Southend always feel like a weird choice of locations to put on a gig. The seaside town is near enough to London to make it easy for anyone to head to a more central location, and upon arrival on the seafront I fear the worst, met with a completely empty (eerily so) seafront and, upon entering the venue, a small number of people dotted around. Unfortunately this was the extent of the early arrivals, meaning that These Monsters had an undeservingly small audience throughout their set. It’s been quite a few years since I saw These Monsters (Supporting Jeniferever at the Brudenel Social Club in 2007) and while they have lost the instrument which defined their sound at the time, the new rawer sound they’ve replaced it with is an incredible sound created by just three people. While slightly geeky, I must admit I found the guitar tone perfect to my ears; natural sounding, raw and at times heavy as hell. Unfortunately the lack of audience meant the band weren’t particularly talkative, and I didn’t catch the name of a single song performed, nor find out which ones were off their future release. I suppose it’s best to be vague and say that if you like big riffs, dark lead parts and incredible drumming then you’d do well to invest in the bands back catalogue.
Axis Of, from Ireland, seemed to have brought a large portion of the audience with them tonight, the venue filling up a little before they take to the stage and, shock horror, some people actually standing at the front. The only band on the bill that I had never seen before, I wasn’t expecting the quality of songwriting on display here; the band showcasing a collection of songs from their recently released album, as well as some older ones which seemed to go down well with the present fanbase. There was a great mixture of heavier parts alongside some incredibly tuneful parts. Both the guitarist and bassist threw themselves around the stage when not singing, while the drummer’s interesting drum beats kept the whole thing together. By the end of their set I could understand why they’d managed to gather such an audience and I’m certain we’ll be hearing more from them soon.
The band that the majority were here to see, The Bronx, are fairly experienced now. The last time I saw them was supporting Biffy Clyro (around the same time as last time I saw These Monsters) and I knew that these guys are happy to put on a show; last time frontman Matt Caughthran was on crutches with a leg injury and yet he still spent half the set in the middle of the mosh pit. They’ve had many more albums since, formed a Mariachi band, toured both bands around the world multiple times and generally toned up their punk rock performances. The band were quick to pick up on the major disadvantage of Chinnery’s, the solid barrier separating the band from audience, claiming they felt like animals in a cage. A quick “come on over!” from an audience member was all it took for the frontman to hop over and join us as he strolled around the middle of the mosh pit, unphased completely by those around him; I think it’s safe to presume that by now the band have seen everything. The band were constantly giving praise to the town, saying that they would come back, with waves, and make it the surf capital of the UK, and the audience seemed happy to hear it. The interaction between band and audience was easily one of the best I’ve seen in years. By the time classic track Heart Attack American came on the majority of the venue were in the middle of the crowd moving around like nothing else mattered.
It felt like this gig had everything for those of us who like their music loud and distorted, from the raw, yet dark and interesting, riffs of These Monsters, to the well written and well delivered songs of Axis Of, to the energy and entertaining delivery of The Bronx. The highlight for me had to be hearing the evolution of These Monsters, and realising that even without the saxophone the band are still a formidable force, and they’ve more than made up for it with minor lead breaks and heavy hitting delivery.
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