Tash Neal, left, and Chris St. Hilaire and The London Souls.It doesn’t take long after Tash Neal’s chunky distorted guitar kicks in on The London Souls’ self-titled 2011 album to realize the New York-based rockers aren’t just a band but the proud standard-bearers of an old-school tradition.
From fuzzy metal psychedelia and Beatles-esque harmonies to frontman Chris St. Hilaire’s wailing pipes, the band’s debut recording quickly establishes that remaining authentic to a classic sound hasn’t rendered them one-dimensional. Fittingly, the album was recorded in the holy confines of Abbey Road Studios.
St. Hilaire and Neal formed The London Souls in 2008 in New York. From the beginning, they bonded over a shared appreciation for the hard-driving energy of rockers such as Cream, The Black Crowes and Tedeschi Trucks Band, for whom they opened in January at the Tivoli Theatre.
Fans of the Souls say that the band’s classic, raw rock and animated live shows should make them exciting to see Friday, Aug. 1, as this week’s Nightfall headliners.
“[My wife] raved about the energy,” says Corey Petree of local rock group The Cadillac Saints, of a previous London Souls performance. “She said that [Neal] broke three guitar strings in that one show and didn’t miss a beat. For me, that’s just a sound I don’t hear much anymore, and I’d love to see it make a comeback.”