Tonight
I’m excited, it’s a cold windy night
in Birmingham but a band has flew over from America
to brighten my night and show me What It Is To
Burn, that band is Finch and tonight they are
playing their debut album in all its glory. But
before the main event we have a treat in the form
of support band
Mallory Knox, this 5 piece Cambridgeshire, are
set to kick things off tonight and they kick things
off with the same set they played when I saw them
a few weeks back supporting Don Broco, which is;
Wake Up, Beggers, Death Rattle, Resuscitate, Signal,
Oceans and Lighthouse. They really bring the noise
tonight as they blast their way through the powerful
setlist that is going to be a building block for
when they step it up to headlining these venues,
but as tonight shows they’re not ready for
it yet. They don’t do anything completely
wrong, they just come across like they’re
tired and that their not really into the gig,
singer Mikey Chapman, seems to be in his own world
and doesn’t have the energy to blast out
the heart felt lyrics. It all seems a bit lack
lustre, but the songs still sound great, they’re
just missing something, but
I suppose when there playing to a room of early
30’s Finch fans they don’t really
have to try to impress too much as the group of
fans have already made their minds up on the bands
they like and hearing a new band play amazing
or hearing a new band play alright isn’t
going to make much difference to their listening
habits at home. They wrap their set and by the
end of it a few people are singing along but it
doesn’t matter to much as I’m sure
they’ll pick things up by the end of the
tour and be back on fighting form ready for their
headline tour in April.
Finch are up next and in case you don’t
know who they are 1, where have you been? And
2, they are a emo/post hardcore band from California
and they made an album back in 2002 which paved
way for emo bands today. Tonight they are playing
the album from start to finish which if your anything
like me, this album would have been the soundtrack
to your teen years, so I can’t wait for
them to get on stage and start rocking. The room
falls dark and static and loops are being played
over the pa as the start of New Beginnings starts
to become more clear as the guitarist Randy Strohmeyer
starts doing the strums that make this song come
to life, the rest of the band take to the stage
including lead singer Nate Barcalaow who hides
himself from the crowd by facing the back of the
stage before they all kick into the song and Nate
starts with the iconic vocals and turns to face
the crowd in his awkward, nervous way. He has
no reason to feel nervous as all the crowd is
singing along and loving every second. It’s
like the band haven’t been away, and they
haven’t been a band for 2 years since they
split in 2010, but they’re back on stage
now with the majority of the original line up
and they’re blowing everyone’s faces
off. They jump straight into the main single from
the album, Letters To You and follow with Post
Script which keeps everyone singing along, infact
the crowd don’t stop for the entire album!
Finch
seem comfortable on stage, all except for Nate,
who if you haven’t seen Finch before might
seem a bit off, he seems to stay towards the back
of the stage and avoid eye contact with the crowd,
except for parts where he screams when he rushes
to the front and really whales out his heart into
every breath, but this is his way, he’s
a nervous chap and he doesn’t really talk
to much, I think he loves being on stage but hates
it at the same time, but it doesn’t matter
to much as Randy takes over any crowd interaction
and keeps up the mood between songs whilst the
band tunes up by asking things like “What’s
the best Brum band? Put your hand up if you think
its UB40! Well my hands still up, be proud of
them!” before singing part of the chorus,
as Nate and the rest of the band smile at him
before they all blast into Grey Matter, Perfection
Through Silence, Awake, Without You Here and Stay
With Me. They take a break before playing Project
mayhem as they have to move a sampler onto the
stage as this song takes a different turn on the
album with its industrial overtones, which cause’s
Randy to tell the crowd how this song goes out
to the industrial bands that influenced it like
Skinny Puppy. They burst into the track but for
me this is a low
point, it’s one of my favourites on the
album but live it doesn’t work, it’s
all over the place, it’s too loud and it
doesn’t have the glue that holds it together
and that’s Glassjaw’s Daryl Palumbo,
his extra vocals give this song depth and unfortunately
live it falls apart. They make their way through
the song and again take a break to re-tune but
this is when we are treated to a moment of glory,
something that other gigs didn’t have, an
impromptu version of Weezers’ Say It Ain’t
So, which is started by randy strumming the opening
chords and Nate stepping up and singing along,
they get up to the guitar solo and stop but it’s
something unique and something which makes this
gig extra special. Nate stays in
a talkative mood and says thanks to everyone for
coming out and making this gig special, whilst
Randy says how this is one of the most intimate
shows they’ve played in a while, which is
true as the night after they played Brixton Academy
which is probably 4 times as big as this venue!
They continue the set with Untitled, Three Simple
Words and wrap things up with Ender, which goes
on for way to long, but I suppose that’s
the beauty of this track you either love the long
winding road it takes you on, or you just want
it to be over so you can hear the anthem that
is What It Is To Burn! But the band take a moment
off stage before coming back out and instead of
playing What It Is To Burn they play Worms OF
The Earth which was out around the time of the
album, but was used on the Underworld Soundtrack
instead, so it’s a nice little treat before
sending everyone home with the anthem they want
to hear.
Tonights gig has been amazing, Mallory Knox could
have been better but that all pales into the background
when compared with Finch’s amazing set that
destroyed everyone. They were amazing, they sounded
great and played songs that mean so much to a
generation that was washed out. I hope this isn’t
the last time Finch play over here, because they
still have allot going for them.
Mallory Knox 3/5
Finch 5/5
Review By James Daly
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