Exit State + Engines of Vengeance + Near Escape Velocity
Exit State + Engines of Vengeance + Near Escape Velocity – The Beer Bar, Student’s Union St Andrews, 15th October 2011 (To headbang or not to headbang – that is the question)
Have you ever had one of those weeks when you feel that another evening spent in the library might kill you? Have you ever had one of those moments when you walk past a poster announcing a gig and think ‘I don’t know who they are and I don’t care, but I’m gonna go anyway’, simply because a rock concert is the perfect occasion to get the angst and frustration out without making a public embarrassment of yourself? And have you ever been pleasantly surprised and yelled along to the cheery chorus of ‘One more song!’ before the whole shenanigan was over? Story of my Saturday night.
I walked in the venue as the night’s opening act, local band Near Escape Velocity were still setting up, and/or checking the sound, so I knew what to expect once their performance kicked off. Fronted by STAR’s very own Nate Elias, they played a pop-punkish set very similar to early Green Day stuff (I mean pre-Dookie era). They just proved that, to some extent, high-school never ends: it was the imperfect combination of a very loud guitar and a very quiet mike that sounded exactly like the gig your struggling, aspiring musician friends would put on in someone’s garage, only to be attended by a select circle of friends. Catchy, enthusiastic, enjoyable and full of energy, with the lead singer jumping all over the place – a very well chosen opening act, even though slightly out of tune with the metal/alternative sets that were to follow. And Nate, if you happen to read this, can you please let us all know what the hippies were right about?
The second band, Engines of Vengeance, brought to the stage a dramatic change of style: their weapon of choice is a classic kind of metal, very reminiscent of Iron Maiden’s golden era. Lead singer Mercy Breheny sounds (and looks) absolutely amazing and the crowd (about 70-80 people, which is quite a lot for St Andrews standards) went wild. Heavy riffs entwined with serenely powerful vocals prove to be a brilliant combination and their attitude dripped rock n’roll through every pore. Not a band to be shunned for longer, so keep your eye out for them in the near future.
Last, but not least, and definitely my favourite band of the week, Exit State. Here to promote their recently released second album, ‘Black Veins’, they did not disappoint one bit. Even though I had been slightly sceptical (mostly because their album art is similar to Papa Roach’s ‘Getting away with murder’), I’ve learned a valuable lesson: never judge a band by its album cover. Verging on the alternative side of things, they stuck closely to the lucky ‘something old, something new, something borrowed…’ (nothing and no-one blue, because by this time everybody was hyped up in a beer fuelled-frenzy): a good number of songs for their well-received debut ‘Death of a Rockstar’, fine samples off their newest release and some grand covers of Billy Rebel and Foo Figthers.
All in all, you can tell if it’s a good rock show if the ringing in your ears persists until you eventually go to bed and if you can’t really move your head the next day. Or the day after that. Exit State have won themselves a new fan, and, personally, I’m looking forward to the day when I’ll be pointing at Kerrang’s cover and boasting about seeing them in a small venue, way before they made it big. Alas, a hipster’s lament.
Ps: Many thanks to RockSoc’s Miriam Rune, who made an ace job at organizing the whole thing and to the entire RockSoc crew for teaching the uninitiated the proper ways to mosh and headbang.
