Breach The Silence, Demyze, 12 Sins and Hate Grenade Pack Out and Rock Out Bluefox

A perfect show to get back into the local scene

It’s been a little bit since I’ve covered a show for my local scene but tonight I’m back in the game. I’m seeing two bands for the very first time and two bands are not new to me. Hate Grenade and Demyze I haven’t been able to catch yet, but 12 Sins and Breach The Silence are local acts that I’ve seen play before. 

Regardless, I’m looking forward to being at a local show with my camera in hand again. Tonight we rock at Bluefox Billiards, Bar and Grill, probably my favorite Winchester bar. The place is split down the middle, one side is a bar and stage area and the other side is a pool hall. I push in my hearing protection and head towards the stage as I hear Hate Grenade kick things off. Their vocalist has mad energy and the band’s stage presence as a whole is great. 

They give me Limp Bizkit vibes with their sound, which I’m not mad about. One thing I am a little peeved about during their set is the heavy use of fog. It’s no fault of the band of course, but it does make photographing them much more difficult. I mean I can barely see the drummer after a song or two. Anyway, did I mention the place is packed? I’ve been to many a shows here at Bluefox and I think this is the largest, most lively crowd that I’ve maybe ever seen here. Hate Grenade gets an A+ from me, definitely a band I would come to see again. 

12 Sins goes up next, and though I’m familiar with them I’m still excited. They put on a great show last time I saw them at Appalachian Rock Fest, which was also here in Winchester. Their vocalist is buff as all get out and is rocking a sleeveless tee to let the guns breathe. 12 Sins is already rockin’, but it’s something about a muscular vocalist that just takes things to the next level.

This band is full of on stage dick jokes and playfulness. The bassist comes out into the crowd at one point during a song and their vocalist attempts a mic toss and flip, which was a flop. The mic rolled out into the crowd. He played it off well.

They end their set with a dedication of their song “World” to local podcaster Billy Jo Wilson of The Wilson King podcast. He’s deploying overseas soon, I thought this was a really sweet gesture. 

Demyze takes the stage now and though I’ve rubbed elbows with Dale and Aaron several times (they’re even featured in a fundraising calendar I put together for a local animal shelter), I’ve never seen their band play.

Wow, I’m really impressed. I mean, I thought they’d be good but I wasn’t expecting them to be THIS GOOD.

They played a cover of “Break Stuff” by Limp Bizkit. Aaron and Dale switch instruments for this. Dale is usually lead vocals and Aaron does backup vox and bass.

The vocalist for Hate Grenade joined them onstage for this which I thought was really perfect because their band gave me Limp Bizkit vibes immediately. Demyze has wonderful stage presence and the crowd loves them.

Though, it’s kind of a meme that everyone starts to chant “F*ck you Dale” between songs. All in good fun. Demyze wraps their set with a cover of “Bodies” by Drowning Pool.

They called local legend Heavy Metal Donnie up on stage to join them for this song and man, did that kick ass. When I say everyone loves Donnie, I mean it. This really took their performance to the next level for me and everyone else in the room based on the roars of cheering. Donnie kicked ass up there, unsurprisingly. 

Last but certainly not least, Breach The Silence is going to wrap up the night for us. Brandon Wright is the vocalist for this group and if you’re local to the DMV and involved in the music scene, you know who he is. He’s the founder of a booking company named Wright Live. They put on tons of events locally, not limited to metal shows.

Anywho, Breach The Silence kills it like they have each time I’ve seen them before. Brandon always has the crowd wrapped around his finger and the dude is whipping the mic cord around as he rocks out. His band mates match his energy, they’re jumping around the stage and head banging along with him.

I slip backstage to grab a few shots of the view as the band sees it and though the fog seems to be seeping back into the room, it still looks badass from this point of view. At one point, Brandon shouts out a friend named Chris that recently passed away, causing a few people in the front row to get emotional during the song Breach The Silence dedicated to him. It was really touching. 

Breach ends their set on a high note with their self titled track, “Breach The Silence” and the show comes to an end. I won’t lie, I was at a concert in DC the night before and I was wiped out coming into this show. By the end of the night my mood had done a full 180 and I went home with a smile on my face and another night of great memories of our local scene. Thanks for a badass show, guys. 

See the Full Gallery of the Night Here!

If you happened to capture any shots of the night, feel free to tag us on social media at Shutter 16 Magazine and throw in #Shutter16 and #TwitFromThePit for the world to see. 

Hate Grenade
12 Sins
Demyze
Breach The Silence