OkTimeForPlanBK

Vanna/Hundredth at Ivory Blacks, February 21st 2012
Its a rain-drenched night in Glasgow’s city centre, tonight the air is filled with more than just the whiff of the puke in the gutter and exhaust smoke in the air. Excitement pulsed through the crowd tonight as they filed in for another night of music courtesy of Bro-motions.

New blood kicked off tonights preceding in the form of Rainfalls. This band showed the guts and grit of hardened touring bands. The energy at its nucleus comes in the form of pint sized frontman Gary Gordon; who through it all shows poise and incredible presence onstage. Although hampered by technical difficulties it was taken in stride by the young guns. This band have crafted a brand of positive melodic hardcore and are definitely one to watch… oh did I mention it was only their second gig. (8)

The second of two local supports shoots onto the stage to the rhythmic bass of Dev classic “Bass Down Low”. This show is a bit different for chug-synth sextet My Friend the Arsonist, as their bassist Pete Hutchison is on vocals for a one off show and filling in on bass is English rose and Burn the Sunset’s axeman Jonathan Almond adding some extra sex to this sextet’s talented line-up. The nerves show for both men as the set begins, this wasn’t aided by a weak vocal mix but they fought on. Towards the end of the set with songs like “Spiderman” confidence grew. Although the frontman apologised for his short comings this was unneeded and he managed to hold onto the crowd’s attention, a decent set which was had potential to be great. (6)

The next act on the bill were a band I knew little about but everyone I spoke to seemed “stoked” to see them so I expected something, but not what I got. From the first words out of the frontman’s mouth Long Beach, California’s The Greenery hit the ground rolling with crunching guitars and solid earth-shaking drums. This is a band who made use of their soundcheck, from the first song it’s like a shotgun to the head and a swift boot in the baws. The frontman is one with the crowd, amongst it telling tales and spitting venom. This energetic five piece are the sound equivalent of the aborted spartan baby of Every Time I Die and Gallows, but the lemon in the eye is that fuck you punk-skate attitude that comes from neighbours Trash Talk. This band blew the cobwebs from the crowd’s ears and if that didn’t do the trick then the circle pit to skate anthem “Face Plant” shook the dust and dog shit from the patron’s Vans. This band were personified by their frontman in their up for it attitude which stole the show! (9)

Anticipation built as Hundredth took to the stage with their previous performance on the same stage being so explosive the question arose could they match it? This was answered with the opening of “Catalyst”. From this moment the crowd were in the palm of frontman Chadwick Johnson’s hand and his grinning reaction was fitting, even if slightly sadistic. This set came to an explosive end with “Desolate” and the floor and barrier was alive with faces singing the words and punching their friends. Although short on songs this set was overflowing with energy. (8)

As headline act I would have thought more people would have stuck around for their set. The crowd were now half the original capacity and for an originally mellow crowd all life had now drained. And it was a small sporadic smattering of folded arms. This didn’t shake Vanna who were clearly still at their best playing a tight set of their best hits to polite applause. The frontman tried in vain to stir this crowd into movement but his attempts fell on deaf ears. Vanna’s tattoo’d vocalist clearly took umbrage to this declaring “you can do what you want at this show, walk on barrier and fight your friends, but if you’re going to stand with your arms crossed go the fuck home”. In my opinion, this was a little harsh and obviously the crowd didn’t appreciate it either as the only real movement occurring throughout the set was during the last song. They were musically tight apart from a few timing slips. Although the vocals were shaky at part, and had some minor tuning issues, Vanna managed to retained the angst of a shotgun decapitated, 20 years dead and buried Kurt Cobain. The reaction of the crowd shook Vanna’s confidence and it was visible. In short Vanna tried to beat the gauntlet thrown down by The Greenery but they Couldn’t defeat the opening salvo from the skate-punks of Cali (7)

This ruled : Discovering The Greenery.
This blows: Merch prices of an arena tour

thanks to Kevin McDermott for the photograph and to Bro-motions for putting on another good night at Ivory’s.