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The House Of Love

Dec 22, 2023 By Irina Shtreis Photography by Irina Shtreis Web Exclusive

It’s been more than a year since The House Of Love’s previous appearance in London. Though successful, it’s clearly outweighed by their most recent sold-out show at The Electric Ballroom. The 1,500-capacity space of the iconic Camden venue is chock-a-block with excited visitors from different parts of England. Most of them have seen The House Of Love at least three times. A couple of fans by the stage admit they have been following the band since the 90s. “What are you expecting from Fontana?”, they counter-question Under The Radar.

Billed as Burn Down The World – The Fontana Years 1989-1993, the band’s most recent tour bears the name of the eponymous Cherry Red box set. The expanded reissue covers the material produced within the four years when The House Of Love were signed to Fontana Records. During this time, they released their classic albums, The Butterfly Album, Babe Rainbow and Audience With The Mind.

Notably, the Electric Ballroom is a venue integral to the history of the band’s formation. It was here that Guy Chadwick saw The Jesus and The Mary Chain for the first time when they infuriated the audience with the unusually short and noisy six-piece set. Inspired by this experience, Chadwick soon started The House Of Love. Although the collective has undergone massive line-up changes over the years, today’s version of THOL has a great capacity for powerful live performance. Apart from Chadwick, three other members of the current House Of Love are Keith Osborne (lead guitar), Harry Osborne (bass) and Hugo Degenhardt (drums).

Similarly to The Jesus and Mary Chain, both The House Of Love and the support act of the evening, The Wedding Present’s David Gedge, embrace psychedelic influences. Delivered in tandem with guitarist Rachel Wood, the speedy strumming on Gedge’s “What Have I Said Now?” conjures up the bubbling sound of an electric jug on the classic 13th Floor Elevators albums. With The House Of Love, psychedelia infiltrates the entire texture of music. It is occasionally manifested verbally too. Before playing “Hannah” preceded by a quick change of the guitar, Guy Chadwick prepares his audience for “a bit of psychedelia”. The relevant fuzziness goes along with harder-edged and more propulsive tracks such as “In A Room” (featuring exceptional drumming) and “Love In A Car”. The intensity, the powerful tidal wave of distortion and heavenly noise the latter inevitably conjures up The Jesus and Mary Chain. Perhaps, now the story turns full circle.

After finishing the main part of the set, Guy Chadwick reappears for the first encore with his acoustic guitar and performs three songs solo. One of them is “Blind” from The Butterfly Album, originally released by Creation Records as a B-side on the 1988’s “Destroy The Heart” single. Intimate and precise, it speaks of humbling beginnings on one hand and a leap of faith on the other. Something that, perhaps, such a venerable band as The House Of Love would look back at with gratitude. The second encore confirms this impression. Following the epic ending of the set with “Love In A Car”, Chadwick is visibly touched by the warmth and gratitude emanating from the audience. A mutually gratifying experience.