Manchester rock band Rosellas brought their musical talents to Nice N Sleazy on Sauchiehall Street as part of their UK tour. The band had recently played in Glasgow supporting Starsailor at SWG3 with nothing but high praise from every review we’ve read so we were in for a treat tonight. If you take the music of The War On Drugs and mix it with some 1990s Manchester indie bands such as Oasis or Stone Roses then out pops Rosellas. Sleazys has a capacity of 180 and we weren’t far off that number tonight.
There were three support bands on the cards tonight kicking off with The Lattitude and Cruise Balloon who both provided sets full of indie rock warming the fans up nicely. The main support were Resister, a Glasgow alternative rock band formed in 2022, they have been building a fan base around Glasgow wherever they play. They may only have released two songs to date on the streaming platforms nevertheless their half-hour set was packed with unreleased tracks that were appreciated by the growing crowd. Their first ever release Sarah got the crowd moving as the band created good vibes in the room while January release Get Some was the highlight of the set. Resister will be playing at Sound City in Liverpool in May, we’ll be there so you should be there too. 7/10
For those that have yet to come across Rosellas music you can expect some jaw dropping solo guitar playing from Drew Selby, who also happens to be the lead singer, alongside Euan Mail (rhythm guitar), Ollie Appleby (bass), Luis Sullivan (keyboards/backing vocals) and Mark Zander (drums). They formed just before the pandemic making their live debut in July 2019 at Cheshire Fest and since then they have been building a decent fan base around the country, releasing the Somewhere Inbetween EP in May 2023. The set kicked off with the five minute epic Before The Storm, a track with the most catchy guitar riff from Selby and the perfect way to start the set as the showed their appreciation. We were then treated to two tracks from the aforementioned EP; Switch Off has all the hallmarks of a 90s indie belter, with the fans joining in with the chorus “Switch off the moment, lay it all to rest”, quickly followed by Come Alive, a track the band love playing live, the room is electrified once again, the five guys on that stage are working their arses off! Speaking to the band after the gig we asked how they choose the tracks for the set, Mail advised that they just fit, they just know the ones that are appropriate to play. A more laid-back acoustic number in Is It Any Wonder? Is next up, with keyboard player Luis Sullivan providing the energy throughout the song as he did all through the set, there are not many indie bands out there with a keyboard player and that is perhaps what sets Rosellas apart from other indie rock bands right now. By now the crowd were well onside, all across the room people were pumping their fists in the air and cranking up their vocal chords helping to create a unique atmosphere in Nice N Sleazys.
The band’s song-writing abilities are worth a mention, they come from deep within but they leave it up to the fans to decide what the songs are about. Feels Like Yesterday silences the crowd as we all listened to the lyrics with intensity, the track itself being written around the loss of loved ones and is the slowest of the night before Damaged once again raises the roof and it is here where their lyrical and musical talents come through. Born Under A Cloud gets the biggest singalong of the night and the room is bouncing, we then get a surprise mini-version of Blue Monday, the classic New Order track that is known the world over, which once again gets us all moving. The ten-track set comes to a close with Common Ground, as Selby connects with the crowd for one last time, singing the lyrics “He can’t escape his demons, no matter how hard he tries/You’re not the only one that see’s the pain behind his eyes”. Rosellas play their biggest headline show to date at the Academy 2 in their hometown of Manchester on 30th November, if you are in the area we would highly recommend getting along to it as this band are on the up. 9/10
Written by: Alan Brown
