Despite taking their name from a classic work of neo-soul, UK’s Mamas Gun have long adhered to the genre’s earliest traditions. On their sixth LP Dig!, which was released back in April, the collective continued to pay respect to the classic sounds of Marvin Gaye and Bill Withers both in the music itself and in the songs’ subject matter, whether it be the optimism of the album cut “First Time in a Long Time” or the relationship pains documented on “Living in Mercy.”
During a recent tour stop in LA, the band recorded a two-song “Neighborhoods” session featuring both tracks during a sunny day off in Culver City. “The concept of ’making hay while the sun shines’ is one that every touring musician is familiar with,” the band explained. “And so, when we realized we would have a day off in Los Angeles before flying back to the UK in which to film some live performances, we thought we’d literally use the LA sunshine as part of the backdrop to these performances.
“I think one of the other ideas floated was based on the classic Beatles rooftop videos or the U2 rooftop videos from the ’80s,” they continue regarding the backdrop for these performances. “They’re part of rock and roll lore, so we went into the whole rooftop video idea pretty sure-footed. We wanted to use as few microphones as possible and keep the performances as intimate and stripped-back as possible, still getting across the fundamentals of our sound, but also presenting it in a way that people hadn’t heard before.”
Check out the rooftop performances below, and catch Mamas Gun onstage at their remaining 2026 tour dates, which are listed on their website.
