SEVEN STREETS

There’s obviously something in the Mersey or maybe its in the air or maybe its just something passed down from generation to generation but Liverpool has always produced great guitar bands. 

From the current crop I’m most excited by the likes of relative newcomers like Keyside and The Kowloons. They will both hopefully push on to get the success they deserve, as will Red Rum Club, who once again showed off their incredible live prowess with their storming headlining appearance on the Pier Head a few weeks ago. The Coral’s recent 388 album release showed that you can still be inventive and make great new music even if you have been around for a quarter of a century.

Seven Streets are one of a new crop of guitar bands that are rapidly gaining a reputation around the city.

They got together a couple of years ago and started, as many bands do, by getting gigs in pubs doing covers. After the usual line-up changes that most groups go through in their early days, they eventually got a settled line-up together comprising Niall (guitar/vocals), Shaun, Ant and Owen.

They played their first gig earlier this year at The Jac and, since then, never seem to have stopped. Their powerful live shows have already earned them a good local following and they already seem like a group destined for bigger things.

They haven’t been slow on releasing music either, with debut single Livin’ recently followed up by Table For Two.

Niall McEnery, the band’s front man and main songwriter, is definitely a man with a plan, and his passion to drive the band on shines out whenever you speak to him.

“The first two singles have been about getting our names out there and we want to move on to getting bigger gigs locally and then outside the city.”

They certainly have the type of big guitar sound that has worked for bands like Stereophonics and our very own Cast. It’s loud, raucous, early ’90s sounding rock and there’s definitely a huge audience out there for this type of thing, particularly if you can throw in a few killer melodies.

Niall is focused and driven and that’s what most bands need if they are going to be successful in today’s music industry. Niall’s ambition is for the band to one day headline at Wembley. They may not quite reach those dizzy heights of success, but you can at least guarantee that it won’t be for the lack of trying.

Kev McManus