 
Sporting many a freckle on my face, Glastonbury-golden
arms and one hell of a sunburnt nose, my festival
broken body and I made our way to Cardiff’s
Clwb Ifor Bach for a pop-punk show that was to
demolish any fatigue clinging onto my being. On
their Welsh headline tour, Attack! Attack! Pay
tribute to their roots with a Welsh-only bill,
completed by Straight Lines, Brooke and We Are
Giants.
We Are Giants delved right in at the deep end
armed with their Offspring style punk riffs and
a distinct heaviness about their proceedings.
Tunes like ‘An Honest End’ and ‘Sticks
And Stones’ combine well timed pace changes
and angsty, lovelorn lyrics which pull on the
all the right heartstrings in a real way that
doesn’t induce your gag reflex. Despite
sporting a mini-flu their Herculean frontman,
Greg, battled onwards and upwards to show off
his excellent vocal talents. Keep one eye on WAG
as their moshable riffs and chant along choruses
will have you doing just that in no time.
From the first half of their first song Brooke
had the crowd eating out of the palm of their
hand, demonstrated by in the air hand claps actually
in time to the beats. Performing a hoard of full
throttle, pop-rock tween filling fodder that actually
isn’t shit can often be a feat in itself,
but Brooke have done it thanks to the hypnotic
‘Addicted To Nothing’, ‘Street
Car’ and a cover of All Time Low’s
‘Damned If I Do Ya’; conveniently
leaving out the verses for their fans to fill
in. A band who knew their audience better than
their best mate’s sister kept up the pace
with burps, Mum banter and shameless flirting
with the frontrow. Ooh, the charmers!
Bigger, louder and bolshier than their album ‘Persistence
In This Game’ could have ever prepared us
for, Straight Lines forewent the subtle intro
in favour of the bone smashing drums and ear shattering
axes of ‘Antics’. The Pyle natives
packed a punch in their half hour of power set;
pummelling out ‘Loose Change’ and
‘Say It For Your Sake’ pepped up a
room full of people who, to be honest, really
needed no encouragement. However it was ‘Versus
The Allegiance’ that really started a fire
and set off the ever throbbing mob. Straight Lines
treated us to a brand new track called ‘erm,
Mister New Song’, a high octane, raspy rockathon;
the band reached new heights with big screamo
vox sliding in amongst Tom’s trademark wailing
vocals keeping it familiar. Rock’s new Welshies
rounded up proceedings with ‘Perfect Mistakes’
commencing with ‘Put your hands up!’
demands and ending with James and Todd’s
inter crowd rock outs, conveniently in line with
the only fan in the sweat filled venue.
Howling sirens beckoned headliners Attack! Attack!
to the frontline so that, track after track they
could prove their heir to the rock-pop crowd.
They got the floors fluctuating under jumping,
Vans clad feet as from beat one, a circle pit
ensued. Swelling, sweating and slaughtering those
who dared stand nearby as the headline slot took
shape. ‘You And Me’, ‘Honesty’
and ‘Wake Up Call’ taunted bigger
pits and more and more noise with their uber up-tempo
riffs and beats.
Teaching never before heard songs seems to be
the name of the game in rock shows of late and
tonight was no different as Ryan learns us the
language barrier breaking chorus of ‘Blood
On My Hands’. When the track kicked in we
were treated to sublime pace changes and the traditional
sing along chorus.
Killing For Company were due to support Attack!
Attack! on this
tour before the tragic passing of Stuart Cable.
‘From Now On’ was dedicated to their
friends and a round of applause rang through Clwb
for Stuart Cable; a poignant choice and a mellow
interlude from the otherwise frenetic set, emotion
dripping from each riff and every line.
The South Welsh quartet dealt in covers of The
Knack’s ‘My Sharona’ and Metallica’s
‘Not Afraid’, each with a tasty AA
twist. By the time the final song, ‘Too
Bad Son’ attacked my frontal lobes, my festival-fatigue
was desperately trying to take over after a few
hours of being suppressed by the most delicious
kind of rock-pop this side of the Severn Bridge.
If you missed out on Attack! Attack!’s Welsh
tour be sure to catch them – and friends
Straight Lines – on the UK headline tour
in October.
Attack! Attack! - 4/5
Straight Lines - 4/5
Brooke – 3/5
We Are Giants - 3.5/5
Review By Jessica Acreman
|
