Propagandhi / Protest The Hero / Strike Anywhere / The Final Crisis

This is the second UK tour of the year for Propagandhi, a band who were literally on fire the last time they played in Yorkshire (their Sheffield Academy show was cut short after a lighting box fire), so they are back to Leeds to finish what they started. Firstly there are three other bands set to wake and shake you...



Local hardcore lads The Final Crisis have the gruffest vocalist here tonight, god knows what singer Luke is saying but he is gonna need a bucket of throat lozengers after this 20 minute set. The harshest band of the night, they do a great job of opening proceedings to the half full venue.



Next up Strike Anywhere, and the venue is suddenly surprisingly full; rammed even. The bar has a waiting time of just under an hour, and you just can not move. Strike give it their all and it is clear that the gig would have benefited had they not been put on the line up to play prematurely, they should play the penultimate set with a crowd response like this.

They have the attitude of a band like 7 Seconds, in your face, and music similar to the force of Rise Against, with a faster pace. Their stance is the same as Propagandhi, they are against many of the world's wrongs, like fascism, and their style of melodic hardcore delivery is all the more mesmerising.



Protest The Hero sadly see a lull in crowd members, where people disheartened by the bar queue and sick of being squashed head to other brewery pastures for a quick pint, leaving the rest of us a little breathing room but not looking so good for this band from Whitby (not ours) in Canada.

The band have won the Canadian Independent Music Award for Favourite Metal Artist/Group in 2004, showing their pedigree, and have had the same line up since their inception. Their complicated time structures are classed as Mathcore, a subgenre of Math Rock, involving complex dissonant chords and angular melodies. I hope you’re taking this in, there is a test after!

There is a little emo sound to their vocal style, when singer Rody Walker is not putting out an almighty growl, taking things away from the opposite end of the spectrum to the first band, who are huge fans of theirs. The sheer energy of the band is tiring to watch. The people who left for that quicker pint elsewhere can safely be called fools...

And now the biggy, Propagandhi themselves here to rip up Rios. The place is suddenly heaving again, like they have put out a Batman style beacon to summon all around to their considerate punk rock.



Some twat says "Why don't you play in Sheffield" followed by "Chris Hannah you fuck", which for a statement before the show has even begun really pisses off the singer and leads him to call us all motherfuckers. I don't blame him though, the twat in the crowd wants kicking out if that's all he has to say.

Hannah performs the lead guitar and vocal duties perfectly, and is left to get on with it as crowd surfers are pushed back into the pit by security, not carried out for once. Bassist Todd 'The Rod' Kowalski is like a swing pendulum, not once does he stand still, and thrashes about like a fish caught out of water. David 'The Beaver' Guillas is still widely accepted as a great addition to the band, though he does not speak, just lets his guitar playing speak instead. Jord Samolesky, hidden at the back in the darkly lit stage holds it all together.

The fact many people like this band is not all to do with their hardcore punk, which has become more thrashy over the years, but also to do with their continued and unfaltering activism and animal rights and political stances. Their shows always allow stands in giving away leaflets on animal cruelty and urging you to sign up to support hunting bans (Kowalski signed up, not many people in bands do that).



The show goes on past the curfew, good lads! I barely remember the songs in order, just the strength of the bands force, really hard hitting and thoughtful lyrics and everyone having a good time. Clive Jones is back to read and play 'Come to the Sabbat' by his band Black Widow as a start to the encore. Finishing the set with oldie 'Anti-Manifesto' really made my day too. In fact the entire set did. Thanks for coming back and leaving the stage intact this time!

Supporting Caste
Tertium Non Datur
The Banger's Embrace
Iteration
...And We Thought That Nation States Were A Bad Idea
With Friends Like These, Who the Fuck Needs COINTELPRO?
A Speculative Fiction
Human(e) Meat (The Flensing of Sandor Katz)
Back to the Motor League
Potemkin City Limits
Natural Disasters
Without Love
Mate Ka Moris Ukun Rasik An
I Was a Pre-Teen McCarthyist
Purina Hall of Fame

Come to the Sabbat (Black Widow)
Dear Coach's Corner
Anti-Manifesto

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.