I usually head to London to get my gig fix, but tonight I find myself in lovely Plymouth; at the White Rabbit venue to be precise for the penultimate day of Your Demise’s ‘The Kids We Used To Be’ tour. And what a concert it was.
Los Angeles’ biggest buzz band at the moment, Letlive, open up tonight’s show and provide what turns out to be the best set of the night; the quartet’s post-hardcore-prog-rock out will never be summed up better than when Your Demise described them as “the band Glassjaw should have become”. Leaving the stage almost as the first notes of aptly titled intro ‘Le Prologue’, crazed-yet-brilliant frontman Jason Aalon Butler gives a short sharp lesson in the art of being a lead singer as well as how to get people to notice your band. Health and safety seems a distant memory as he; leaves the stage flying into punters, takes out ceiling tiles whilst singing from above, swiping the PA to send drinks flying everywhere, attempts to smash the venues famed mirror, monkey bar-ing the pentagon sky-light and general use of the floor as a stage. What makes this all impressive is that it’d all real, none of it is forced; all real passion, pure adrenaline, brute emotion and the crowd are left open-mouthed, unable to take their eyes off him for even a second.
Performance alone doesn’t always guarantee a good performance, luckily Jason and co. have the songs to be rightly be recognised as the best band in the world right now; the riot starting ‘The Sick, Sick 6.8 Billion’, melodic delight ‘Renegade 86’’, fantastic dance-freakout ‘Homeless Jazz’, heart-string puller ‘Muther’ and the best song written in the last few years ‘Casino Columbus’ send the lead singer’s “friends” in the front seven shades of shit. If you don’t know who this band are check them out right fucking now; as well as becoming your new favourite band, they are well on their way to becoming one of biggest bands on this earth. A majestic 30 minutes from a band who are truly one in a million.
After Letlive literally leave the venue in tatters, Break Even where always going to have a challenge on their Australian hands. The quartet’s gun-ho emotional hardcore is impressive however and the Plymouth faithful lap it up like the waves on the nearby shore; it does come off rather one dimensional (especially playing straight after Letlive) and you can’t help feeling they could do with another guitarist. Take nothing away from the bands performance though, they admirably blast through their impressive set and look to have made many a new fan tonight (myself included).
Orange County’s Stick To Your Guns clearly have a major chunk of the crowd on their side before they even take to the stage tonight, a large portion of those here tonight adorning the band merchandise even more than the headliners; so predictably as soon as they do start their set the White Rabbit positively EXPLODES. The quintet bleed urgency and belief, they’re certainly the first heavy band in a long time who doesn’t just tell you to stage dive and mosh; frontman Jesse Barnett’s real-as-it-gets speeches really hit a nerve. The epitome of this comes when he screams to the congregation about the disgusting Phelps family and their anti-gay beliefs, before launching into a scathing number which sends blood everywhere. A cracking set which matches the mighty Letlive, causes absolute mayhem and makes Your Demise’s job that little bit harder.
Entering to the St Albans’ now famous Notorious BIG ‘Gimme Me The Loot’ intro, everyone here knows exactly what’s going to follow; the quartet killing it, a ridiculous pit and bodies taking to the air and taking people out. However I don’t think anyone here knew how much the plan would embody all of that to a stupidly dangerous degree, Your Demise truly fuck Plymouth up tonight.
From the opening bars of the bands own intro, the call to arms that is, ‘MMX’, fans take flight to joyous abandon and you instantly know that Your Demise are not only going to match all before them but very nearly top them. An almost perfect setlist consisting of old fire-starters ‘Nothing Left But Regret’ and a surprise inclusion for ‘Blood Stays On The Blade’ and such gems from their new album as “Teenage Lust’, ‘Life Of Luxury’(a video for the song is shot tonight) and the bands new calling card ‘Miles Away. The latter somehow unleashing a hardcore chorus on everyone here.
Tonight is best described by the scene witnessed during modern classic ‘Burnt Tongues’; bodies literally flying in all directions, blood on the front row and the stage, fans screaming their ickle hearts out with frontman Ed McRae and brilliant recreation of WWE favourites the Hardy Boyz ‘whisper in the wind’ move look to cause widespread bruising tomorrow morning. Tonight Your Demise showed why they are tipped as the future of hardcore, heavy, melodic and unafraid to bring along amazing bands, safe in the knowledge that they can outplay anyone. With followers like those here tonight there is no stopping them. In the words of Ludacris if you don’t like it then you better “move bitch, get out the way!”.
Photo credit: Chris Martin