have the mass appeal of Coldplay, they certainly don't have the tabloid potential of Oasis and they definitely don't have the looks to make Robbie Williams lose any sleep. What they do have, however, are songs. Not that these are radio-friendly jingles you'd hum on the way to work, more the sweeping epic you'd immerse yourself in to leave the troubles of the world behind.
Tonight, before a sceptical crowd in this cavernous nightclub, January provide the missing link between Spiritualized's 'Ladies and Gentlemen...' and Neil Young's 'Zuma'. And quite frankly, no-one even saw it coming.
As they begin with the easy country of 'Eyes All Mine' there's little sign of the hurricane on the way. It's only when Simon McLean swaps his acoustic guitar for a twelve string Rickenbacker for 'Through Your Skies' that suspicions are aroused. And when McLean and guitarist Sarah Peacock attack their pedals for 'Sequence Start' all doubt disappears. The hall is awash with guitars. Every crack of Jonny Mathers' tom is sending shock waves through the audience as he turns from mild-mannered drummer into a blur of hair and arms crouched over a violently swaying kit.
Still not convinced? Then how about Peacock's effortless slide guitar on 'All Time' or better still, the ten minute finale of the magnificent 'Falling In'. Starting from the simplest of guitar licks and ending in a cacophony of feedback, rarely has a song delivered such a momentous swelling of sound.
"Now I'm going all the way," murmurs McLean as he launches into the maelstrom. The question is who's going with him?
