Every Time I Die @ Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall – 8th April 2008
Walking into the Wulfrun and seeing just a handful of people gathered near the barrier is a strange sight — it wouldn’t be so strange if we were an hour early, but this was about five minutes before Blackhole were due to open. With such a big space and so few people to fill it the atmosphere leant itself more to a kind of school disco than it did a hardcore show.
It seemed Blackhole were aware of this and made no effort to bond with the small crowd that was there. Nevertheless, they have some decent songs and I’m sure if you put them in a small, sweaty pocket of a venue they would come to life with a wiry, reckless energy — they are after all fronted by Rick Carter, brother of Gallows‘ Frank and Steph. However, tonight the reception is nothing more than indifferent, so when they leave it’s no great surprise when the atmosphere returns to that of a civil gathering.
By the time Scary Kids, Scaring Kids are on stage there are a few more heads in the crowd, but we’re still not even at a third of the capacity. One of the first things I noticed about Scary Kids, Scaring Kids is that they have a possessed keyboardist, Pouyan, who spends most of the time doing interpretive dances and beating his chest. Regardless, they are tight and have some well written songs — they remind me of He Is Legend circa I Am Hollywood, but with the help of Pouyan and the guitarists’ technical prowess, have hints of Dragonforce. They play like a headlining band, which is probably a good thing tonight as it makes a few more people pay attention and we feel like we’re at a gig again.
Next up, and finally for the support bands, is Drop Dead, Gorgeous. They have a hard act to follow from Scary Kids, Scaring Kids and they never really live up to it as there’s nothing particularly different about their music — it feels too safe and you’re never caught off guard. To me they sound like a strange and twisted version of The Used but with no hooks and more angst. If I’m honest I would have preferred to see Drop Dead, Gorgeous switch places with Scary Kids, Scaring Kids.
At about quarter past nine Every Time I Die take to their instruments and immediately transform the room into something akin to a drunken, rabid college party with their opener ‘We’rewolf’. They have the ability to make the room smaller and bring the crowd closer and it almost makes you breathe a sigh of relief. In a way though, I’m glad there aren’t many here tonight, it feels more intimate and Keith even picks up on this telling everyone, without his microphone, that we should stick around after so we can all “get to know each other.”
While it’s not entirely surprising that new songs like ‘Cities and Years’ bring out the ferocity in the audience, it kind of goes against the norm. Typically, if a band has a strong following from their debut album, their fans tend to become more critical and less receptive to new material, exclamations of “selling out” are all too common. But tonight the circle pit is as big and menacing for ‘No Son of Mine’ as it is for ‘Floater’. I think this is due to ETID’s uncompromising attitude, they still sound as heavy as ever.
Ebolarama marks the end of what’s turned into a wild and sweaty night. ETID’s acrobatic showmanship and natural stage presence is just what was needed tonight. This is cocksure music at its finest.
Review – Ash Carter
Photos – Steve Gerrard