Something unique happens when you mix metal riffs with the aesthetic and ferocity of hardcore punk. You mix the metal heads (who want to push each other) with punks or hardcore kids (who stage dive or throw fists). This may seem like an elementary assessment but looking at violent music, you can be sure that violence will erupt. It happened when D.R.I. started mixing metal crowds with punk crowds in their “Crossover” days and it happens still. Although this review isn’t directly about this meeting of two worlds, it comes into play- even if only slightly.
My calculations may be a little off but by about 8:30pm on Monday over 100 people were inside the Milestone. For any night of the week that is awesome, no matter where you play, but for the Milestone that is pretty damn ridiculous.
The reason for this explosion was a mixture between the return of Chicago’s own Weekend Nachos (Relapse/Deep Six Records) and Young and In the Way’s LP release. Weekend Nachos hadn’t been to the Carolinas since 2008 and definitely made up a huge percentage of the crowd. Their brand of power-violence, a la Heresy, Crossed Out and Infest, paired with an awesome sense of humor is still popular. And their CD being released by Relapse Records has only increased their popularity since their last visit.
Rounding out the bill was Iron Flag (a punk/metal band featuring members of 25 Minutes to Go) and Baltimore’s Full of Hell, who were on tour with Weekend Nachos. The crowd was solid for Iron Flag but packed out even more for Weekend Nachos. And considering Young and In the Way were fresh off a weekend tour, the hometown crowd was definitely in full effect to support their LP release.
Iron Flag plays fast metallic punk/hardcore that is steeped in heroic solos and screeching vocals. Their sound is more akin to North Carolina’s own Undying with grinding metal riffs and huge breakdowns but I really feel that, lyrically and consciously, these gentlemen are punks at heart.
Weekend Nachos was second and even with a new line-up since their last visit, (save one member- vocalist John) they haven’t skipped a beat. Their original guitarist rejoined the group sometime within the past couple years so I suppose that they have two originals members now. There were plenty of sing-a-longs and, thanks to some ridiculously heavy riffs, stage dives and mild violence. The great thing about Weekend Nachos is that you can always sense that they are having a lot of fun and are never taking themselves too seriously. It really helps with such a serious style of music.
Next up was Full of Hell and it seemed like most people stuck around to see what they were all about. But the crowd seemed a little thinner by the end of their set. They are definitely not a bad band, by any means, but it just seemed they failed at capturing the crowd after such an energetic outing by Weekend Nachos. Their sound was hard to identify or pin down, but they basically played very noisy and fast hardcore with extremely heavy breaks.
Lastly, Young and In the Way took to the stage. It took awhile for them to light their incense and set up their overall aesthetic but no one seemed to mind. If you aren’t aware, YAITW play a style of metallic hardcore that is injected with heavy doses of black metal, without being a black metal band. With black metal being as popular as it is among hardcore, punk and metal fans, it is definitely a good time for them. They are experiencing a lot of popularity at the moment and deserve every bit of exposure that they receive as one of the most focused and hardworking bands in the Carolinas- or even on the east coast.
Boasting ex members of Lowbrow, The Fire The Flood, Meth Mountain and Grids only begins to illustrate how far their roots in the Charlotte scene go. The crowd whipped up into a frenzy with, front man, Kable’s cathartic screams and their piercing, almost shrieking, evil guitar tone.
At one point in their set a fight broke out and some kid got an extremely bloody nose. I’m not sure what exactly happened but if I had to guess I would say someone got a little rowdy with kicking or spinning and someone got upset about getting hit. I would gather that the person who got hit with the misdirected kick/punch got defensive and upon “protecting” himself and a few of the “kicker’s” friends jumped in. The band stopped, the fight was broken up and the involved parties were thrown out or at least separated.
This may be the main issue with mixing crowds. I loathe and disagree with violence at shows but I also have accepted it as a commonplace when mixing metal and hardcore in one setting. Group or mob mentality definitely needs to stop at these types of shows and encroachment on others personal space need not be met so easily with backlash.
With a type of music as violent as metal it seems almost impossible to eradicate this violence. The usual scenario seems to be as follows: Metal head already doesn’t like “hardcore” dancing and is ready to get defensive if it is done around him. Hardcore kid doesn’t care about anyone’s personal space and seems to be surprised that punching or kicking is met with any hostility from the receiver of the punch or kick. The simple solution seems to be that the metal heads should accept that the risk of him getting punched or kicked is a possibility at such high energy shows. But the hardcore kid should be ready to apologize if when acting out contacts a human being.
It may seem that I got off point, but I think it is possible and important to at least cut down on violence at shows. While head banging or kicking may be your cathartic release, you can still respect both avenues of stress release and the people that you have to be in such close proximity with.
Luckily the fight was broken up quickly and didn’t ruin the show, but that often isn’t the case. Overall, the show was a great success and everyone (minus the kid with the bloody nose and shirt) went home happy. Hopefully it won’t take another four years for Weekend Nachos to come back and it is truly awesome to have such an amazing local band as Young and In the Way. Not bad for a Monday night, not bad at all.
