The Royston Club at Roundhouse

With the launch of their new album, Songs for the Spine, The Royston Club are an under-the-radar success, albeit one with a dedicated following. This is evidenced by the Welsh quartet having packed the Roundhouse, bringing their boisterous guitar-driven indie rock to the iconic North London venue.

To animated chants of “Royston”, which are almost akin to a football terrace chant, the group unassumingly take to the stage. Against a backdrop of heavy strobes, they kick straight into Shivers. With its melodic indie and impassioned vocals from Tom Faithfull, it’s a strong start to the night.

I’m a Liar begins as an Arctic Monkeys-esque number, before launching into an uplifting chorus that recalls Oasis at their most harmonious. Evidently, the audience is having fun, and their enthusiasm is undoubtedly infectious. But the band members are light on banter, allowing the music to do the talking. Moreover, a simple backdrop of the album artwork sums up the band’s no frills ethos.

There’s something unmistakably throwback to them, recalling the mid-noughts and 2010s indie takeover. With its choppy rhythms, hearing Mrs Narcissistic is like being back in 2008. However, the band adds an anthemic touch that is well suited to the Roundhouse’s communal setting, effective perhaps more so than in album form.

This is music made for playing live. With glaring red strobes cutting across the stage, Glued to the Bed sees Faithfull handing over vocal duties to the crowd. It’s unashamedly hooky, which appears to be the band’s driving force.

A Tender Curiosity is a welcome respite to a set that has thus far been on one level. A duet between Faithfull and guitarist Ben Matthias is a warm moment of brotherhood amid the more laddish atmosphere of the night. It’s encouraging to see the group appealing to the mostly male crowd’s tender side, as young men embrace and sing along to this gentle track as, fittingly, pink smoke engulfs them.

They’re a proficiently tight unit with young male working-class appeal. However, the main issue is the show is very much one note, with a lack of musical diversity in the material aside from a few acoustic numbers. It’s a formula that clearly works for its intended audience, but it’s difficult to foresee any allure beyond that.

Accordingly, The Royston Club offer a rousing concert experience, but one can’t help but feel that they don’t quite live up to their potential to inject a unique voice into indie rock. That said, Faithfull impresses with his soaring vocals; he isn’t afraid to lean heavily into singalong territory, inspiring a rousing echo from the crowd with Cariad for a grand finale.

The Royston Club may not quite fit into the modern music milieu, but they excel at nostalgia-tinged pop that’s a welcome reminder of indie’s heyday. And that unwillingness to succumb to fleeting trends is just what makes the group so charming.