Portsmouth’s The Amba Tremain Band entertained the Temperance sell-out crowd on their debut at the intimate and iconic venue in Leamington Spa. The smaller sized band, due to the venue’s space, gave Amba a platform to perform a great set of original songs in the Gospel, Blues, Soul & Rock genres, along with a couple of covers. It also meant that Ben was on backing vocals rather than her normal backing singers, including one of her sisters.
Amba has been working with her drummer & life partner Col Lewis to help her lose weight and during the last 3 ½ years has lost 8 stones! Just a couple of stone more to lose to meet her target of 10 stones. It helps that Col is a personal trainer.
Here band for the night was Amba Tremain (vocals), Ben Corner (guitar & backing vocals), James Scott (bass) and Col Lewis (drums).
She kicked off with ‘Call Me’ with great soulful vocals from Amba with Ben on backing vocals and wahwah style guitar with the great rhythm section. ‘No One Like You’ followed which is a slinky soulful song with great soulful guitar riffs & vocals, powerful drums & bass.
Next up was ‘Love Child’ a funky guitar led song with funky bass & solid drums with Amba’s emotive vocals, backed by Ben. From the band’s first EP in 2022 we had ‘How You Gonna Feel’ with great powerful bluesy vocals from Amba to a funky beat with powerful guitar riffs.
A song written for Amba’s sister was ‘Holding On’ about a relationship that needed to be ended. Great guitar licks and heavy drums & bass to start before Amba kicks in with gritty & powerful blues/soul vocals with guitar break from Ben. Then we had in Amba’s words “a sexy song” ‘Breathe’ about being someone who has a spell on you with great guitar riffs to start with evocative vocals to a slower tempo song with great harmonies.
Then we had a hard-hitting rock song ‘Yeah’ with Col on drums able to really enjoy his drumming with power backing Ben’s great guitar and James powerful bass. Then the first of the evenings covers ‘Tennessee Whisky’ a blues country song with a slower tempo, passionate vocals and lovely guitar solo from Ben showing his mastery.
To finish the first half, we had ‘Dreaming’ written by Amba about falling in love with Col, which is a classic love song with gentle laid back rhythm section with tinkling guitar & passionate vocals from Amber backed by Ben.
After a short beak to refresh drinks and get some more cake! The band came back with ‘Worthy’ with a slow but passionate start with Amba’s vocals & Ben’s quiet guitars before drums & bass join in, with guitar solo from Ben then quick riffs and getting heavier. Followed by ‘Keep Me Running’ a heavy drum & guitar led song with stomping beat with Amba’s soulful vocals.
Then we had a Freddie King blues song ‘Going Down’ with a heavier blues rock sound with great blues break from Ben. Followed by an early single ‘Hell’ a great funky rhythm and guitar riff led song with strident vocals from Amba.
Then we had a great performance of the Angie Stone song ‘Wish I Didn’t Miss You’ which Amba wished she had written, followed by the band’s first single ‘Honestly’ after being formed in 2019 with a slow mellow start with emotive vocals from Amba with just Ben on guitar to start. Lots of passion in the vocal delivery.
The night finished with ‘Voodoo’ with passionate vocals from Amba with gentle guitar riffs from Ben, then the tempo quickens with drums & bass joining in. Even in this tightly packed venue there was dancing in the aisles! Great guitar break with effects from Ben.
Then for an encore we had ‘Magic’ with slow mellow riffs from Ben with Amba’s evocative vocals and drums & bass joining in, making a more powerful sound with a great soul feel and great bluesy solo from Ben, which went straight into ‘Righteous’ a heavier bluesy number with spectacular vocals from Amba.
This won’t be Amba’s only visit to Temperance who showed she has got a powerful sound journeying through the Gospel, Blues, Soul & Rock space and is a must see artist.