If people only know one thing about Inhaler is that Elijah Hewson, the singer, is the son of Bono from U2. Right, got that out of the way, onto the review proper.A sold-out Monday in February attests to a band on the ascendency. The remnants of Storm Dennis couldn’t keep them from a blustery Madeira Drive. An audience of equal parts pop kids, cool teens, twenty-somethings and those with more hair on their chin than on their head. I’m guessing some of the older attendees may have been curious U2 fans.
Inhaler hail from Dublin and are part of a resurgence in Indie and Post Punk from the city and other parts of the Republic of Ireland, including The Murder Capital and Fontaines D.C both recent visitors to Brighton.
Inhaler is a magpie band in the best way possible. If you took one of those Best Indie Rock of the Eighties CDs (a playlist if the concept of physical media is a distant or non-existent memory) and frankensteined a sound with a riff here, a vocal line there, keyboard sounds plus drums and bass too then you have Inhaler. They created hysteria rarely seen here and for many in the crowd, this band will be their first musical love. Part of the fun is trying to place their influences. And yes, Elijah sounds like his father much of the time and his stagecraft is eerily reminiscent of him too. For fans of Eighties Indie and Alternative rock.
Feet entered to a hall two-thirds full. A miracle in Brighton gig going for a support band. Was the bar already dry? Apparently not as they had their own fans. Baggy meets Psychedelic meets Motorik in a hazy three-way led by a frontman who puts Pro Plus in his coffee you get a jittery four to the floor grooveathon. Weird in the best way possible. New to me and if they are to you, you need to remedy that.
Inhaler made those in attendance breathless.
