Robyn Writes

New Riot – Avondale House (SMILE FEST), 28th February 2013

In contemporary Britain, where rolling news is constantly filled with tales of austerity and warnings of economic instability as Europe crumbles around us, the public desperately needs a huge dosage of good-time, lager soaked entertainment with which the woes of modern life can be briefly drowned out in an alcoholic haze. And what better way to receive that much needed dosage than from seeing a hard partying ska band in the most English of establishments – a ruddy big pub.

The confines of the cramped upstairs room make a change from some of the relatively large clubs within which New Riot has supported big name pogo luminaries such as Less Than Jake and Reel Big Fish although they seem unperturbed by the fact they’re playing to a no more than fifty students and one crusty old punk who may or may not think it is 1982. New Riot carry all the hallmarks of a band that you have to be significantly under the influence of cheap alcopops to enjoy, as suggested by their party-centric lyrics that could easily have been stolen from a One Direction B-side. “Let’s go crazy crashing parties all over town!” goes the chorus from their popular number ‘RIOT.SLEEP.REPEAT’, which receives the biggest cheer of the night. The group’s relentless efforts to animate the blurry eyed crowd are partially successful, a small gaggle of particularly enthusiastic fans react to the band’s cries of mosh pits by skanking to their hearts content, with one dreadlocked fellow head-banging to every single note without fail. ‘Feel The Burn’ and ‘Nothing To Lose’ from their debut album maintain an admirably fast paced tempo that the band manages to uphold throughout their set. As the show progresses, the crowd becomes visibly thinner, a down heartening sight for any band to play to, but their good time bouncy bouncy energy never falters, even when many of the crowd’s attention is drawn to a particularly spectacular goal on the myriad of large TV screens spread strategically around the room. The group’s insistence on playing new songs upsets the show’s rhythm somewhat, and their between song banter borders on the inane. Musically though, the band offers little in originality, peddling the generic ska sound of brass and guitar interplay with shouty vocals and speedy power chord punk sections- proving that for the most part ska is still defiantly frozen in time. After thirty years or so as a genre, the group should be looking to bands such as Sonic Boom Six who have successfully cannibalized other genres and stitched them chaotically to a ska underbelly with terrific and ground-breaking results. New Riot however, seem quite happy to keep things within the genre’s expectations and guidelines; for all their sweating and animated gesticulations, New Riot could well be any of the countless personality devoid ska bands on the oft soul destroying toilet venue circuit. For about five intoxicated and energetic people though, New Riot lived up to their namesake.

Chronographs – DNA, Worcester, 6/1/13

Shamefully, me and my comrade in arms showed up late to the Chronographs launch show. So we missed first act Akheron and will therefore posit that they were brilliant and everyone should listen to them. Luckily, that was all we skipped on, and Lichfield based Avantine (3/5) presented a solid set. Technically able and playing some massive tunes, they were a joy to listen to, but need to work on their stage presence a bit. Vocalist Leigh Moylan had tons of energy but everything else seemed a bit static.

This wasn’t the case for Hull technical hardcore monsters The Colour Line (4/5). To say that they dominated the dancefloor would be a bit of an understatement – they virtually smashed it to pieces with one of the most enigmatic perfomances I’ve seen in ages. Equal parts terrifying and enthralling, their dirgey hardcore brought Worcester to its knees, predominately in the moshpit as they got taken out by a guitar head.

Aurora (3.5/5) suffered from a few technical issues; an inability to get the levels right on Jessica Calvesbert’s vocals distracted from what was otherwise a great set. Taking cues from both pop-punk and metalcore, they’ve crafted an intriguing and unsettling sound, and smashed a wary audience’s expectations in the teeth. Aurora are definitely one to watch.

Finally, Chronographs (4.5/5) took to the stage and delivered. Suited and booted, classic microphone in tow, they filled the room with a sonic explosion of incredible technical skill and proved that they can outclass virtually any band at their level in the UK right now. And that was even missing guitarist Jack Pope. Picking and choosing from their small but impressive back catalogue, they treated fans to firm favourites and new ventures, and it was wonderful to see just how much they’ve evolved over the past two years. With mosh heavy breakdowns, melody driven riffs, classical and electronic influence, Chronographs are often polarising but not at this launch – a full house screamed their hearts out to a band worthy of all the hype.

