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Live Reviews : Buried In Verona, Antagonist AD, Stories, Left For Wolves & Removalist @ The Evelyn, Melbourne 26/07/2014

By on July 31, 2014

Words and Images: Clinton Hatfield

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Buried In Verona

Buried In Verona

Doors opened late at The Evelyn on Brunswick Street last Saturday. Waiting out the front listening to the sound check, an enormous blackboard catches my eye illustrating there would be 5 bands playing tonight. The 2 openers, Removalist and Left For Wolves, were additions for this show only; gotta be happy with that.

Being a very fresh face to Melbourne, I never know what to expect with different venues, and being a photographer, I’m always very conscious of stage layout and lighting. Fortunately, I had been to The Evelyn before so I skipped camera warm ups and grabbed a beer.

Removalists

Removalists

Before long, Removalist took to the stage: feedback heavy with a raw sound reminiscent of classic hardcore. With most, if not all, songs under about the 2 minute mark I found it hard to get into. A really tight performance, but reasonably low energy. Considering they played to an almost empty room, it rocked pretty hard.

Left For Wolves

Left For Wolves

Another beer down and the crowd now building toward the back half of the room, Left for Wolves stepped up. Looking back at my notes from the night, I read, “Fuck. Thick. Chunk.” Sums it up perfectly, really. Heaps of energy on stage, and as you can see from my photos, they all have a pretty decent vertical leap. I was enjoying them so much while framing up a shot, I pushed the limit of my favourite jeans a little too far and ripped my crotch, exposing bare (sexy) man leg. Bet you wish you were there now, don’t you?

Stories

Stories

Next to bash apart my inner ear was Sydney band, Stories, a group I have wanted to check out for a while now, and as I found out, was well worth the wait. It was about this point in the night I should really have put my ear plugs in, but I was having too much fun to care. With crisp drops, and guitar tones that were so meaty, you could swear we were in a deli and sausages were flying from the speakers. These guys just have a perfect groove-to-chunk ratio.  After the set I ran into Monty (guitarist of Make Them Suffer) who informed me Stories was missing a guitarist on this tour. This really surprised me considering they sounded so good, so I caught up with Morgan, the voice of Stories, who told me the band was deep in writing mode so someone had to stay at home to keep inspiration flowing. I’d keep my eye on these dudes, for their next release is sure to murder you.

Antagonist AD

Antagonist AD

The ever-pumped friends from the other side of the Tasman Sea, Antagonist AD hit the stage next. Sam Crocker led an emotionally charged, furious set, loaded with movement and crowd participation. With words reminding us not to take life, our friends, and family for granted, he broke up a few small fights that were starting to erupt in the pit. I’ve seen these dudes before and they rocked as hard as ever.

Buried In Verona

Buried In Verona

Buried In Verona took the night to a new level with their crushing set. Finding a spot to aim my camera while they did so was increasingly difficult as the mosh pit was in full swing at this point, literally. Joining the enthusiastic punters in the front row I had to have my elbows raised to ensure my equipment wasn’t knocked flying. The crowd joined vocalist Brett Anderson in hurling screams through the mic as he got up close and personal with the die hards who knew every word. After getting a taste of the hair and fist swinging mob up the front while getting the shots I wanted, I proceeded to enjoy the rest of the show by the sound desk. An enthusiastic encore was called for and they busted out their crowd favourite “Couldn’t Give 34 Fucks”. After the show I caught up with Richie Newman, guitarist of Buried In Verona, and he noted that this Melbourne show was the most fun of the whole tour, closely followed by Brisbane. I presumed being a Sydney outfit that their hometown shows would have killed but, as he commented, “because a lot of our original fans in Sydney are a bit older, you don’t see as much of the mental shit we saw tonight.” Newman was seemingly wrapped with the turnout, overall energy, and crowd amplitude.

Reflecting on it all, the show sounded amazing and all the bands were pumped full of energy on stage and it really took these performances to another level. The lighting was dismal coming from a photographers perspective, but most punters probably couldn’t give 34 fucks about that. If you get the chance to check out any of these bands in the future I recommend you do so.