Nebula – Camden Underworld, London – 12/2/10
4/5
By: James Faherty
Nebula are a stoner rock band rolling in from the Palm Desert Scene of west-coast USA. Made up from fragments of crazy fuzzy stoner-punks Fu Manchu, this lot have been stalwarts on the stoner scene for many a year. Fronted by the brilliantly named Eddie Glass, we once again welcome this power-trio back to sweaty rock hub the Camden Underworld on a bitingly cold February night. There has been some jiggling around of the elements that make up said trio, the current line-up now features bass-plucker Tom Davies and Jimmy Sweet (seriously, who comes up with these names??) on drums.
The audience, who are hogging the ‘late twenties to late thirties’ age bracket define perfectly the type of music consumer who want the cool, edgy appearance of rock music-fan whilst still having the ability to hold a solid job and a girlfriend. As Nebula creep onstage almost unnoticed and jump straight into their first song, the audience meander over out of curiosity and from that point on are held in Nebula’s sticky web of fat riffs blended in an overdrive sauce, drizzled over a jazzy-but-tight set of rhythmic spare ribs.
The beauty of stoner rock is that essentially it is just a loosely regimented jam session, and one of Nebula’s most endearing (and enduring) features, is that no matter who is in the band at any given time, the chemistry and understanding between all three members is both electric and mesmeric. Glass, sporting a dashing pencil moustache and a groovy purple waistcoat, seems lost in his own cosmic haze during songs. Audience interaction is minimal and efficient, but you get the sense that these guys are actually just happy to share the music they so obviously enjoy playing together with a room of like-minded people (who are similarly enthused just to be standing/swaying in front of the music-makers).
Nebula have a surprisingly impressive back-catalogue to choose from, and they woo the audience with a selection of older and newer material including their ‘hit’ ‘Giant’ which appeared on a Tony Hawks game back when Playstations were cool, and a recent re-working of ‘Sonic Titan’ which is lapped up by the excited throng at the front of the stage.
Naturally, fans of the genre will also be familiar with other Palm Desert scenesters, the most prominent of which are Kyuss. And inevitably, comparisons will be made between the two. And fortunately for them, Kyuss are, for the time being at least, buried under 6 feet of sand dunes. While the core theory behind both bands are the same — playing bluesy, unaffected overdriven rock music on dusty old equipment to anyone who cares to listen — Nebula come across sounding more like a bastard child of Nirvana and Orange Goblin who’s been doped with Ritalin. Which in no way is a bad thing!
No doubt, Nebula will continue to record, tour and jam with a laissez-faire attitude to it all, just content to be given the platform to rock out in public. No, they won't be playing Wembley Arena anytime soon, or anytime in the future. They know that, and so do their fans. And neither party gives a toss. And that is their unique charm, one that shines with integrity and credibility, and brings the music scene a big fat, fuzzy injection of passion.
Artists in this article: Nebula
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