Support: Small Pond Big Fish, Devereux, The Autumn Ravine, Grumble Bee
When: 15th November 2015
Where: The Garage, Highbury
Reviewed By: Dan Stoten
I've been spoilt recently with the live music I've been able to see. After a joyous five days in Florida at Pre-Fest and Fest, the first gig I went to back in a wintry London town was always going to have a hard time living up to expectations. Especially as it was on a cold and grey Sunday.
Opening act Small Pond Big Fish didn't get things off to a spectacular start by any stretch. While the stage upstairs at The Garage is admittedly small, they were pretty static on-stage and looked somewhat awkward at times. Their brand of female-fronted pop-punk fell somewhere between Evanescence and Tonight Alive vocally; while there were some elements of neat guitar work. To me, though, they weren't the most cohesive or polished unit, and their cover of Sugar, We're Goin' Down by Fall Out Boy is one to avoid. Definitely some seeds of talent, but they were pretty well hidden on this occasion.
They were followed by Devereux, who delivered another set which fell flat. While their melodic hardcore-style rock was completely inoffensive, there was nothing here to make me sit up and take notice either. Their wall-of-noise approach, combined with the poor sound in the venue for their set, meant it was difficult to make out any detail, and it was also tricky to hear the vocalist.
The Autumn Ravine were up next, and instantly displayed a marked step up in quality. Another set of melodic hardcore-influenced music (but with a much punkier edge), there were some really tight melodies and harmonies here, something missing from both previous acts. Alongside this, Damon's vocals were at times backed by Thomas, something which added strength and depth. Particularly of note was The River, a very polished song which grew and grew in stature in a really smooth and rounded way. Definitely a band to keep your eyes peeled for.
If you're a fan of letlive., then you'll also find elements of Grumble Bee's music up your street. To me, it was choppy, technical and passionate math-rock influenced noise, with added lashings of slightly darker, gothic overtones. Jack Bennett himself is some performer, writhing and jerking while passionately shredding his guitar and mixing vocal styles: there were some whispers but also some pretty gravelly and throaty screams. While not an easy watch, there was definitely something more than a little intriguing about Grumble Bee's performance which would entice me to see them again.
Tonight's headliner (and main attraction) were Stockholm skate punks Like Torches, who'll be releasing their new album in 2016. They opened their set with Skeletons, the track which drew my attention to the band in the first place. It wasn't the cleanest and most polished rendition, with some of the vocal notes not being hit; but it helped the band settle into their performance.
After a handful more songs, they clearly settled into their stride, with the loose-ness and sloppiness of earlier tracks fading. While sonically the venue wasn't ideal, their energy and enthusiasm for their catchy and accessible skate-punk was completely obvious and good to watch. They've a lot more edge than your standard run-of-the-mill pop-punk band, which is a differentiating factor and something which'll bring them fans. They played a good number of new tracks, too, with Bit A Bullet standing out in particular.
While none of these performances were perfect, the latter three certainly showed enough potential to make this a worthwhile Sunday evening.
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