21st - 23rd August 2009
Area4 Festival 2009 Day 2: Rise Against, AFI, Eagles of Death Metal, Thursday, The Get Up Kids, Broilers, Rival Schools, Callejon, Everlaunch, Revolving Door
The second festival day again offered lots of sun and started quite relaxed for us. We arrived at the area quite some time before the first band started and so, I got first the coffee I desperately needed to be fit enough for what the day had to offer, and that was lots of Hardcore stuff and alike.
Revolving Door (The “Becks Winner Band”)
The story started in 2006 when the five band members met while still being in school. They started with covers no matter of which artist and one day after the formation, REVOLVING DOOR had their first bigger shows e.g. at the “Coca Cola Soundwave Discovery Tour” and eventually ended up with over 100 more shows. The first, self-released and eponymous EP sold over 1,500 copies. Currently, the band’s preparing for their debut album. REVOLVING DOOR is Liesa (vocals, guitar), Tina (vocals), Rügi (guitar), Sabse (bass) and Litz (drums). http://www.revolvingdoor.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/rdoor
Music & Performance
Even though 12pm is still quite early if you’ve had a long night the other day, still quite a few people found their way to the stage at this time to see REVOLVING DOOR and it turns out that at least the male audience would wake up earlier than expected with a band that has three pretty girls as members amongst others. It became no cosy, but a nice rock performance to start the new festival day and even though I didn’t expect that, some people started wild dancing and even a “very” little mosh pit formed later, while the ladies and gentlemen up there rocked the stage (Except the bassist. She’s been a little too tame for me). Later on, after the performance which was rewarded with honest applause, the band mixed up with the crowd and I’m sure one or the other CD found a new owner.
Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 7
Sound: 7
Light: - (daylight)
Total: 6.5 / 10
Everlaunch
The German outfit EVERLAUNCH already is around since 1999, but including their new one ‘Suburban Grace’ has just released two albums thus far. So why is that? It’s because EVERLAUNCH have been more on the road than anything else and besides own headlining shows all over Germany, they’ve played as support for names like BEATSTEAKS, OASIS, LOUS XIV or SLUT and thus has been extremely busy and have become a name in the indie scene. The above mentioned new album ‘Suburban Grace’ has just been released at the end of July. EVERLAUNCH is Patrick Hoke (vocals, guitar), Thorsten Finner (vocals, guitar), Andreas Ott (bass) and Sönke Jäger (drums). http://www.everlaunch.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/everlaunch
Music & Performance
Somebody told me that EVERLAUNCH would be a pleasure to watch and so I was excited to see if that was correct. To the intro part of the first song, the band came on stage and started with their indie-tinged sound that was as rocking just as it has deep carves of melancholy in it - a feeling that is even amplified when you hear the clean voice of Thorsten Finner for the first time on ‘Gravity’. Still quite calm, the next tune was aiming for a more straight-forward, rocking approach to which the band developed good dynamics in stage so that it was really a pleasure to watch. The audience still seemed a bit sceptical and has to be encouraged a little on the following ‘Seesaw’ to clap along, while I was enjoying the longing melodies of the song and also on the next rack ‘Stop the Clocks’ it took a bit before they were joining in with singing “Let it all Swing” altogether. But now it seemed the audience had warmed up and the band received applause for this and anything that would follow with the first single from the new album, called ‘Run Run Run’ or ‘Setting Sun’ with its wide guitar lines. I would definitely want to see them again some time.
