Post by Admin on Jul 19, 2011 10:48:19 GMT -5
Livestock 3...
SecondToLast, Reluctant To Speak, Cornerstone, Tauntra
By Nick Yule
The Brickyard, Carlisle. Saturday 22nd November 2003
Carlisle’s third Livestock arrived with, in this reviewer’s opinion, the best line-up yet. The gig kicked off with a debut at the Brickyard for Tauntra, and an impressive one it was too. It’s all to easy for ska-punk bands to get stuck in a rut, and churn out endless re-runs of the countless bland acts who have given the genre a bad name, but Tauntra seem to have a little something extra about them. Changes in pace and rhythm and a willingness to avoid the standard ska/punk/ska/punk formula earmark Tauntra as ones to watch. A ska resurgence perhaps? Maybe not, but we (well, I) can dream….
Instrumental post-rock seems to be flavour of the month at the moment, particularly here at Motive Sounds, but when it comes in the form of ctrlaltdelete, who can argue? Finally grasping my chance to see a full set of theirs at the third time of asking, I had something of a revelation. Ctrlaltdelete were ace. Something seemed different since last time I (half) saw them. They kicked off with a heavier sound than I remembered, and overall there was a lot more energy in the live environment than on CD. Echoes of Mogwai, Godspeed!YBE and Sonic Youth all rolled together in a steadily improving package. If you like your rock ambient, experimental and with a degree in art, you’ll love ctrlaltdelete.
Cornerstone followed, and perhaps through no fault of their own, just didn’t grab me as much. Maybe I’d had my fill of pleasant surprises for the night, but I couldn’t find anything about them that particularly excited me. There were echoes of Foo Fighters, Nirvana, and other usual suspects, and maybe that was the problem. More of an individual identity would probably see Cornerstone rise up my ‘favourite local bands’ list.
Onwards to Reluctant to Speak. It doesn’t seem long since they were debuting on the Carlisle scene, and already they’re a highly competent live act. Mixing a hefty dose of Glassjaw with hints of Deftones and a nod towards the noise-core stylings of Converge, they would quite possibly slide effortlessly into any post-hardcore fan’s record collection. The sound at the Brickyard never has been and probably will never be that great, and tonight it doesn’t help Reluctant to Speak’s often complex riffing too much; but luckily for them they have enough stage presence to pull through.
And the subject of stage presence brings us nicely to headliners Second to Last. Over recent years we’ve seen them evolve from a pop-punk style three-piece to the four headed rock monster they are today, and the improvements in their live performance have been vast. Seemingly hexed by the Brickyard for some unknown reason, STL always face a battle against the sound gremlins, but when they put in performances like this it really doesn’t matter. The addition of a new drummer would seem to be the missing piece in the jigsaw that should hopefully see them on to greater things. Like At the Drive-In and Thursday scrapping over who’s going to cover which Fugazi song, Second to Last’s explosive brand of post-hardcore has rightly put them at the top of the heap in Carlisle. As Alex and Lee stalk the stage, and Greg inhabits his own little discordant world stage left, Papaleo adds a new driving dimension to an already great band. By rights, this time next year Second to Last will be the ones packing out venues and demanding lumps of brie and jars of honey on their rider.
SecondToLast, Reluctant To Speak, Cornerstone, Tauntra
By Nick Yule
The Brickyard, Carlisle. Saturday 22nd November 2003
Carlisle’s third Livestock arrived with, in this reviewer’s opinion, the best line-up yet. The gig kicked off with a debut at the Brickyard for Tauntra, and an impressive one it was too. It’s all to easy for ska-punk bands to get stuck in a rut, and churn out endless re-runs of the countless bland acts who have given the genre a bad name, but Tauntra seem to have a little something extra about them. Changes in pace and rhythm and a willingness to avoid the standard ska/punk/ska/punk formula earmark Tauntra as ones to watch. A ska resurgence perhaps? Maybe not, but we (well, I) can dream….
Instrumental post-rock seems to be flavour of the month at the moment, particularly here at Motive Sounds, but when it comes in the form of ctrlaltdelete, who can argue? Finally grasping my chance to see a full set of theirs at the third time of asking, I had something of a revelation. Ctrlaltdelete were ace. Something seemed different since last time I (half) saw them. They kicked off with a heavier sound than I remembered, and overall there was a lot more energy in the live environment than on CD. Echoes of Mogwai, Godspeed!YBE and Sonic Youth all rolled together in a steadily improving package. If you like your rock ambient, experimental and with a degree in art, you’ll love ctrlaltdelete.
Cornerstone followed, and perhaps through no fault of their own, just didn’t grab me as much. Maybe I’d had my fill of pleasant surprises for the night, but I couldn’t find anything about them that particularly excited me. There were echoes of Foo Fighters, Nirvana, and other usual suspects, and maybe that was the problem. More of an individual identity would probably see Cornerstone rise up my ‘favourite local bands’ list.
Onwards to Reluctant to Speak. It doesn’t seem long since they were debuting on the Carlisle scene, and already they’re a highly competent live act. Mixing a hefty dose of Glassjaw with hints of Deftones and a nod towards the noise-core stylings of Converge, they would quite possibly slide effortlessly into any post-hardcore fan’s record collection. The sound at the Brickyard never has been and probably will never be that great, and tonight it doesn’t help Reluctant to Speak’s often complex riffing too much; but luckily for them they have enough stage presence to pull through.
And the subject of stage presence brings us nicely to headliners Second to Last. Over recent years we’ve seen them evolve from a pop-punk style three-piece to the four headed rock monster they are today, and the improvements in their live performance have been vast. Seemingly hexed by the Brickyard for some unknown reason, STL always face a battle against the sound gremlins, but when they put in performances like this it really doesn’t matter. The addition of a new drummer would seem to be the missing piece in the jigsaw that should hopefully see them on to greater things. Like At the Drive-In and Thursday scrapping over who’s going to cover which Fugazi song, Second to Last’s explosive brand of post-hardcore has rightly put them at the top of the heap in Carlisle. As Alex and Lee stalk the stage, and Greg inhabits his own little discordant world stage left, Papaleo adds a new driving dimension to an already great band. By rights, this time next year Second to Last will be the ones packing out venues and demanding lumps of brie and jars of honey on their rider.