DESTROY MUSIC TOUR w/ The Amity Affliction, I Killed The Prom Queen, Deez Nuts and Of Mice & Men - Sydney

My initial shock at the amount of kids half my age lining up outside The Roundhouse didn’t hold on longer than a few seconds, as the doors opened at 6.30pm on the dot for the 2nd installment of the Destroy Music Tour in Sydney, featuring Of Mice & Men from the US, and of course our very own Deez Nuts, I Killed The Prom Queen and The Amity Affliction. I had been told earlier that Of Mice & Men had started their set as scheduled at 6.45pm the previous night, so my friend and I rocked up in a very timely manner in order not to miss anything!

Not having heard much of this SoCal-based band beforehand, I was a little taken back when the Star Wars theme blasted through the speakers, announcing that Of Mice & Men would be taking the stage - yet again - right on time. What are the odds that this would be the first gig I had been to in years, where things actually ran on time? The auditorium was still rather empty and you had to feel for vocalist Austin Carlile, as he tried to fire up the rows of kids standing in front of the stage for 'Those In Glass Houses' from their 2010 self-titled debut album.

Carlile’s growls were just right and the amazing - no really: a-fucking-mazing! - clean vocals of bassist Shayley Bourget and forceful beats of Valentino Arteaga behind the raised drum set, had me inch closer and closer to the stage, trying to avoid flying feet and legs of those that must have mistaken this gig for their local martial arts studio! Whatever happened to good old mosh pits?!

After a random shout-out to ‘the guy in the blue shirt’ and continuing their set with 'Farewell To Shade Glade' and 'They Don’t Call It The South For Nothing', I was convinced that this band had gotten the opener spot undeservingly, as people were still entering the venue half-way through their set.  

Rhythm and lead guitarists, Alan Ashby and Phil Manansala respectively, were equally as bouncy as Shayley, when Austin took his favourite spot on various ego risers, screaming his lungs out before jumping off stage during 'The Ballad Of Tommy Clayton & The Rawdog Millionaire' (or at least that’s when I think he did it) to get close to the crowd pressing against the barriers and pretty much growled in all of their faces much to the youngsters’ delight. Parting after a way too short six-song-set with 'Second & Sebring', I was certain that this was not the last time that I will hear from this energetic five-piece, based just South of Los Angeles, with the June 14th release date of their upcoming album, The Flood, sitting just around the corner.

With Of Mice & Men surely having heated up the audience - and gave us ‘older’ folks enough time for a quick smoke and a brew (loved the For the Love of Beer cups!) - Deez Nuts took to the stage with people in front and behind the Over 18’s barrier cheering loudly!                                 

Founding member JJ Peters, who formed this band just after I Killed The Prom Queen split up in 2007, has mastered the change from being IKTPQ’s drummer, to the charismatic and rapping front man of this ‘rap core’ band, giving the crowd plenty of attitude. Even though I've never really listened to much of the band’s material before, I found it challenging to keep up in counting the use of the word ‘pussy’ in the second song - standing yet again close to the stage - but now, that is not a bad thing at all, as I found the lyrics rather amusing!              

I was a little in-between seats with this band, as I found it too slow to be hardcore with vocals clearly far from being aggressive and impacting enough to fall into that category, but the sheer force of Ty Alexander on drums made up for that in my books, and Stu Callinan’s guitar pieces were definitely taking away from my thinking that this band was just a little bit too slow for my usual liking.

I missed out on catching the name of their bassist for the current tour (was it IKTPQ’s Sean Kennedy?), but it was clear that the guys on stage had a ball thrashing out their set and even though no mosh - or karate kick action was spotted in the crowd - I am dead-set on finding that Deez Nuts are a very entertaining, even fun band which I hope to catch again should they play Sydney in the near future!

Sitting out in the smoking area between sets, it was easy to filter out that a lot of the people out here were waiting solely for I Killed The Prom Queen to take the stage. Having disbanded just over 4 years ago, the reasons for IKTPQ to suddenly decide to pull together again and hit Australia for a few shows under the Destroy Music banner - three of which were sold out - shall remain a mystery to me. But news of this line-up to be a constant and that the reformation with ex-The Red Shore vocalist Jamie Hope taking the spot of Michael Crafter has me plenty excited, and echoing opinions in the crowd that night were pretty clear: 4 years away from the scene has certainly been long enough for IKTPQ fans!

Apart from a change on the vocal-front, the rest of the line-up has remained the same, and hearing Jona Weinhofen shred to old favorites of the former Adelaide band, certainly put a smile on my face throughout the first song, and loving to see JJ Peters behind the drums again… it all had a great homecoming feel, standing amongst a well-filled Roundhouse crowd, varying from the early teens and those into the mid 30’s.

Jamie Hope did a wicked job on vocals and with both Sean Kennedy on bass and Kevin Cameron on guitar, the whole atmosphere was just… there! Stage dynamics and crowd reactions were pretty amazing from where I was standing, and even the sound - which I am not always a fan of at The Roundhouse - I must admit, was surprisingly well tuned.

Blending in Jona’s clean vocals as well, this performance was definitely out there and could have hardly been topped by much - even though I've heard from the show in Melbourne and someone having seen IKTPQ the previous night at the sold-out Roundhouse show, that those performances have been absolutely mental and that the crowd was pretty much electrified, so maybe I am wrong by saying it couldn’t have been any better, but it was definitely one hell of a set in my book!

It was clear from the very start of this night that the majority of people impatiently waiting for The Amity Affliction to headline tonight’s show, were in the age group of the fifteen to twenty-five-years-old, but that has never been something to scare me off. The Amity Affliction have been on a huge rise since their last release, Youngbloods, in 2010 and having opened with ‘Youngbloods’ swiftly followed by ‘Snicklefritz’. The crowd - old and young alike - were very much into it from the first few seconds, as vocalist Joel Birch, bass guitarist Ahren Stringer, keyboardist Trad Nathan, guitarists Troy Brady and Clint ‘Splattering’ Ellis, rounding things off with drummer Ryan Burt, took to the stage.  

It was somewhat amazing how the audience pulled together during the aforementioned two songs, and the crowded at the stage to the opening chords of ‘Snitches Get Stitches’ and even I was daring to leave my ‘safe spot’ toward the back-end of the venue and actually get closer in the middle of the people flocking together.                                                                    

Looking at Joel running around the stage between bouncy Troy, Ahren and Clint, I was somehow amazed by how guttural his vocals actually were, amidst all the physical activity up there. I adore guttural growls and his ability to hold it and not have the voice break at certain times had me tip my hat!

Not normally being a big enthusiast when it comes to keyboards no matter what type of music, I found that Trad was doing a great job in not only jumping around like a maniac but also manage to hit the right keys at the right time. If that’s not something, I don’t know what is.

Finishing up their set with ‘Anchors’ just to thrash out ‘I Hate Hartley’ as a much celebrated and anticipated encore, The Amity Affliction was accompanied off-stage by a loud cheer and calls from the crowd that was left behind, a certain sign that this second Sydney installment of the Destroy Music Tour was a huge success, even if it was not sold out like the previous night.

All in all, I felt satisfied that I had spent my $50 rather well, being repaid by almost 4 hours of great music, sizzling atmosphere and the impression that the Australian metalcore scene is very healthy and will be even stronger - yet again - with I Killed The Prom Queen back in the picture!