Alexisonfire – Brixton Academy, 2/12/12

Tonight’s show at the prestigious Brixton Academy hosts the beginning of the final chapter of the most well loved post-hardcore band of the past decade; a band that spawned a plethora of imitators all trying to capitalise on the band’s unique and dynamic emotional tension. After somewhat fizzling out back in 2010 after the release of their confused E.P Dog’s Blood, it seems that these handful of final shows have reminded the thousands in the venue, as well as the many more left without tickets, just how much these five unassuming Canadians meant to so many people.

As the venue fills, Brighton hardcore heroes The Ghost Of A Thousand take to the huge stage to unleash their rock n’ roll tinged hardcore. Although they came out of retirement to play this show at the behest of the headliners, Ghost are every bit the tight, well oiled punk machine they used to be. At first, the crowd greet the band with reserved politeness for the antagonistic no-holds-barred opener ‘Left For Dead’, but the rock n’ roll inspired ‘Bright Lights’ gets those at the front moving. ‘Up To You’ ups the ante, with vocalist Tom Lacey heading into the crowd as fans scramble for the mic. Lacey produces the quote of the night, perfectly summing up the predicament of both bands: “They say you play Brixton academy twice in your career, once on the way up and once on the way down. It’s nice to be back.” ‘Black Art Number One’ sees the small rowdy gaggle at the front throwing themselves around the pit as if their lives depended on it before final song ‘Bored Of Math’ comes to a close with three members of the band held aloft by the crowd.

Tonight the ravenous crowd will be treated to a whopping twenty-three song set spanning all of two hours and encompassing every Alexisonfire release from their debut through to their Dog’s Blood E.P. As the lights go down and the Alexisonfire banner descends at the back of atmospherically lit the stage the levels of excitement is almost unbearable and as the band take to the stage they’re greeted by deafening screams from both sexes. The opening chiming notes of ‘Crisis’ send the crowd surging towards the front as vocalist George Pettit’s characteristic screams erupt from the cavernous stage, the crowd now a writhing mass of crushed bodies. As the song reaches the chorus Dallas Green’s vocals are pretty much drowned out by the baying crowd. ‘Get Fighted’ is the perfect follower, a song about fashion and hairstyles being irrelevant and having a good time taking precedent. ‘Waterwings’ from their 2001 debut album receives a raucous response even though a vast majority of the crowd would still have been a few years off their teens when it was released. ‘Old Crows’ has the audience pogoing along to the bouncy punk riff, the chorus of “We are not the kids we used to be” very much echoing with the crowd and the teenage years that Alexisonfire provided the soundtrack to. ‘Control’ has the crowd replicating every nuance of Dallas Green’s impossibly sumptuous voice and is the track that perhaps best showcases the band’s masterful use of dynamics that made their 2004 album Watch Out! so brilliant. The slow burning intro to ‘You Burn First’ has the audience resembling a coiled spring, exploding as George Pettit’s screams signal the audience to go completely batshit, his now thirty year old frame projecting his grating scream just as fervently as he did ten years ago. ‘We Are The Sound’s’ call and response interlude appears deafening but this seems tame compared to ‘This Could Be Anywhere In The World’ which has every member of the five thousand strong audience sing and scream back every single word of the song that became a global hit. ‘Dog’s Blood’ gives a glimpse of the direction the band would have headed in, its more experimental leanings still retaining the classic Alexis clean vocal and screaming dynamic. ‘Accept Crime’ shines a light on the band’s more outspoken and political output, advocating free speech and freedom of expression by declaring “We will be free/ To use our bodies as we please”. ‘Boiled Frogs’ and ‘Drunks, Lovers, Sinners & Saints’ boast some of the band’s biggest choruses and reiterates why Crisis was such a successful album. ‘Charlie Sheen vs Henry Rollins’ is the surprise of the night, a slightly obscure track that draws a blank with some but for those in the know it is a welcome surprise. Pettit takes to the organ for the relatively slow paced ‘The Northern’ with Dallas’ voice soaring and showing no signs of fatigue after twenty songs. ‘Accidents’ is greeted like an anthem, the sweaty throng throwing their weary bodies around the various pits whilst the chorus and “whoahhhs” of the interlude are shouted back at the band by hoarse vocals chords. Returning to the stage after the inevitable encore, the slow-paced off-kilter rhythms of ‘Rough Hands’ give way to the expansive punk rock of ‘Young Cardinals’, giving the more rowdy fans a last chance to throw their sweaty bodies into each other. A sprawling rendition of ‘Happiness By The Kilowatt’ ends the show in positively epic fashion. The song falls and rises in several crescendos, with Dallas’ voice never faltering before the song ends in a piercing wail of feedback.

