Post by gaz on Oct 16, 2008 20:16:00 GMT
Paint It Black / Trash Talk / Cutting Class
Star & Garter, Manchester 24.09.2008
I'll admit that I'm a recent convert to the jagged, stripped-down hardcore of PIB, having only popped my PIB cherry with this year's "New Lexicon" album. Big thanks must go to Mr Tinman for educating me!
So off it was to the Star & Garter. A place that I'd only frequented once before, back in June when I witnessed the violent fury that is a Negative Approach gig. This place is the perfect venue, with a slightly raised stage, good sound, no barriers and no security. Let the games begin!
After quaffing a few beers with a mate who has recently moved to Manchester, I stumbled into the venue and was pleasantly surprised at the size of the turn-out. It wasn't sold out but could not have been far off.
I managed to miss the opening 2 bands: The Cost Of Living (Manchester pop-punk, no loss there) and The Lockout (don't know much about them).
The first band I saw were Leeds hardcore heroes Cutting Class. They mix up raging old-school hardcore with more metal influences, a bit like recent Agnostic Front or Terror. They ripped through an energetic set culled mainly from their excellent new cd, with "Failure" and "Break This Curse" going down well. A very good start.
Main support act were Trash Talk who saw an explosion of the "scene" kids displaying their full range of spinning karate kid moves. Am I a bit too long in the tooth, or is this recent macho bullshit the very anti-thesis of what a hardcore gig should be about? Oh well, I maintained a safe distance from the budding Ralph Machios and concentrated on the band.
TT were pretty good, mixing the intense energy of 1980's UK hardcore like Ripcord and Heresy with brutal beatdowns, reminiscent of Trapped Under Ice. The only downside was the singer's unfortunate resemblance to that prick from AFI, but despite that, they were very good.
And so to the legend that is PIB-vocalist Dan Yemin. With a pedigree including Lifetime and Kid Dynamite, Yemin's latest band is by far the best work he's ever been involved with.
I took my place right at the front and prepared myself for the forthcoming storm. It was chaos.
They kicked off with my favourite PIB song "Past Tense Future Perfect" from the new album, and the intensity didn't relent for a single second. I think I maimed people in the opening seconds of this song.
Older tracks like "Election Day" and "Pink Slip" met with dozens of people clambering over each other to try and grab Yemin's mic to scream out the lyrics. The crowd were literally word-perfect and were trampling over each other to try and reach the stage.
I was royally knackered after 20 minutes of this mayhem and remember sitting on the side of the stage for a breather (hey, I'm twice the age of some of those kids!) as they launched into "The Legacy" and seeing utter insanity for the 2 minutes that the song lasted.
After 40-odd minutes it was all over. What a gig. Check out this band next time they tour, you wont be disappointed.
Star & Garter, Manchester 24.09.2008
I'll admit that I'm a recent convert to the jagged, stripped-down hardcore of PIB, having only popped my PIB cherry with this year's "New Lexicon" album. Big thanks must go to Mr Tinman for educating me!
So off it was to the Star & Garter. A place that I'd only frequented once before, back in June when I witnessed the violent fury that is a Negative Approach gig. This place is the perfect venue, with a slightly raised stage, good sound, no barriers and no security. Let the games begin!
After quaffing a few beers with a mate who has recently moved to Manchester, I stumbled into the venue and was pleasantly surprised at the size of the turn-out. It wasn't sold out but could not have been far off.
I managed to miss the opening 2 bands: The Cost Of Living (Manchester pop-punk, no loss there) and The Lockout (don't know much about them).
The first band I saw were Leeds hardcore heroes Cutting Class. They mix up raging old-school hardcore with more metal influences, a bit like recent Agnostic Front or Terror. They ripped through an energetic set culled mainly from their excellent new cd, with "Failure" and "Break This Curse" going down well. A very good start.
Main support act were Trash Talk who saw an explosion of the "scene" kids displaying their full range of spinning karate kid moves. Am I a bit too long in the tooth, or is this recent macho bullshit the very anti-thesis of what a hardcore gig should be about? Oh well, I maintained a safe distance from the budding Ralph Machios and concentrated on the band.
TT were pretty good, mixing the intense energy of 1980's UK hardcore like Ripcord and Heresy with brutal beatdowns, reminiscent of Trapped Under Ice. The only downside was the singer's unfortunate resemblance to that prick from AFI, but despite that, they were very good.
And so to the legend that is PIB-vocalist Dan Yemin. With a pedigree including Lifetime and Kid Dynamite, Yemin's latest band is by far the best work he's ever been involved with.
I took my place right at the front and prepared myself for the forthcoming storm. It was chaos.
They kicked off with my favourite PIB song "Past Tense Future Perfect" from the new album, and the intensity didn't relent for a single second. I think I maimed people in the opening seconds of this song.
Older tracks like "Election Day" and "Pink Slip" met with dozens of people clambering over each other to try and grab Yemin's mic to scream out the lyrics. The crowd were literally word-perfect and were trampling over each other to try and reach the stage.
I was royally knackered after 20 minutes of this mayhem and remember sitting on the side of the stage for a breather (hey, I'm twice the age of some of those kids!) as they launched into "The Legacy" and seeing utter insanity for the 2 minutes that the song lasted.
After 40-odd minutes it was all over. What a gig. Check out this band next time they tour, you wont be disappointed.