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: - (daylight)
Total: 7.8 / 10
Callejon
The band has been founded in 2002 and released a self-titled demo in the following year, followed by the ‘Chronos’ EP in 2005 and the debut album ‘Wilkommen im Beerdigungscafé’. Several line-up changes later, the band can finally commence their promotion tour for the album in 2007. In September of that year, they hit the road for a winter tour during which they already promoted the next release, an EP called ‘Fauler Zauber Dunkelherz’. The band ended up signing a label deal with Nuclear Blast in 2008 and released their next full-length ‘Zombieactionhauptquartier’ in November 2008. CALLEJON is BastiBasti (vocals), Bernhard (guitars), Buschy (guitars), Thorsten (bass) and Bodo (drums). http://www.myspace.de/callejon / http://www.callejon.de/
Music & Performance
Well, this band turned out to be my personal fringe experience of the day. I had absolutely no idea what to expect of CALLEJON, even though they were widely praised for their efforts. A huge crowd already was gathering at the stage and I really mean huge. Far bigger than both crowds of both of the previous bands together, actually. Except a horribly maimed caricature of a Grinch (just a guess), there was nothing much to see at first. Then, the five guys entered the stage and the terror began. Beats rained down on the crowd at an insane speed and vocalist BastiBasti grunted and screamed as if hell broke loose. I think I’m quite an open-minded guy, but for CALLEJON I’ll make an exception for once. That’s definitely nothing I’d ever want to add to my collection. The band thrashed itself through the set, changed tempos quite often and BastiBasti was the spokesman and thus, responsible for the announcements between the songs one of which I couldn’t and still can’t get out of my head.
One of the songs, it was ‘Zombified’ was announced with a sentence about little pregnant dwarfs living under the earth. My face must’ve looked quite funny after hearing this, but actually I was just perplexed and somewhat disquieted by the fact that not much more, except a very little bunch of people, found that this was absolutely too much. Instead, people freaked out completely to this one and other tunes and threw just a big party in the torrid heat of the sun. Each to their own, but I for one was extremely glad when it was over.
Rating
Music: 3
Performance: 5
Sound: 5
Light: - (daylight)
Total: 4.1 / 10
Rival Schools
RIVAL SCHOOLS was formed in 2001 by singer and guitarist Walter Schreifels who had been working already in bands like YOUTH OF TODAY or GORILLA BISCUITS. The first release of the newly formed band was a 6-track EP, named ‘Rival Schools United by Onelinedrawing’, released in 2001. The full-length debut album came out just a few months after the EP and to this date, remains the only official album release of RIIVAL SCHOOLS. When member Ian Love left the band in 2002, this led to the band’s eventual break-up. A second album was produced, but never officially saw the light of public. The master tapes leaked into the internet somehow though. 2008 would see the band reuniting and playing some festivals and a little tour. The band has revealed they’re working on new material for an album with a possible release date in 2009. RIVAL SCHOOLS is Walter Schreifels (vocals, guitar), Ian Love (guitar), Cache Tolman (bass) and Sammy Siegler (drums). http://www.myspace.com/RivalSchoolsUnitedByFate
Music & Performance
Now, the exact opposite to what happened before the CALLEJON show occurred. A huge stream of people headed away from the stage, maybe because the style of RIVAL SCHOOLS was too soft for them already. Anyway, for me it was exactly the right thing now to wash CALLEJON out of my head again and the vocals of Walter Schreifels were definitely more pleasant for my ears. Doesn’t mean that this was an entirely soft sound, RIVAL SCHHOOLS presented! Their post hardcore stuff had enough power to rock a much bigger crowd than was present here now. Besides song material from the dated first album ‘Rival Schools United by Fate’ like ‘High Acetate’ or ‘Travel by Telephone’, the four-piece brought some brand new material from the new album, they’re currently working on. These songs were called ‘Eyes Wide Open’ and ’69 Gallons’ and spread a high energy vibe that raises high expectations for the new yet untitled disc. I had no expectations for the gig, but was rewarded with a few highly entertaining minutes.
Setlist
01. High Acetate
02. Everything has It’s Point
03. ?
04. 69 Gallons
05. Travel by Telephone
06. Good Things
07. ?
