Ahh, Bannermans – I expect a gold plaque on the floor at the front when I finally go to that great gig in the sky. But I digress. We are here tonight to catch The Anti-Queens from Toronto, Canada, but first up we have New York melodic hardcore punk boys On the Cinder.
The majority of the setlist tonight is from last year’s killer album Heavy-Handed, opening with the heavy pop-punk-infused “Smells Like American Spirit”, quickly followed by “Stasis” with some killer guitar. It’s really hard to pin them down as they don’t sound like anyone else – it’s hardcore, it’s thrash, it’s pop punk… regardless, it bloody rocks.
The loose guitar intro heralds a “Pure Mess”, a proper pop punk piece of music and one of my favourites tonight. “Hollow Apology” has more of a punk vibe meets early Anthrax – tasty. The boys don’t stand about on stage as they bounce around. The drums kick in as the band are “Coping” – a full-on drum-driven rocker like The Offspring on speed. The bass and drums fire up as the boys wax lyrical about the “Illusions of Progress”, a real pounder of a song, followed by the slower, heavier, more punk-infused “Past, Present, No Future” – quality stuff.
The boys are all “Cleaned Out”, a real heavy-sounding piece of pop punk with some killer drumming. They end a fabulous, fast-paced, killer set with the old-school punk-infused “Punk Kid” and close with the broody pounder “Bravest New Face”. I thoroughly enjoyed the band’s set tonight – a nice blend of old-school punk vibes mixed with newer pop punk. The boys played a blinder and definitely won a few new fans, myself included. Nice bunch to chat to as well. If you like your punky upbeat vibes, then get out there and catch them live if they pop up near you.
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Now for those Canadian pop rockers The Anti-Queens. Think Halestorm meets The Pretty Reckless with a touch of No Doubt. It’s a real upbeat rock vibe as they launch into “Ladders” from their Start Running EP, followed by the equally bouncy but more punchy “Read My Mind” from the same EP – great start tonight.
The bass riffs kick in as the band launches into “Game Over” – a real powerhouse of a song. Pounding drums, killer guitar and bass riffs, and what a voice Emily has – it could strip paint at 100 feet. “Miss Scarlett” opens with riff lines straight out of Motörhead’s “Leaving Here”, and it just keeps that killer pace along with those Emily vocals – fabulous, definitely a favourite tonight.
They bring out the “Bulldozer”, and boy does it flatten the crowd – absolutely killer drums and riffage. We meet the “Saviour” again, with big riffs carried along by that voice – stunning vocals. A definite favourite tonight is “Apocalypse She”, a full-on, fast-paced rocker with killer guitar and stunning vocal harmonies.
As we head towards the end, we get the more pop-punk-infused “Doomed Again”, a real bounce-fest of a song. The band even throws in a wee Misfits song in the form of “Where Eagles Dare”, and it really suits their style of playing.
I loved their set tonight, as did the crowd. It was bouncy, it was rocky, and it was good fun rock ’n’ roll. Give them a listen and go catch them live – you will not regret it.
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Photos by Gary Cooper
