Opening slots for gigs are a funny one; usually you don’t expect a support act to quite literally take over not just the gig but the whole venue. Kakihara took it upon themselves to take up more space than the crowd, the guitarists getting up in everyone’s grill and running more laps than Kriss Akubusi.
Vocalist Keith Muddiman, making moves of his own, boogeying like it is 1999 between his viciously delivered lines. Declaring at one point, “These are the most outstanding beat downs you have heard in your entire life,” and he’s not far off from being wrong. Kakihara is technical as hell, Dillinger but heavier somehow, and definitely trying to recreate chaos like The Chariot. Playing tracks off their 2025 EP Love Songs, Pt. 2 and more, it will be exciting to see what this Scottish whirlwind comes up with next.
Opening the nights’ proceedings are Atlanta based glam rock four-piece Starbenders. Coming on stage to ‘O Fortuna’ and a packed-out room, they burst into ‘Blood Moon’ as drummer Qi Wei pounds her kit in succession with guitars, with vocalist/guitarist Kimi Shelter’s hair sprayed filled hair headbanging. Musically the band sound great. Kriss Tokaji’s guitar sounds thicker than tar, and Aaron Lecesne’s bass thunders through the speakers, making the band sound heavier than they sound on record. Visually they’re quite stagnant. Wei & Tokaji are the only band members seemingly enjoying what little room they have available on stage, as Shelter & Lecesne are almost statues stuck in place.
Shelter’s clean vocals soar on ‘Tokyo’, where she shifts from almost a whisper to higher registers in a whim. That being said, her vocals reach a switch where she pulls out a fry scream akin to the croaky being from The Grudge but with a throat infection. These come into play on almost every song, and often her voice breaks as she’s doing this, eliciting a few odd glances from the crowd. If she kept her vocal range as it was when they performed their first few songs, they would have a much better reaction to the crowd. They do have some fans down the front who are enjoying the band, but across the sea of faces there’s little fanfare to be heard.
Invunche may be a one-man project, but founder Martin “El Invunche” Valenzuela enlists four others for this live show. The sheer number of members and instruments, including a keyboard, makes this stage look tiny. Their cacophony of guttural vocals, huge chords and glamorous theatrics impresses those who arrive for doors. Bathed in blood-red light, they conjure a sound as sinister as their extravagant appearance. Each member is dressed in black, some with corpse-painted faces, but they leave the physical performance to their lead. Valenzuela, sporting an on-stage outfit that feels ceremonial, looks every inch the frontman for a band intent on summoning something from the depths. The music is equally macabre, building an atmosphere of sonic grandeur that swallows the room whole. The audience stand and stare with beers in hand, taking in the performance and bathing in the music.
Just as the set settles into its dark, theatrical groove, the lighting shifts from red to blue and the band changes pace. The closing stretch is faster, fiercer and more direct, culminating in a hefty D-beat finale. It is a thrilling switch-up, cutting through the elaborate aesthetic and setting the tone for faster, punkier bands to come.
The last few years have been very good for the Florida indie-emo act Pool Kids. Alongside the release of their third LP, Easier Said Than Done, which was released last year, the Tallahassee quartet have played alongside Free Throw, Tigers Jaw and The Wonder Years and got approval from Paramore while supporting Sunny Day Real Estate. While based about as far from the Midwest as you can get in the continental United States, Pool Kids blend Midwest emo-style guitars with lush, pop-inspired vocals for an accessible yet complex and unique sound.
Vocalist and guitarist Christine Goodwyne oozes effortless cool, effortlessly shredding through surprisingly intricate math-rock-tinged hits like ‘That’s Physics Baby’ while belting her heart out and jumping around the stage. While excelling at hard-hitting, punk-infused bangers, Pool Kids also deliver a handful of softer indie tracks that fit in better with the headliner’s sing-along style, like the set closer ‘Conscious Uncoupling’, without losing an ounce of their bouncy stage presence. Through their thirty-minute set of indie, Midwest emo and energetic punk-rock, Pool Kids get the packed crowd suitably warmed up for the night of hits to come.
Starting off the night as a local support is never an easy challenge, an uphill task to get an audience that hasn’t warmed up yet invested. However, as My Only Solution take to the stage equipped with the new music they have offered up to us this year, they meet that challenge head on. Opening up the evening with some absurdly heavy tracks, My Only Solution give their all into a performance that is such an amazing opener, setting us up wonderfully for the night ahead – especially considering the recent roster change in the lack of bassist and debut for their guitarist.
Taking the stage first are arguably the most chaotic band you’ll see, not just in this lineup, but in the present South Wales rock scene, Shlug. A Cardiff staple, they’ve played more venues than you could even name; they’d even play your back garden if you asked, then nice enough. But tonight they’re taking to the stage as an opener to rile the crowd up. As they walk onto the stage, they look innocent enough. But that’s where it ends.
Within 10 seconds of taking to the stage, guitarist/vocalist Ellis Acton-Dyer removes his shirt, and the band explodes into ’20th Wax’. Acton-Dyer throws himself around the stage as he beats his guitar within an inch of its life. Bassist Ethan Poole furiously strums to keep tempo as the band gets faster and progressively louder with each song. Consisting mostly of newer material that will be released in their forthcoming EP, Eat God In the Death House, the band have the slowly filling venue eating out of the palm of their hands as they’re captivating, not only musically, but also as performers.
Getting on the barricade, giving their instruments to the crowd while they control the background programming or simply forgoing the microphone to scream equally as loud, Shlug are a force to be reckoned with. And as they leave the stage to a thunderous applause, Shlug has left an everlasting impression on every person who has witnessed their set tonight.
