Descending the stairs into the Leeds Wardrobe immediately prior to the appearance of Nashville rockers All Them Witches, I’m greeted by the unmistakeably thunderous opening bars of Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’, together with its inevitable endorsement by several heads nodding in time to Iommi’s timeless riffage; one immediately realising an assault of good old fashioned heavy rock is just what the doctor ordered this evening.
The majority of music aficionados normally associate the super cool and hugely influential Seattle based record label Sub Pop with grunge, punk and hard-core genres. For those not in the know, it may be a surprise to find out the label also launched the careers of Fleet Foxes and The Shins, both producing a sound far closer to the considered Americana purveyed by Carolina based singer songwriter Sam Beam, also known as Iron & Wine; a moniker gleaned from a dietary supplement Beam spotted on the shelf in a general store whilst shooting a film.
