The Anthem in DC Gets Shaken Up and Knocked Loose

“This show altered my brain chemistry.”

Knocked Loose is a band that I just recently began listening to, probably within the last 6 months or so. I only just got into this type of music within the last 3 years or so. When I did finally sink my teeth into the beauty that is Knocked Loose, I latched on. So, naturally, when I saw that they were coming to my area at one of my favorite venues, I was in. 

This show had three supporting bands: Militarie Gun, Drain, and The Garden. If you’ve read any of my write-ups, you know that sometimes I’ll go into a show completely blind to the music of the supporting acts. Other times, I’ll make a playlist to listen to on my way to the show. I am about 2 hours away from the major venues in my area, after all. This time, I dipped my toes in. I listened to a song or two from each band just to get an idea of what I was walking into. I liked them all, with Drain taking first place and The Garden being the strangest, as far as the opening bands went. 

Militarie Gun

Militarie Gun is up to bat first. I’m waiting side-stage with a handful of other photogs, and like clockwork, Militarie Gun hits the stage exactly when they were scheduled to, 7 p.m. They open with the thought that they are aware that they may be the odd band out tonight, before following that with, “Well, maybe not. We do have The Garden here tonight.” Okay, so I’m not the only one who thought The Garden was a bit strange for this lineup. 

The band plays a song named “Thought You Were Waving”. It’s a bit of a slow song, we’ll call it a build-up. I do enjoy it, and though the crowd is pretty still, they seem to like it as well. The band asks the audience to put their hands up during this one, and they obey. Their set builds from here, I’m watching the crowd start to amp up. A few songs later, they preface their next jam by saying “This song goes out to anyone who has ever seen their parents in handcuffs.” As a kid with a rocky childhood, this one resonates with me.

“Sick of being the freak show, sick of fighting on the front lawn. Don’t want the observation, don’t want the strangers to know.”

The song comes to a close, and the guys take a second to say some thank yous. 

“Let’s give it up for Knocked Loose. We’ve got 50 songs left! This song is about musicians, it’s called Disposable Plastic Trash. Let’s get a circle pit going!”

Suddenly, there it is. The first circle pit of the night. It’s not much, but it’s happening. It’s nothing like what I’m going to see for Knocked Loose, I’m certain.

“It’s not over yet, get in there! Faster!”, frontman Ian shouts into the mic as he peers into the crowd. The pit speeds up and people begin to crowd surf. Front and center area of the crowd only, but they’re making a great effort.

There’s a heavy breakdown and total red lighting right before Militarie Gun finishes up. This sets the scene for the next band, which is certainly at least a bit heavier.

“Thank you, we are Militarie Gun!”

Drain

Militarie Gun’s backdrop is yanked down to reveal an American traditional-style Kewpie doll that’s wearing a shark hood, holding a surfboard with a bite taken out of it. “DRAIN IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING YOU DO IN THE NEXT 30 MINUTES” is in bold beside the cute art. Well, it was certainly a warning that belonged there. Drain kicks things off at 100 with their song, “Feel The Pressure”.

Vocalist Sammy is pretty buff, wearing shorts that show off his muscular legs and a Drain t-shirt. He yanks the mic cord through the air like a whip, dancing and flailing about. He’s pumping the crowd UP and it’s working. He threw his mic INTO THE CROWD, and a gal wearing a shark hood caught in. She was beaming as she chanted the words through nervous breath. She killed it!

Suddenly Sammy leaves my view and it takes me a second to find him. Oh, he’s five feet away from me. In the photo pit. Launching himself into the crowd. Drain’s singer is crowdsurfing, and being kept up by several fans who tightened up so they could get underneath him.

Once he’s feet to the ground again, he jumps onto the barrier step, grabs hands, and puts the mic into the faces of rabid fans. They scream along to the song. This is truly something to see, I have never seen Drain before but I’m incredibly impressed by their ability to get this crowd going the way that they have.

They do a cover of a Descendents song, “Good Good Things”, and the already feral fans lose their minds. After this one, Drain plays a song titled “Intermission”. Now, for this one, Sammy asks everyone in the room to get down. Yeah, he wants this massive crowd to all crouch down, and you know what? They did it.

