Listen up music fans who are into the likes of Oasis, Kasabian, The Libertines, The Snuts, and Trampolene. It finally had to happen….5-piece shoegaze guitar outfit Pastel are finally heading out on a UK headline tour around the country this coming Spring. There are a dozen dates on offer and these are heading to Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, London, Bristol, Nottingham, Sheffield, Glasgow, Dundee, Brighton, Southampton and Swansea.
The Brighton date will be going down on Thursday 9th April at the Green Door Store. Tickets for all dates are going on general sale on Friday 5th December at 10am. The Brighton date ticket link should become available at that time from HERE.
So who are Pastel, I hear you ask?
Well we have previously encountered the lads as part of ‘Brighton Psych Fest’ back in 2024 and then again a couple of times at this year’s ‘Great Escape’ festival. Here are a couple of those reviews:
PASTEL – Green Door Store, Brighton 30.8.24 by Ben ‘Jerry’ Robinson
Pastel are a 5-piece guitar band based in Swansea, made up of Mancunian cousins Jack Yates (vocals) and James Yates (rhythm guitar), plus Joe Anderson (lead guitar), Rhys Wheeler (drums) and Liam O’Shea (bass guitar) and they are signed to the independent Manchester Label; Spirit of Spike Island.
Now I have to be honest, until a couple of weeks ago, I’d not heard of them, but what I found in my searches made me instantly fall in love with their sound. They already have two EP’s under their belt, both which are incredibly hard to find on vinyl and now sought after. Their sound reminds me of early The Verve, perhaps some Stone Roses and dare I say a bit of Oasis in there, talking of which did you know they supported Liam Gallagher at Knebworth last year!
Tonight I believe marks their first time playing in Brighton, and whilst not it’s Knebworth, the room is fully packed with folks ready to appreciate their sound. The band opened with ‘Your Day’ a track taken from the forthcoming album and what a fine opener it was too, with Joe’s guitar riffs throughout really adding to it. In fact throughout the rest of their set, that guitar sound, catchy riffs, memorable melodies were very much present. The songs have great structure, nothing is rushed or raced through. Jack’s vocals are sublime, really channeling those baggy 90s Manchester vibes.
The band had good banter and quips with each other throughout their set, and seemed a band very at home on the stage with great swagger and seemingly up for a laugh. One example of this came when James joked before the song ‘Escape’ that they normally have bongos for this one, but due to the lack of space he’ll be using Jack’s head, to which lead to Jack obligingly kneeling down, thankfully his head was not used.
Jack did apologise a few times during the set “sorry if we all sound rough”, but to be honest, I’d not have known, they sounded bloody good to me and if this was them being rough, I most definitely would like to see them on a good day. It later transpired the band had been busy filming a music video the day before which had led to some late night celebrating and sore heads.
Pastel were the one band I had earmarked as my must see during ‘Brighton Psych Fest’ and they did not let me down, I really do think they are going to be massive and are ones to watch. Their debut album ‘Souls In Motion’ looks to be coming very soon, something I will 100% be buying, fingers crossed they come back to Brighton soon.
Pastel proposed setlist:
‘Your Day’ (from 2024 ‘Deeper Than Holy’ EP)
‘Running On Empty’
‘Escape’ (from 2022 ‘Isaiah’ EP)
‘IOU’
‘Psycho Filler’
‘Angel Meadow’
‘Soho’
‘Deeper Than Holy’ (from 2021 & 2024 ‘Deeper Than Holy’ EP’s)
‘Isaiah’ (from 2022 ‘Isaiah’ EP)
PASTEL – Daltons, Brighton 16.5.25 by Ian Holman
The final band to play on Daltons official line-up on day three of the festival is indie rock band Pastel. Fronted by talented Droylsden, Manchester cousins Jack Yates (lead vocals) and James Yates (guitar), they provide a similar swagger to early Oasis. The first song they play is a psychedelic rock track ‘Your Day’. This is one of five tracks they play from their debut album ‘Souls In Motion’, which was released in January. This one does actually have a bit of early Oasis feel to it. ‘Running On Empty’ is played next, another full of Manchester swagger. This one kicks in with some crashing drums from Rhys Wheeler. The unreleased ‘IOU/Psycho Filler’ is next. This one features James on bongos. Next, we hear ‘Gone Too Fast’ and then the dreamy, slower song ‘Sunnyside’. Jack then provides a bit of banter as he asks stand-in bass player Ollie if his fingers hurt. After the next song, which is ‘SOHO’, we are told that Ollie has replaced the usual bass player Liam O’Shea as he has an arm injury and has been instructed to rest it for a number of weeks. We learn that Ollie is 19 and has only had a few weeks to learn the songs. James says, “He only looks like he’s 16.” ’SOHO’ is a catchy psychedelic indie dance song that was released in 2022. The intro to the next song ‘Deeper Than Holy’ sounds like The Verve. The final song of a very entertaining set is ‘Isiah’, another 2022 release.
www.instagram.com/pastelbanduk