Sure, the band could have benefitted from a little more rehearsal but this is cynical nit-picking in an otherwise perfect performance from a band that helped define modern heavy music as we now know it. I think it is fair to say, that no one leaves Brixton Academy with a shred of disappointment.

Converge – Brighton Concorde 2, 01/12/12

Tonight the temperature on a winter Sunday night is straggling the minuses but inside the seafront confines of Brighton’s finest venue, the Concorde 2, things are about to get very sweaty. Marking their return to the venue on the back of their startlingly good new album All We Love We Leave Behind, Converge bring three diverse but no less extreme bands to warm the frozen crowd.

First on is Italy’s The Secret, a four headed beast of a band who play something akin to black metal interspersed with Sabbath riffs covered in a crust some twelve inches thick. Approval is shown through an increasing amount of devil horn salutes and raised pints, commending the band’s ability to switch between blastbeats and sludge riffs in a manner not unlike tonight’s headliners.

A Storm Of Light rely on atmospherics rather than brute force to communicate their sprawling, multi visual, sludgey post-rock compositions. A film collage, projected behind the band, shows images of warfare, atomic bombs and riots, providing the ideal backdrop for the ear-splitting cacophony that envelops the crowd in an inescapable wall of pure noise.

The front rows who await Touche Amore are made up almost exclusively of teenagers, proving the bands popularity with the young Tumblr-savvy crowd. As the band plays the first few warm chords of ‘~’ the venue suddenly explodes into life with the soul baring lyrics being screamed back at frontman Jeremy with aplomb. Always emphasising brevity over longevity, the band rattle through songs in quick succession, covering most of 2011’s acclaimed Parting The Sea Before The Brightness And Me as well as a number from their debut …To The Beat Of A Dead Horse. A new song entitled ‘Gravity’ gives the first indication of the bands future direction, a track where ideas are allowed to develop and flourish into the band’s longest song to date.

As the crowd forms in front of the stage, a distinct smell of stale sweat, beer and marijuana emits from the gaggle of metalheads, hardcore kids and other down and outs who have gathered to watch the most influential extreme bands of recent times. Converge take to the stage to little fanfare, no backing track or elaborate entrance. Vocalist Jacob Bannon bluntly states “we’re ready to play” and they launch headfirst into ‘Concubine’ (probably the most extreme seventy-nine seconds of music ever written); the crowd quite literally goes wild for their blastbeat infected hardcore. Driving bass and drums signals the intro to ‘Dark Horse’, a track that possesses much of the unstoppable kinetic energy of a speeding train. The masses at the front exercise their demons in all manner of violent gestures. From some extremely vicious headbanging and air punching to the flailing throng in the pit, the floor is soon covered in puddles of sweat and splattered with blood fallen from smashed noses. ‘Aimless Arrow’ and ‘All We Love We Leave Behind’ represent the new album with the crowd reacting to the new songs like they were old favourites. ‘No Light Escapes’ from the recent split seven inch with Napalm Death spurts a fifty second long tirade of aggression. Guitarist Kurt Ballou is every bit the virtuosic guitarist, switching from caustic breakdowns on ‘Axe To Fall’, to two finger tapping and relentless chugging whilst Nate Newton’s driving bass and booming vocals dominate ‘Worms Will Feed’. Converge’s backbone- Ben Koller, provides some of the most devilishly difficult yet undeniably solid drumming in heavy music. As the band leave the stage the crowd are still thirsting for more aural brutality and the band oblige readily with an encore of ‘First Light/ Last Light’ from You Fail Me. The closing schizophrenic breakdown sees the bruised and battered crowd losing their shit for a final time. As the house lights come on, the state of the crowd speaks volumes about the intensity of tonight’s show. The bloodied, sweat-covered throng certainly got what they came for- a masterful performance by one of the most uncompromising bands on the planet.