The beat builds and drops, and the moment it does, everyone springs to their feet and starts jumping. The audience looks like an ocean the way they’re moving. People are throwing things, there is smoke everywhere. I’ve seen several smoke plumes rise out of the crowd, as well as smoke machines pumping out fog off of the stage. I imagine it’s a combination of both is clouding the place. It looks cool as hell.

The house lights are left on for most of Drain’s set, which is neat. A LOT is going on in the crowd, and it’s interesting to be able to watch from back behind the soundboard what’s going on out there. “California Cursed” is the last song of the set.

“This is our last song! This is our last day of this tour!” The room erupts with more energy than it has had at any point in the evening. It’s chaos. I see arms and legs in the air, people are upside down and crowd surfing, and a few circle pits are going too. Wow. I had an idea of what Drain was about but I had no idea that they could get this crowd going the way that they could Kudos, I’m a Drain fan now.

The Garden

I make my way back to the photo pit and as Drain’s cute backdrop is torn down, it reveals the backdrop for The Garden. It displays a huge clown wearing a devilish grin, and playing a violin.

It’s creepy, but fitting I suppose, as I’ve seen several concertgoers here with clown paint on. The lights go up, they’re dim but they’re on. I start firing away, trying to keep up with vocalist/guitarist Wyatt. His twin brother, Fletcher, is seated on the drum throne pounding away at his set. Their drum kit has a clown head on it similar to the clown printed on their backdrop. 

As I’m taking photos of Wyatt, who is whipping around on his side of the stage, I fail to notice an enormous 15-foot clown has crept out of the shadows and onto the stage. It moves slowly, but man, is it f*cking creepy.

It startled me when I noticed it, and luckily it appeared halfway through the second song in the pit. It’s super distracting, not because it’s dressed in a flashy suit or anything, but because it’s so unsettling to me. I’m scared of it but I can’t look away. I must not have been the only one, because someone on the side of the stage walked over and blinked a flashlight at myself and a few other photogs that had not left the pit yet. Honestly, between the massive clown and the bizarreness of their music, I don’t think we can be blamed. 

One of the songs I listened to in the car is performed, it’s titled “Call This # Now”. It’s riddled with strange sound effects and a chilling circus-type backtrack. The clown is still onstage, and he’s almost all I can pay attention to. I’m not even afraid of clowns, so I’m not entirely sure why this one is bothering me so much. I’m getting circus nightmare vibes from this band, and if they’re trying to be unsettling and hair-raising, they are hitting the mark.

At one point, there is an 8-bit-sounding track that plays. Hey, there’s a sound I like and am familiar with! I’m not hating on this music, I listen to all kinds of genres and weird shit, but this just isn’t for me. Most of the crowd seems to be on the same page as I am, they seem much calmer now because they were going apeshit during Drain. The Garden does have some dedicated fans here, like I mentioned before, there are people wearing clown paint and clown costumes. I also heard several people mention in passing how excited they were to see The Garden. Anywho, towards the end of the set, drummer Fletcher keeps getting up from his kit and doing somersaults across the stage. Just another strange thing to add to the pile of strange things these guys are doing. Oh, that reminds me, when I was in the photo pit, Fletcher jumped off of his drum riser and picked up a mic stand and I swear he almost launched it into the photo pit. I was not the only photographer who flinched at this. 

The Garden’s set ends, and I can breathe. I sit back in the VIP section behind the soundboard much longer than any of my fellow photogs did. That set shook me.

Knocked Loose

Finally, I peel myself off of the cold metal stool in VIP and make my way back to the stage in waiting with the rest of the photogs. A massive white curtain drops in front of the stage so that the set for Knocked Loose can be assembled. From where I’m standing, I can see it coming together. There are weeping willow trees and a massive glowing cross center stage. Not only am I excited to see this band because I enjoy their music, but it was just announced a day or so ago that they are nominated for a Grammy Award. F*ck yeah.

