Billy Talent are one of the bands from my youth. Edgy, emo, Michaela with her tight jeans and floppy fringe, red eye shadow and lip piercing is back thanks to the resurfacing of the Canadian rockers and their signature screaming.
In support of the new album ‘Crisis of Faith’, we have a tour with two bands who I’m seeing everywhere. Cold Years and Snayx. This is the only stop on the tour where we get both support acts squeezed into one night. So it’s going to be a special one at the Barras tonight.
The opener is Cold Years who have just supported my favourite band of all time – Bayside – prior to their Download appearance. Tour hopping with legends is a good omen if you ask me and these guys are doing plenty of that. The biggest influence is clearly The Menzingers crossed with Kerplunk era Green Day. There’s the occasional heavier riff or breakdown akin to ‘All My Life’ or ‘The Pretender’ by the Foo Fighters where we get huge, thumping bass and snare with screaming lead guitar.
But rather than fizzle out and disappear into nowhere like many of the Foo’s songs do, these ones open up into huge not-quite-pop pop punk choruses. Taking inspiration from the metal style parts of Bayside with a rougher pop punk – it’s hard not to get into if you’re a fan of that. I’m glad I made it early doors to catch these guys starting just twenty minutes after the first ticket was checked.
Main support is Snayx, which is pronounced “snakes” rather than “snacks”. I was a little disappointed as I love snacks, but they made up for it with the music. They’re a three piece consisting of singer, girl drummer (which I’ll always approve of!) and a bass player that looks like he’d glass anyone who makes eye contact with him in the old man pub he frequents every night. The music is absolutely ferocious with the most aggressive bass playing I’ve ever heard. I remember being told that Kid Kapitchi were the new face of aggressive, working class punk…
But these guys have pushed it even further. Soft Play with a bit more finesse, a bit more style, but just as angry. There’s a pile of energy even though there’s only three of them – and one is stuck behind a drum kit. At the end, singer Charlie jumps into the crowd and loses his radio pack, asking for the crowd to have a look for it with no success. I’m pretty sure these guys are coming back to Glasgow in the autumn, so definitely worth checking out.
Thanks to the stacked bill tonight, the pace is fast and we don’t have to wait long for Billy Talent. They come on to the opening riff of ‘Devil in a Midnight Mass’ played by pompadoured Ian D’sa before the lights explode into a neon strobe storm. Vocalist Ben Kowalewicz’ voice hasn’t changed a bit as he rasps and screeches his way through the song. The energy of this band is more than matched by the crowd as it’s one of the most active I’ve seen in a long, long time. Proper moshing and crowd surfing even though all of our knees aren’t what they used to be.
There’s a lot of love in the crowd for each other too as everyone looks out for one another. At one point BT stops as it seems someone is hurt, but thankfully they’ve just dropped their glasses. There’s a girl at the front of the crowd with a sign asking that Ben sign her for a tattoo which he advises is a really stupid idea… I’m a firm believer that that’s done out of love too.
There’s no encore in this set – they play straight through which I feel should be happening more often. The ritual of playing hide and seek with the fans often robs us of a couple of songs and I think it’s time we abolish that. My favourite song – ‘Surrender’ – falls in the middle of the set of mostly old songs. Only two tracks are off the new album – this is a real crowd pleaser of a show. Pandering to the fans who have been there from the start and who, like me, feel like a teenager again when hearing the self titled albums. Yes, there’s a new album and they should be out selling that… But you can tell it’s the love for their fans that is the real motivator tonight. It’s that love that’s going to keep me coming back for more.
Photos by Catching Light Photography