We Are Scientists at Shepherd’s Bush Empire

New York-based indie rockers We Are Scientists first achieved mainstream success way back in 2005 with their major label debut With Love and Squalor (the one with the cats), gaining a large cult following. Three albums, dozens of festivals and one new drummer later, the band have recently released TV en Français, charting at number five in the Indie Singles Chart in the week of its release. We stopped by Shepherd’s Bush Empire to hear their new sound, and of course to relive our teenage years to the classic Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt.

Supporting the trio were Birmingham’s own Superfood, who put on a hell of a show with their nostalgic, Brit pop-esque bangers including Bubbles and Superfood. We Are Scientists burst on to the stage shortly after, opening the set with Return the Favour from their latest album.

The crowd were treated to a blend of old and new tracks, the classic favourites including After Hours and of course Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt. Yet for a relatively new fan, it would be difficult to distinguish between the old material and the new since the sound really hasn’t changed very much at all. Dumb Luck had the audience bopping along, as did most of the fresh material – but we’d expected the trio to have returned with something different, some development pushing away from 2005.

The boys finished the show with an encore we’d all been waiting for – The Great Escape – to which the crowd let loose. Tonight has shown that a decade on, We Are Scientists are still indie favourites and very much here to stay.

Gemma Whitfield
Photos: Erol Birsen

For further information and future events visit We Are Scientists’ website here.

Watch the video for Dumb Luck here: