On a very drizzly August evening (sigh), amid a generally young audience, I finally found myself front and centre to watch York-formed, Leeds-based Vaquelin play*.

The bread and butter of this site — Record Weekly’s main mission — has always been to platform up-and-coming artists. And while Oporto’s the right venue to aid that aim, this class four-piece actually had plenty more firepower than the small stage permitted. Spoiler: they’re certainly worthy of bigger.

Their 30-minute set was immediately heavy, as gruff yet strong, clear vocals, a rumbling, thudding rhythm section, and expert guitar solos, hooked everyone. Meaty riffs were complemented by deft two-hand tapping throughout almost every tune, and their lead guitarist had this commendably calm demeanour for somebody with that level of fretwork ability. And no stranger to a whammy bar either? I was sold.

‘Broken Window’ and ’Social Cyanide’ went down a storm, though these purveyors of the “very long, silly song name” wowed the crowd even more on ‘The Bona Fide Money Laundering Society’ and their latest single, ‘Why Does It Scream When I Twist Its Arms Off?’. 

They were modest and humble in how they presented themselves, but these lads actually possess the sort of sound that entitles them to have stacks more swagger. Perhaps we’ll spot that in gigs to come. But for now, I urge you to head to your streaming service of choice, listen to the material they’ve already released (their album should keep you nice and busy), and diarise their upcoming shows by following their socials. You’ve absolutely got to see Vaquelin! Thank me later.

*With thanks to the band for guestlist access.