Bands to Watch #226: Courage Have Courage (at Leeds 2011)
These boys are close to my hearts, not just because they all hail from the tiny little island of Guernsey as I do, but because three of their members were part of the Mid Carson Coalition, the first band I ever moshed too. Yes, I know, what a memory, one I will always have those three boys to thank for.
Courage Have Courage were formed last summer when the group of friends who had known each other, lived with one another and at one point or another played music together decided to record some tracks. The writing and recording took them a few months, and it was in March that Courage Have Courage finally stepped out of the studios and began to play live. Frontman Luke Vidamour said to me, “you only really become a band when you play your first gig.” Indeed.
This is a band who already have shared a stage with acts including Primal Scream, Example, Frank Turner and the Gaslight Anthem. At Leeds, they were on the BBC Introducing stage, where they were hoping to stamp their authority on the UK audience arrayed in front of them.
The boys describe themselves as “a British brand of pop/rock, which is fun, energetic and summery”, and after seeing them, it wasn’t difficult to see where they got that view from. The entire crowd all wore beaming grins towards this group who most of them probably wouldn’t have heard of before then.
But has the success gone to their heads already? No, not these humble Guernsey boys. They travel to gigs in what they call their ‘tour bus’ but they ended up admitting to me that it was a ‘Red Renault Scenic’. They also admitted that the reception has been surprising on their first stint touring: “there’s been someone at every gig we have played and sometimes a few people have gone, so it was just such a good experience to see how people react.” Vidamour continued, “it was nice to see how the songs went down, because until you play them live you just don’t know how people are going to react.”
‘Courage Have Courage’ are obviously then, a group of grounded lads who just enjoy playing their music and hope others will enjoy them too. With magazines like Kerrang! featuring them as well, it’s only a matter of time before acts like Frank Turner will be saying that he shared a stage with Courage Have Courage and what an experience it was.
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