Smash Into Pieces Live

A very late decision was made to attend this gig which was originally billed as 2 bands but ended up being four. It turns out the other two bands were supposed to play another gig altogether at Islington Academy 2 but that one was merged with this one. Even with the merge the crowd did not reach 3 figures the whole night.

First band was one of the additional bands called Youngblood. They were sort of indie rock with a quirky female singer with odd dance moves. They were ok but not exactly my cuppa. Her vocals were rather fun and sweet though as was she.

Next band were called Royal Tusk from Canada as were Youngblood by the way. These guys started off with a nice heavy groovy song with decent melodic vocals. The rest of the set was pretty decent too. I didn't hear any amazing songs but the music was quite catchy and riffy. Not bad and better than Youngblood.

Next band were the original support to headliners Smash Into Pieces and went by the name of Blind Channel. It seems they had a fan club of a few guys at the front plus two little blond gals in Blind Channel shirts. To say these guys sucked would be an understatement. They played a mix of rap, chant, rock riffs, dance beats and Ibiza house or whatever it is. They were a bunch of Finnish kids all dressed in white as their gimmick. Like I said they had a small and vociferous fan club down the front but they are literally one of the worst bands I've ever seen on the hallowed Underworld stage.

I endured BC and waited for the Swedes modern rockers Smash Into Pieces. I like their new album and also the previous one hence giving them the time of day with my attendance. The stage was cut in half with a board which at the time was mysterious but it turns out it's one of those scoreboard type electronic displays. Bizarre! I suppose it reflects the band's very modern style which is almost like street modern rock as is their look. They may not rap but the band sounds and looks like it's from the street. The singer sways from side to side and looks like one of those white rapper types but damn the guy can sing.

The sound mix they used was also the weirdest I have ever heard in the Underworld. The guitars had no crunch and the mix was bass and vocal heavy with a lot of re-verb or echo on the mics. Strange and rather interesting sound! However they still had plenty of great songs and the singer sounded very cool singing the catchy melodic songs. The drummer also wears the Apocalypse DJ mask and prances around behind the scoreboard display. A unique thing to see indeed that a band uses so much modernity and things that are part of the dance and house scene if anything but brings them into the rock scene.

Quite an odd spectacle watching SiP indeed but I still enjoyed the catchy grooving melodic rock songs even though the band takes the boundaries of modern rock to the extreme edge of modernity. Interesting gig!