Deez Nuts + Stick To Your Guns @ ULU London 6/5/15

Support: Trash Talk + Being As An Ocean 

After making a short appearance at Manchester’s Impericon fest, Being As An Ocean opens the one off show at London’s ULU Student Union. Attracting a large percentage of the audience, bodies start to sway with immediate reaction. Springing around the stage, vocalist Joel Quartuccio slowly makes his way to the floor. Reunited with his friends, Quartuccio wastes no time in welcoming new people, he gets right up into their faces, passing the mic around this shared circle.  Debuting a new song that had previously gone down well, the proud band live up to their hyped up expectations as London enjoy ‘Little Richie’ just as much.

Trash Talk soon then appear on stage with such confidence and authority, as if they were headlining the show.  “Turn these lights off right now,” vocalist Lee Spielman demands as the student union is now consumed in darkness. It’s never a Trash Talk show until Speilman gets right into the crowd and starts to cause havoc, which is exactly what happens next. Stealing all energy from the teen filled crowd, the bands heavy influence get rallies of pits forming and running about in full circles. Their traditional hardcore edge floats well with London’s crowd, as groovy riffs are blasted, bodies move in time to each beat.

Up next to co-headline this monstrous show, Stick To Your Guns appear with their rebellious expressions plastered across their faces. ‘Nobody’ is the first track that immediately opens up a racketing crowd. Playing live, the deep bass line is amplified to the max, sending vibrations throughout your body. The band move their way through tracks off their latest record Disobedient, to, treasured songs found in Diamond, such as ‘Against Them All’ and ‘We Still Believe’.  Occasionally Jesse Barnett would make a short speech, right on queue about the corrupt world we live in, and his hate filled political debates to the crowd as they roared with agreement.

Being away from the UK for such a long period of time seemed to have made an impact on the bands sound. Being positively greater than the Never Say Die tour. Barnett’s tells a story about his best friend being a dog, and listening to his problems. Are we at a pop punk show? Evidently the band have come to grips with their stern sound, that live gets their serious message across, as bodies dive off the abnormally high stage.

As Deez Nuts appear, the venue, which was not sold out in the first placed seemed even, bore empty. I guess the trains were finishing early that night? It was clear that the band had not attracted most of the audience to this show, but the support acts had managed to pull such a large collection of fans.

Nevertheless the front of the stage was lined with faces that pointed towards the band, and spat each lyric aggressively.  They play ‘Like There’s No Tomorrow’ and the crowd picks up slightly.  For the rest of their set things didn’t seem to be going as great as the night had been. I guess three amazing support acts are hard to live up to, as keeping the crowd off their phones was another task. After all the show is on a Wednesday night. Deez Nuts still play with such enthusiasm and authority, as bounces of hair flicks contain the view throughout their set.

9/10

Make Do and Mend @ Birthdays London 12/5/15

Support: Hindsights + Calls Landing

Hiding the intimate show at Birthday’s London, Make Do and Mend arrives in the UK for just one small gig. Secretly promoted, the cramp underground venue was half filled with the hardcore fans that eventually found the show through their everyday stalk of their favourite band. (It wasn’t even sold out.)

With support from some of the UK’s finest melodic filled bands, Calls Landing made a great opener to the night. Inviting fresh and dated pop punk styles, the band filled the stage with posi jumps and energy blasted vocals that represented the growing British scene. Followed by Burnham/Maidenhead’s emo collective, Hindsights who arrive on stage with such an elegant manor. Their melodic infused riffs captivate the audience’s eyes, as tones of alternative rock fill the room, the quartet bounce around joyfully.

For the one off show, both supports add equal value and worth to open for such a treasured band. With almost ten years of being a band, the four-piece travelled all the way from the states to play a show that sums them up perfectly.

No needs for introductions or that awkward talk at the start of the show, the band get stuck into what they do best. Blasting out powerful punk riffs, while the swaying of Mike O'Toole’s hair gets caught in your mouth.

With such a small stage to move around in, the band made great use of it by continuously keeping us alert as they move in sync with the melodic tuning of each song.

Celebrating their recent release Don’t Be Long, the four-piece debut the titled track live. Performing it for the first time in London it proves to be a massive hit as mouths move alongside James Carroll’s own. It had been a while since MD&M had produced a record or been on the radar, and with this absence there had seemed to be a loss of interest around the band. However this show was something the band did for the dedicated fans, as every single face lit up throughout their set.

Everyone’s favourites off Part and Parcel and End Measured Mile are playing in a mixed order. ‘Unknowingly Strong’ set in and hands start to point to the front of the stage, as words are shouted back and heads bang in time to the drumbeats.

Make Do and Mend are a band that will forever be treasured and placed deep within our hearts no matter what age, as the audience reflected this perfectly. Everyone got to relive their youth days tonight, and just let go to highly assertive punk music.

9/10