Terror – Southampton Joiners, 29/10/12

A Monday night is probably the least favourite word in any touring band member’s vocabulary. Playing to twenty-or-so uninterested people in a decrepit toilet venue for little-to-no money sounds fun, eh? But Terror’s show at the dank, intimate surrounding of Southampton’s historic Joiners venue was one of those few times when a Monday night show in a grey town sees every band entice nothing less than carnage.

A sizeable portion of the sold-out crowd greets Desolated’s down-tuned and hellish hardcore. Having headlined the venue only a few months before, the band instantly hit their stride, inciting the kids at the front into a frenzy of flailing limbs. Opener ‘Betrayal’ pummels the crowd with brutal riff after brutal riff and it’s not long before stage-divers appear to pound the crowd even further. ‘Dead End’ throws some blastbeats into the mix, making their already brutal metal sound downright terrifying. Frontman Paul holds out the mic as a small pile of bodies scramble to scream and growl the band’s anti-religious lyrics. The grating feedback and concrete riffs of final song ‘Blasphemy’ sees the dancers throw themselves about the pit for the final demonic breakdown. Although Desolated are as subtle as a kick in the testicles from a pair of Doc Martens, they are already one of UK hardcore’s most formidable live bands.

Manchester’s finest, Broken Teeth, may not bleed originality but they are one of the UK’s hardest working bands. Through relentless touring of the UK and Europe, the five-piece has made fans the hard way, but now they are finally beginning to receive the response they deserve. The chugging metal-infused riffs of their crossover sound are met with rabid response. New tracks from the ‘Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked’ E.P provide Slayer-worshipping licks that rain down with ardent ferocity as the vocalist throws himself about the stage in a blur of hair. ‘The Seeker’ brings their set to a chaotic close in what was a headline-worthy performance.

There’s a tangible anticipation in the air for South Wales troupe Brutality Will Prevail and you’d be forgiven in thinking that they were the headline band such is the response they receive. Opening with short Harm’s Way cover the band launches into ‘Trapped Doors, Moving Walls’ and the opening screams of “Look into my eyes/I can see what you want me to be” are howled back at the band by a fervent crowd. New song ‘The Path’ is greeted like an old favourite, its more straight forward riff-orientated style being lapped up by those in the pit. ‘Reprisal’ displays an unrelentingly crushing selection of snail-paced chugging, opening a large vortex of flying limbs and steady stream of stage divers. Vocalist Ajay contorts his body into a plethora of violent gestures whilst challenging the audience to increase the already chaotic pit action to uncharted new levels. Despite some technical difficulties BWP’s momentum never flags. ‘Purgatory’ is a beatdown-heavy blast of pure bile that sits surprisingly well against the more progressive and expansive but no less brutal ‘Cursed’ and the driving momentum of closer ‘Heavy Eyes’. An almost flawless set from one of the UK’s most promising outfits, it’s taken them a while but BWP are now a solid and intimidating live act.

Any fears that BWP’s set would be the peak in energy are quickly extinguished. A mix of early thirties crusty punks and young hardcore kids welcomes Terror, a band that have been playing shows in sweaty little rooms across the globe for ten years. Scott Vogel is easily one the most charismatic frontman in hardcore, encouraging kids to stagedive, handing out the mic to the sweaty throng and never being short of a good old hilarious “Vogelism” (Google it). A career spanning set means no fans are left disappointed; tracks are aired from almost every release including the first song the band ever wrote. Of course, ‘Keepers of the Faith’ is saved until last and quite rightly receives the biggest sing along of the night from the humid, sweat-drenched room.