I watch the set get finished up and notice that safety orange tape is being applied to the floor in the photo pit. I’m told by a rep that we aren’t to step past the tape because there are pyrotechnics during Knocked Loose’ set. Well, this is a first for me. I’ve seen pyro being used at concerts I have attended, but I’ve yet to work on a show that used them. I’m stoked. The lights suddenly go dark and the crowd collectively screams. I see the band arrive on stage and take their places. The curtain drops, the cross glows and the venue quakes.

“Thirst” is played first and that’s a great way to describe what this room felt like for Knocked Loose. Immediately, the audience is moshing away. I’m being brushed by security guard after security guard to catch crowd surfers. Vocalist Bryan has this entire venue wrapped around his finger. He has a riser center stage to stand on, which he does often, usually with his hands in the air.

I am completely taken by this set, and my time in the pit flies by. The pyrotechnics go off and I feel the heat warm my cheeks. Even though I knew it was going to happen, I was still scared by the flames. Before I know it, the first three songs are over and it’s time to leave the media area. I ran, (yes, I ran) back to the VIP area to catch some shots from way back in the venue. Not only are the pyrotechnics amazing, but the lighting and entire stage setup are breathtaking. I spend a song or two getting full-stage shots. I put my camera in my bag and tapped the shoulder of the photographer sitting next to me, her camera still in her hand. “Are you staying here?” I cup my hand around her ear so she can hear me. She nods yes, and I ask her if I can leave my camera bag with her for a bit. She agrees. This is the first time I’ve done this at a show that I’m working at, but I’m not missing my chance to get into the pit. Not the photo pit, I’ve been there. I mean the dangerous pit in the crowd.

I jet down into the sea of people and snake my way close to the front, stage left. I found my concert buddy, Kalie, and she’s thrilled. I hugged her, she was sweaty but I didn’t care because so was I. I watched the people around me thrashing around. I hear a familiar guitar riff, and I know what time it is. “Everything Is Quiet Now” is playing, and that means that the wall of death is coming. This song has a calm before-the-storm part to it. During this, a voice is heard over the speakers telling us, “I want you all to split this room. When the lights go down, I want every single person to run. Do not film this shit. Put your phones away.” Everyone pockets their phones and braces themselves. I’m a little nervous, I have never done this before and I’ve been watching the way this crowd is behaving.

I put my fears to the back of my mind and when the room went black, Bryan screamed “Everything is quiet now!” and just as the room parted before, it came back together in the form of everyone racing towards each other. It was exhilarating and unlike anything I had ever experienced before. By now, I’m soaked in sweat and shaking a little, mostly from adrenaline. I know my limits, so I head back to VIP and grab my camera.

Knocked Loose fakes us out and says goodbye, right before taking the stage once again for a five-song encore. I hike up the stairs to watch a song from the balcony. This is when I notice that there’s a wet floor sign being tossed around like a rag doll in the pit. Damn, no one is safe. (This is a joke, if you’re familiar with the metal/hardcore community, you know that we pick people up when they fall). I see legs in the air everywhere in the crowd, never have I seen so many crowd surfers up in the air at once. Props to the security team for catching every one of them. I keep taking photos from the birdseye view during “Blinding Faith”, then head back down the stairs to VIP yet again. Bryan announces their next song is called “Counting Worms” and I run like a bat out of hell back into the pit. This song is just over a minute long, but it goes so hard.

“I wrote a song about getting better, I can’t remember. Arf arf! Yeah! Counting worms!” followed by screams and a nasty breakdown. The entire crowd, including myself, screams these lyrics at the top of their lungs and then proceeds to headbang and lose their shit with the breakdown. This is my first time at a big metal show like this, I’ve been to countless local gigs but nothing of this size, and the energy is absolute insanity in the best way. I’ll say it, this show altered my brain chemistry. I know I want some merch, so I use the last two songs as an opportunity to gather my camera and head over to the already lengthy merch line. I watched “Suffocate” (this is the song that earned the band their Grammy nomination) and “Sit & Mourn” from the merch line. While this might sound less than thrilling, as a newbie to a massive metal show like this, I needed the time to cool down and take everything that I just experienced in. 

I am blown away by this show in its entirety. It had its ups and downs that’s for sure, but Knocked Loose blew the roof off of The Anthem tonight. 

See full gallery of the night here!

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