Concert: The Holly Springs Disaster, The End, Johnny Truant, A Textbook Tragedy
Posted on March 12, 2008 at 9:50 pm by admin
Rory had been suggesting this concert for awhile, having a heavy interest in The End. I actually wasn’t planning to go, as I had planned to gradually build up my concert going experiences after taking a significant break early this year. Rory however called me at the last minute, and since it was taking place in my hometown of Chatham, I figured I’d give this one a try.
Myself and Rory got there a little late. I believe there was supposed to be 2 local bands appearing first, and that Architects was unable to make the show, but I could be wrong. Who I got to see first was A Textbook Tragedy, who was fairly textbook metalcore with a couple of hints of death metal and a couple sing-along parts. It’s nothing you haven’t heard before if you’ve heard metalcore. The band seemed to be new, and was slightly on the loose side and the rest of the band besides the vocalist tended to simply look at their instruments. Certainly a few steps above a local band, but nothing special.
Up next was Johnny Truant. This UK band had been to Chatham before, as a fairly conservative city, people tend to like bands that they’re highly familiar with, and gravitate towards live bands they’ve already seen before, so they gathered quite an audience. Harsh, biting, punishing noise was the chosen subject to beat the audience with. It was both powerful and heavy, and I was sold.
The End is a band who’s garnered a significant amount of artistic credibility, but unfortunately as stated before, Chatham is a conservative city, and The End stood out as being an extremely different band on a tour such as this, and I don’t believe they’ve visited Chatham before. That would probably explain why they got the smallest audience of the 4 bands I saw. Like many bands who understand that being different doesn’t always go over well, they put out their finest, with lots of mic-stand swinging, bullhorn into the mic vocals and an additional drum, reminding Rory of Neurosis (quite a high compliment to a band such as The End). While most of the audience simply sat in their chairs and watched, hopefully they’ve given The End a chance. Perhaps another trip to Chatham will garner The End a bigger reaction.
Finally came The Holly Springs Disaster, who I’ve seen with Protest The Hero twice, once when the band was unsigned. Just as before, they threw forth their southern styled metalcore with a few extra death growls and huge breakdowns. The band has certainly grown to an even livelier live experience, and played tighter than heavier, and even seemed heavier than before, although that could be due to the fact that bands are mixed louder as the night progresses. I couldn’t help feeling that with all the other new southern-styled metalcore bands out there that Every Time I Die is the most preferable choice of all those bands.
I actually wasn’t expecting much from this show, but things turned out much better than expected. I always make new friends whenever I’m at a concert, especially Reuben, the guitarist of Johnny Truant, who was quite well-versed in many an old-school band, as well many entertaining stories of bands, such as Bruce Dickenson piloting the Iron Maiden jumbo jet, and his concert experience seeing Cannibal Corpse with Chris Barnes. If there are any kids reading this article, the members of Johnny Truant and The End can give you quite an education about the history of modern music today with the old bands that inspired them.
The Holly Springs Disaster at MySpace
The End at MySpace
Johnny Truant at MySpace
A Textbook Tragedy at MySpace
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