08. Undercovers On
09. Eyes Wide Open
10. The Switch
11. Used For Glue
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 7
Sound: 8
Light: - (daylight)
Total: 7.7 / 10
Broilers
What would later become the BROILERS started out as two 12 year old boys, practising in their rehearsal room. The line-up grew and at some point in 1997, the band released a single called ‘Ich schenk dir eine Blume’ followed by the debut album ‘Fackeln im Sturm’ one year later. They took every chance of presenting their music live which became more diversified and open for new influences as time passed. The next album ‘Verlierer sehen anders aus’ was released then in 2000 on which some of the new influence could be heard already. Taking a look into the future we’ll see that the audience of the band has largely increased and that they’ve built a good reputation for themselves. Their newest release is the limited ‘Ruby, Light & Dark’ EP from 2008. BROILERS are Sammy (vocals, guitar), Ron (guitar), Ines (bass), Chris (keys, piano, organ) and Andi (drums). http://www.broilers.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/broilers
Music & Performance
Seems like there was a little game going on with the audience today, as you could hardly catch up with how rapidly the crowd was growing again before the BROILERS would hit the stage. Loud choirs calling the band’s name made absolutely clear that the crowd wanted to see the band rather sooner than later and at best with a doubled playing time. When the moment had come and the band entered the stage to the ‘Preludio Vanitas’ introduction, the crowd broke out in ecstasy to welcome their favourites. It was a level of ecstasy they would keep up the whole 50 minutes of the show wherein the band volunteered their compound of punk, ska, reggae and psychobilly. Everybody in the crowd clapped, sang along or danced to songs like ‘Nur die Nacht’, Weißt du das schon?’ or ‘Dein Leben’. But only 50 minutes were not nearly enough for the audience and so they screamed loudly for an encore after the band had left the stage. Their calls, however, remained unheard and slowly the fans of the BROILERS left the space, pleased by the show but disappointed by its brevity.
Setlist (Incomplete)
Preludio Vanitas
Alles, was ich tat
Nur die Nacht
Weißt du das schon?
Ruby Light & Dark
Ich sah kein Licht
Dein Leben
Meine verdammte Seele für die Musik
Hexenjagd
Punkrock Lovesong
Zusammen (SLIME Cover)
(Ich bin) bei dir
Meine Sache
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: - (daylight)
Total: 7.5 / 10
The Get Up Kids
THE GET UP KIDS were formed in 1995 and released their very first record ‘Four Minute Mile’ two years later. The album didn’t become a high commercial success, but was well-received and opened doors to some major labels. The ended up walking through the door of Mojo Records, but several occurrences led to the band changing their minds and instead taking the offer of Vagrant Records they released their second album ‘Something to Write Home About’ on in 1999. The band became a major player in the Emo scene back then and released two more albums until their break-up in 2005. In 2008, the band surprisingly announced they would hit the road for a reunion tour to support the tenth anniversary re-release of their most successful second album. The band also has begun writing new material. THE GET UP KIDS are Matt Pryor (vocals, rhythm guitar), Jim Suptic (lead guitar, backing vocals), Rob Pope (bass), James Dewees (keys, backing vocals) and Ryan Pope (drums, percussion). http://www.thegetupkids.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/thegetupkids
Music & Performance
Another re-united band was next on the schedule and just as with the other reunited band before, the amount of spectators had decreased considerably. The people really attending the show didn’t seem to be too much impressed by the performance of the US Americans which started with the upbeat, melodic ‘Holidays’ and went on with another fast-ride ‘Coming Clean’. But they could rock as much as they want and they really did lay down a fair rock performance, the audience just didn’t join in, really. That was a thing I absolutely couldn’t understand, because with the track ‘Woodson’ for instance, they had a track in their set that should have easily got everyone into action. But for the last track they surprisingly unbent and when I heard the title I knew exactly why this was the case! The song’s called ‘Beer for Breakfast’. Do I have to say more? I found this to be a nice if not groundbreaking performance of the guys.
Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: - (daylight)
Total: 6.9 / 10
Thursday
When founded in 1997, THURSDAY was more of an outlet for the juvenile rage and aggression of the protagonists. In 1999, the New York-based label Eyeball discovered, signed them and released their debut album ‘Waiting’ in the same year. The breakthrough wouldn’t come before the band switched to Victory Records for the release of their second album ‘Full Collapse’. Following another label change to a major, they released the two albums ‘War All the Time’ (2003) and ‘A City by the Light Divided’ (2006). Now signed to the legendary label Epitaph Records, they’ve released their already fifth album ‘Common Existence’ in this year’s February. THURSDAY is Geoff Rickly (vocals), Tom Keeley (guitar), Steve Pedulla (guitar), Tim Payne (bass), Andrew Everding (keys) and Tucker Rule (drums). http://www.thursday.net/ / http://www.myspace.com/thursday
Music & Performance
Also the following THURSDAY had not a large audience that attended the show. But at least they had some dedicated fans amongst them as it later turned out. For my ears, the eclectic sound of the guys was an extremely challenging and exhausting adventure. Their music definitely had the biggest amount of progressive elements of this day’s line-up with partly shifting time signatures and stuff. I came to like the clean vocal style of singer Geoff Rickly who gave his all to deliver an energetic performance for the audience sweeping across the stage, jumping and adding expressive mimics to his lyrics. Even though these are points speaking for the guys I think this is music that’s a bit misplaced on a festival. In my opinion the demanding soundscapes would take a much bigger effect on an audience in a closed environment like a club. Here its effect just squibbed for me and so I have to deduct a few points.
Rating
Music: 5
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: - (daylight)
Total: 6.6 / 10
Eagles of Death Metal
From its very inception in 1998, the band EAGLES OF DEATH METAL underwent several line-up shifts. Their first release is the 2003 live album ‘Live at Slims’ which had been released as a free digital down load through the band website. The band’s guitarist Jesse “The Devil” Hughes eventually took over the part as vocalist and since is known as the charismatic front man and poster child of the band. Their first regular studio album was named ‘Peace, Love & Death Metal’ and released in 2004, followed by two further albums ‘Death by Sexy’ (2006) and ‘Heart On’ (2008). EAGLES OF DEATH METAL is Jesse “The Devil” Hughes (guitar, vocals), Dave Catching (guitar), Brian O’Connor (bass, vocals) and Joey Castillo (drums). http://www.eaglesofdeathmetal.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/eaglesofdeathmetal
Music & Performance
This band was to attract one, if not the largest crowd of the second festival day. You could spot people as far as the eyes could see, once the big video screens displayed a total perspective from the stage. As soon as the band was on stage there was one guy taking all the attention away from the others: Jesse Hughes who with his sunglasses and the long haircut looked like a porn star from the 70s. But that wasn’t even what made you grin all the time. It actually was the posing he did all through the show and the mimics he showed while presenting with the band their stoner rock, infused with boogie and blues influences. Everything in the music is kept quite simplistic, but as we all know the simplest concepts can be the most effective sometimes - as was the case with the EAGLES OF DEATH METAL whose music didn’t miss its effect at all. It sent an order into the brains of the attendees interpreted it as a call to dance which made countless limbs move to ‘Cherry Cola’ or ‘English Girl’ which was simply renamed to ‘German Girl’. Girls are Hughes’ most favourite topic, but if his German translation of “My little pussycat” really had the desired effect on the girls is highly questionable to me. You never know though.
A good couple of songs into the set he asked the audience if anyone was celebrating their birthdays today and oddly enough, almost everybody seemed to have birthday. You have to query whether this was actually true, but anyway a little serenade followed. Before the praised performance would find its end there was still one song to be played which was especially dedicated to one writer of the German “Visions” magazine whose name I didn’t quite get. A deserved and long applause followed as the band left the stage. THE EAGLES OF DEATH METAL rocked the festival with a first class performance and were my personal highlight of the day.
Setlist (Incomplete)
Don’t Speak (I Came To Make A Bang!)
Bad Dream Mama
Cherry Cola
Heart On
English Girl (German Girl)
I Got a Feelin (Just Nineteen)
Already Died
Stuck In The Middle With You
Anything ‘Cept The Truth
Whorehoppin (Shit, Goddam)
Wannabe In L.A.
