Avant garde soul-stirrers July Talk, a Toronto five-piece that has been making a name for themselves worldwide, will return to San Francisco’s Bottom of the Hill on Thursday, January 26.

The band was originally set to tour the West Coast late last year, but managed to reschedule so that they could tour Europe.

“We were really excited for that US tour and we were in Austin at the Austin City Limits Music Festival and we ended up connecting with this band, Catfish and the Bottlemen, from the UK,” vocalist Leah Fay said during a phone interview last week. “They’re massive in the UK and they were just like ‘What are you guys doing in November? Would you like to open our tour?’ They play stadiums over there so we had to make sure we would be able to reschedule our tour here, but it was kind of an eye-opening experience.”

The centerpiece of the band’s performance unquestionably lies in Peter Dreimanis’ and Fay’s Johnny-and-June-Cash-on-acid stage presence. Behind them, guitarist Ian Docherty, bassist Josh Warburton and drummer Danny Miles provide a true rock and roll backbone.

While the memory of the stadium is fresh in their minds, the band members love the intimacy of small clubs and the ability to entice individuals in the room. Dreimanis’ deep growl is the stuff 13 year-old punk rockers dream of having one day, and he certainly gets good mileage out of trading provocations with Fay, so there is plenty of action to pull in the audience.

July Talk was one of the most memorable shows this writer was lucky enough to witness in 2015 and I can assure that you won’t want to miss them at Bottom of the Hill tomorrow night.

July Talk, Mona, The Lower 48
Bottom of the Hill
Thursday, January 26, 2017
9PM, $12/14, All Ages