The Loft: The Thunderbolt, Bristol

The Loft | The Lovely Basement |Gerard Starkie
The Thunderbolt, Bristol 
21st March 2025

A short tour to promote their ‘4 decades late’ debut album Everything Changes, Everything Stays The Same and The Loft sell out practically every date.  A thoroughly unbiased review of a packed gig at a great small venue by Ged Babey

Pete, Andy, Bill and Dave doesn’t quite have the same ring as John, Paul, George and Ringo – but no other combination of four boys’ names ever did really.

Onstage at Bristol’s finest pub venue, Pete Astor during the traditional ‘introducing the band’ section of the show said: We were such a pretentious bunch when we released our first record: On the credits, ANDREW Strickland, PETER Astor, DAVID Morgan, only Bill had the sense to not put his proper full name….

The Loft however should be recognised as one of the originators of (what became known as) Indie (four skinny white boys with guitars, bass and drums playing music drawing on the very best of the 1960s and 70s and a stubborn refusal to acknowledge the synthesiser…) which doesn’t really compare to the Beatles place in Merseybeat or pop due to the historical disparity in terms of commercial success… but, y’know… to a some people, the new album and the band mean a lot.  They were ‘something special’… and the fact that they are back, truly, better than ever, is remarkable. They have an authenticity, fallibility and integrity like few others.

In 2025, the Loft are veterans making the very best music they possibly can – and the recently written songs side-by-side with the old songs are a seamless fit.  (That is a word-for-word quote from Nick Godfrey of Precious Recordings of London who was doing the merch for the tour.)  Personally, I wanted to hear the new songs. The only criticism of the album I’ve seen online says it’s a bit ‘too mellow’… which is not without foundation, but I’d say more ‘age-appropriate’.  Live however the songs are a bit faster and louder (obviously) but more fluid and gristly (a contradiction) and more ‘the stabilisers are off!’.

The Loft are just utter perfection – despite and because of the odd bum note and lack of tacky rock’n’roll showmanship – it really is all about the songs.

A heckle of ‘Tell us a story Pete’ was met with ‘They are all there in the songs’ from the dapper Astor.  He is in great voice and the whole band on top form.

Despite the timelessness and universality of the music, some of the new songs could only exist with the wisdom of the years; Ten Years is the obvious example – that timeframe doesn’t pass in the blink of an eye to a 20 year old. Storytime, Somersaults, the Elephant, to be honest everything from the new album sounded sublime in the packed Thunderbolt.

There aren’t many venues like this left. Disproportionately small compared to the size of the talent that play there. A landlord and promoters who have a passion for the music

Once a year I make a pilgrimage to the Thunderbolt in Bristol for a Bizarro Promotion. In August 2021 it was Blue Orchids, Mellotronics and AlterModerns.  In March 2023,  The Fallen Leaves, AlterModerns and Bruno & the Outrageous Methods of Presentation  Somehow in 2024 I never made it. As soon as I found out that The Loft were touring having heard their album – I wasn’t gonna miss this. Every single expectation was exceeded. The support acts were perfect too.

(Former singer with Witness – who have  vinyl reissues on the horizon) Gerard Starkie solo and acoustic opened proceedings – sticking to his allotted 25 minutes so no banter or ‘this-ones-about’ rambles. He has a shy-but-confident air and songs that are indefinably special. They could be from the decade before he was born but sound freshly written at the same time. World-weary blues and folk-tales but with a spark of optimism and determined drive to find simple pleasures in life.

The Lovely Basement exist in the sweet spot being Indiepop and Velvets-influenced Americana with a touch of Stereolab style bossa-nova and Krautrock in the mix. Their albums have been regular Sunday Afternoon listening since I first wrote about them in 2019 .  Seeing them play live finally was joyful. It must be my age, but I don’t want to see a band who kick-ass nowadays, a group who chug-along-nicely suit me fine.

During the Loft’s set a minor contretemps on the dancefloor after a storming version of Up The Hill And Down the Slope resulted in Strickland almost having to ‘do a Strummer’ (“I want da-ancin’ not fi-ightin’…!”) but it probably came across to others more like a headmaster saying ‘You two! In my office after assembly”.

(I wasn’t going to mention it, but it would’ve become the elephant in the review… and it’s becoming exaggerated Chinese whispers style on the Indie grapevine already… an all-new ‘Creation Myth’.)

I always have a great night at the Thunderbolt, which really is the friendliest and coolest of pub-venues.  Rubbing shoulders with and meeting numerous local former and current ‘indie superstars’ in the audience: members of Blue Aeroplanes, Strangelove, Beatnik Filmstars, Bubblegum Splash, Charlie Tipper, Rev Jonny Kinkaid, Animals & Men, Rosehips… lovely people all of them.

You can keep your stadium gigs. This is where the heart and soul and roots of Independent music are.

Best night out of 2025 so far.

Links to The Loft – Album, Singles, Tickets

The Loft – Remaining Tour Dates

Thursday 27 March, Leeds, Lending Room
Friday 28 March, Newcastle, Cluny 2
Saturday 29 March, Glasgow, Mono

All words  Ged Babey.  Photo by Jane Barnes

With gratitude and love to Winter/Starkie for putting me up.