Speaking In Tongues
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 9
Sound: 8
Light: - (daylight)
Total: 8.4 / 10
AFI
AFI which stands for “A Fire Inside” was founded in 1991. All three founding members were still attending high school at that time. At the end of high school they broke up, but when they met again at a reunion gig while all being in college already it was decided to cancel the studies and focus on music solely. AFI have made a name for themselves with various EP releases and compilation contributions, as well as extensive touring. On their first albums they still played pretty rough punk rock with hardcore tendencies. Something that was about to change with the third album ‘Shut your Mouth and Open Your Eyes’ in 1997 and was to continue with every of the following releases. Today AFI have released 9 full length albums with ‘Crash Love’ being the latest one, released in 2009. AFI is Davey Havok (lead vocals), Jade Puget (guitars, keyboards, programming, backing vocals), Hunter Burgan (bass, keyboards, programming, backing vocals) and Adam Carson (drums, percussion, backing vocals). http://www.afireinside.net/ / http://www.myspace.com/afi
Music & Performance
Meanwhile it’s gotten dark and the darkness also made the perfect environment for the upcoming gig of AFI. Once again, a huge crowd gathered around the stage and I was in-between at a spot a little farther away from the stage with a good view. Then the moment came and the band kicked off the show with tough beats that hammered into the crowd while front man Davey Havok not only did jump over the stage like a maniac cut loose but partly crawled. During ‘Silver & Cold’ I learned how high some people can come with their voices. Incredible! The se the band went through was dominated by their harder and relentless offerings with the track ‘A Single Second’ from the 1997 album ‘Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes’ being on a very extreme end of that scale. But they had a few calmer moments built in as well.
Of course, you can’t dance all the time and ‘Love like Winter’ was the perfect track to calm down a bit before gearing up for the last strike that just like the others was underscored with flashes of light and selected colours to underscore the mood of the tracks. Actually, the band would’ve had 25 more minutes to play, but just went off the stage and didn’t return afterwards. A shame for me, because I really enjoyed their show and was excited to see more!
Setlist
01. Girl's Not Grey
02. The Leaving Song Pt. II
03. Summer Shudder
04. Kill Caustic
05. The Days Of The Phoenix
06. Silver And Cold
07. A Single Second
08. The Missing Frame
09. Dancing Through Sunday
10. Love Is A Many Splendored Thing
11. Love Like Winter
12. Totalimmortal
13. Miss Murder
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 8
Total: 8 / 10
Rise Against
RISE AGAINST has been formed as TRANSISTOR REVOLT in 1999. They released their first album ‘The Unravelling’ in 2001 followed by ‘Revolutions per Minute’ in 2003. The band gained mainstream popularity with its first two releases on Geffen, ‘Siren Song of the Counter Culture’ (2004) and ‘The Sufferer & the Witness’ (2006), which produced several high-charting singles. Their newest album ‘Appeal to Reason’ has been released in 2008 and received mixed reviews. The band is said release a split record with FACE TO FACE, although no date has been announced. RISE AGAINST is Tim McIlrath (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) Joe Principe (bass guitar, backing vocals), Brandon Barnes (drums, percussion) and Zach Blair (lead guitar, backing vocals). http://www.riseagainst.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/riseagainst
Music & Performance
I didn’t know much about today’s headliner, but I was told they had become softer and now were nearer to the alternative rock than to the hardcore. Indeed, the songs I witnessed were considerable pop sensibilities. More than many of the stuff other bands had presented today. The dynamic on stage was up high right from the start and also the numerous people spreading far beyond the actual space in front of the stage were dynamic with devoting their body moves to the pounding rhythms. Was cool to watch, but the long day had taken it’s toll on us and so we decided it would be better to get some more hours of sleep to be prepared for the final festival day and so, we left little before the set had ended.
Setlist
01. Collapse (Post-Amerika)
02. State of the Union
03. Re-Education (Through Labor)
04. Paper Wings
05. Long Forgotten Sons
06. The Good Left Undone
07. Chamber the Cartridge
08. Drones
09. The Dirt Whispered
10. Audience of One
11. Blood to Bleed
12. Savior
13. Survive
14. Blood-Red White & Blue
15. Prayer of The Refugee
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16. Swing Life Away
17. Hero of War
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18. Dancing For Rain
19. Give It All
20. Ready to Fall
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 7.3 / 10
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com/ / http://www.black-cat-net.de/ / www.myspace.com/vorndranphotography)
Written by Daniela Vorndran (common parts and overall editorial) & Sebastian Huhn
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