Reading Indie Life

20th March 2026

Nothing Rhymes With Orange, Radiator and Cheap Suits at the Purple Turtle

The imperious Nothing Rhymes With Orange returned to one of their favourite venues on the 5th of March!

The Purple Turtle in Reading is forever putting on great new bands. Sometimes though, the stars align and you get three sensational acts on the same bill. This was one of those nights!

Cheap Suits

We had been hoping to catch Cheap Suits for a while. The Wallingford based Oxfordshire band have been rapidly gaining traction on the local live scene and have established quite a reputation already. On the basis of tonight that reputation is deserved. This is a band that is likely to be making waves fast. A proper young indie outfit, mix a hint of Arctic Monkeys and a smidge of The Wombats with Catfish and The Bottlemen and you are getting onto the right lines. They aren’t that level of good yet, but time is on their side. Check out their decent Kiss Up EP from last year.

Radiator

Radiator were a total unknown to us before tonight but we will now be following them closely. Even a false start to the opening track, thanks to a dodgy microphone, didn’t hold them back. Their lead singer prowls around the stage between singing, like a mix of Ian Curtis and Grian Chatten with ADHD. A bundle of nervous energy. He almost leans too hard on the Grian Chatten vibes, but the affectations feel genuine rather than deliberate copying. There is undoubtedly something of interest here though. There is a moody atmosphere running through the set, an edginess that feels like it might explode at a moments notice. Again, check out the decent EP from last year to get a feel for them. Their live presence felt better than the recorded tracks so far suggest.

Nothing Rhymes With Orange

It was almost a year since we last saw Nothing Rhymes With Orange at the Turtle and interviewed them. They are growing and developing as a band all the time.

There are multiple unreleased and new tracks in the set. All display the level of growth as more recent singles ‘Shearwater’ and ‘Stepping Up My Spine,’ the sound they have spent the last few years searching for. The first might have been called ‘Star Lit,’ another anthem in the making with a rousing breakdown towards the end. ‘Down and Out’ and the also unreleased ‘Pedestal’ show they can do muscular guitar sounds, as well as shiny indie-pop. ‘The Great Escape’ is another fine addition to their set. ‘Heart Attack’ is different, a little more freewheeling, almost a touch of Madchester about it.

Eli is continuing his development into an absolutely electric front man. He constantly incites more energy from the audience. Sam, Lui and Finn are an impressive musical engine. All the hours of practice are paying off big time. If you watch early videos of them from four years ago you can still see all the raw ability. Now though there is a polish, a better understanding of what they can do and a better sense of songwriting craft.

The band are just getting tighter and more focused with every gig they play. By the time they finish university they will be ready to prove to the world what an incredible collective they are.