Who remembers Drive Thru Records? During the summer of 2003
I really got into a lot of bands on that label, bands like New Found Glory,
Finch, Allister and The Movielife. Sadly The Movielife disbanded in 2003 so I
never got the chance to see them live. To my complete joy late last year The
Movielife announced some reunion shows and eventually added a London date at
Camden's Electric Ballroom. I was already quite excited for this gig and then
the support was announced, Gnarwolves and Apologies, I Have None. This was
going to be one hell of a night.
I've only been to the Electric Ballroom twice before but it
has quickly become one of my favourite venues. There's something about the
place that makes it perfect for seeing live music. It's a nice sized space that
doesn't feel overly cramped even when full and you can always get a decent view
of the stage. The first band to take to the stage were London's Apologies, IHave None. Regular readers of this blog will know how much I love that band so
as always I was very excited to see them. As soon as Sat In Vicky Park started the
crowd seemed to swell and sang loudly along with the band. Apologies only had
half an hour tonight so stormed through as many songs as possible, playing
songs from the album London as well as last year's Black Everything EP. The
band pulled out all the stops tonight with guitarist Simon brought out a drill
to create some fantastic guitar sounds. Despite some issues with the bass
(which Gnarwolves Thom tried to fix)
these boys were absolutely fantastic. If you haven't check them out yet you are
letting yourself down.
Up next were the crown prince's of UK punk rock -
Gnarwolves. I was really interested to see what the crowd would be like for
their set. This would be the first time in a while that I'd seen Gnarwolves in
a support slot. At their own headlining shows the crowd get's absolutely crazy,
there is nonstop stage diving and moshing. It's all in good fun but a bit too
rowdy for me so I usually hang back because of the barrier stage diving was not
on the agenda. Perhaps this was because of the lack of kids invading the stage
but I think this could have been the best performance I've seen Gnarwolves give
(and this was my seventh time so I'm hardly new to the band). Thom, Charlie and
Max were all flawless and put as much into this performance as they would a
headline show, as every band should. Bottle To Bottle and Smoking Kills from
the self titled debut album got massive reactions as did old favourites like
Community, Stability, Identity and History Is Bunk. There was also a funny
moment when the crowd broke into a chorus of Die For The Government by
Anti-Flag after Thom mentioned that the last time they played the Electric
Ballroom they were supporting the political punk rockers from Pittsburgh.
Gnarwolves as always really delivered and proved just why they are rising so
quickly. Great fun!
Now it was finally time for The Movielife. I had been
waiting for twelve years for this moment, a moment I really thought would never
happen. I listened to The Movielife the day of the gig for the first time in a
long time and realised something quite special. I loved bands like New Found
Glory and Allister back in the day but now when I listen to their music it
always makes me feel old and is definitely not something I'd listen to now.
Listening to The Movielife, final album Forty Hour Train Back To Penn in
particular I never once felt like that. After all these years in doesn't feel
dated at all. Full credit to the band for writing an album so wonderfully, it's
a mature, catchy pop punk masterpiece. When the band took to the stage you
could instantly see in front man Vinnie Caruana's face just how excited he was
to be playing these songs again after all this time. A huge smile rarely left
the New Yorkers face throughout the set as he and the rest of the band stormed
through a set of classic songs. The crowd in the Ballroom loved every single
one of them and sung louder and louder. Vinnie spoke about the struggles the
band flying over from New York because of delayed flights and how they had to
buy new tickets to make sure they made it to London in time for the show. You
would have never realised though with the amount of energy and passion all five
members of the band put into the show. They were clearly as appreciative of the
crowd for turning up and supporting as the crowd were for The Movielife for
reforming. God I hope this is a more permanent thing and The Movielife perform
more and more because they are still absolutely brilliant.
Now listening to Miss Me by Demon Smiles
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