San Francisco – The air was electric at The Fillmore the other night, as UK psych outfit Temples celebrated the midpoint of their West Coast tour with their touring partners Wampire, an indie rock group hailing from Portland, Oregon.  Having seen both of these bands separately before, just as they were both gaining ground (Wampire opened for Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Foxygen last February at a show I attended in New Orleans; Temples played an early set at this year’s Coachella), I was excited to see what they had in store for their fans now that they had a little touring experience under their belts.  I was far from disappointed.

UK newcomers Temples—a four-piece psych rock band from Kettering, England—played the headlining set, dazzling concertgoers with a dozen songs lifted from their debut LP Sun Structures—released earlier this year—as well as a few B-sides.  Singer-guitarist James Edward Bagshaw has quite the onstage presence, reminiscent of a young Robert Plant, with his skinny frame and voluptuous afro of dark hair that would swing about as he played and sang, taking on the ever-changing colors of the stage lights above him as they shifted hues.  The entire band looked like they were time-warped from the early 1970s, and they had the sound to match.  When Best New Bands caught them at Lolla last month, we wrote: “It was as if they turned the sunny lawn into (England’s) Hyde Park, listening to the ‘latest craze,’ psychedelic rock.”

Temples began their set with the title track of their album, “Sun Structures,” which—like many of the songs on the LP—carries a very prominent Eastern-sounding element, evident in the swooping nature of their instrumentation.  In fact, most of the set felt like being in some sort of Arabian desert, especially during songs like “A Question Isn’t Answered” and “Sand Dance.”  More traditional structures echoed through their performances of “The Golden Throne,” and “Colours to Life,” both of which sound like Revolver-era Beatles tracks on mescaline.  They also treated us to a couple of early B-sides: the slinking, mysterious “Prisms” and the droning, mesmerizing track “Ankh,” before slowing things down with “Move With The Season.”

Temples of course played the crowd-pleasers, including the blissfully repetitive “Keep in the Dark,” as well as the joyous lead single “Shelter Song,” which closed their set.  A brief encore featured the harmonious “Mesmerize” and the tender placidity of “Fragment’s Light.”

Wampire—a duo consisting of multi-instrumentalists Eric Phipps and Rocky Tinder, backed by an impressively energetic touring band—took to the stage first, revving up the crowd with an enthusiastic ‘FUCK YEAH WEDNESDAY!’ and starting off their set with a few favorites from their 2013 debut LP Curiosity, kicking off with the thumping, organ-driven “Orchards,” before driving into the funky “Spirit Forest,” which waltzed in on echoey alto guitar that immediately made me think of Deerhunter’s earlier albums.  From there they plowed into the gentler “Trains,” followed by the lead single from their first album, the thrashing, synthy “The Hearse.”

After the applause that followed “The Hearse,” the band announced that the rest of their set would be devoted to showcasing selected tracks from their new album Bazaar –which comes out in early October—kicking things off with the garage-inspired sounds of “Sticking Out.”  Next came “Too Stoned,” which starts off with a lengthy, trudging instrumental intro that slowly builds in intensity before blooming into an illustrious deluge of deliberate keyboard strokes, wailing guitar and heavy percussion before coming to an abrupt, albeit satisfying, conclusion. This was then succeeded by the in-your-fucking-face “Bad Attitude,” layered with wailing vocals and loaded guitar shreds that nodded emphatically in the direction of Billy Idol.  Wampire’s dreamy new single “Wizard Staff” was also performed, with the first track from Bazaar, “Amazing Heart Attack,” rounding out the set as another appropriately positioned head-banger.

These two bands are perfect touring companions.  They are both stylistically diverse and are adept at engaging an audience with their individual brands of sound.  Be sure to catch them if you can.

Temples’ Sun Structures is available now through via Fat Possum.  Wampire’s new album Bazaar is out October 7 via Polyvinyl.  The two will be touring together through October 1, with Temples’ North American dates continuing through October 30, followed by an overseas tour.

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Corey Bell

Corey Bell is no stranger to music.Having spent the better part of the past decade at concerts and music festivals around the globe, he finds he is most at home in the company of live music.Originally a native of New England, he has since taken residence in New York and New Orleans, and now resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.He achieved his Bachelor of Arts from Goddard College in Vermont via an undergraduate study entitled “Sonic Highways: Musical Immersion on the Roads of America," in which he explores the interactions between music, natural environment, and emotion while travelling along the scenic byways and highways of the United States.His graduate thesis, “Eighty Thousand’s Company,” features essays regarding the historical and socio-economic facets of contemporary festival culture intertwined with personal narrative stories of his experiences thereof.He is the former editor of Art Nouveau Magazine and holds a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from California College of the Arts.

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