Review: The Chariot/I Am Villian, April 20, 2011 at Sun Distortion Studios

Another week, another amazingly crazy all-ages hardcore show.

I rocked up early to Sun Distortion Studios, as although this show was sold out, they said they'd release a few tickets on the doors at 5. So I made the trek there straight after work and lined up feeling like a sore thumb in my business clothes while surrounded by 16-year old scene kids. But it was worth it, I got my ticket and found out that no one would be playing for another 45 minutes at least.

It was my first foray into Sun Distortion Studios, which turns out is less of a 'studio' and more of a very tiny industrial warehouse space. Apparently 200 people were going to squeeze in there, yet I could only imagine about 60 crammed in.

In the spare time I hoofed it home, got changed, grabbed my car, got a parma and a beer and headed back in time to catch local guys I Am Villain. Mixing together some pop-punk and some hardcore, they stomped and jumped around the very small stage.

And that's where things got ugly. The stage basically gave out underneath them. After they wrapped up their set, a crew of randoms moved in and started disassembling the stage. The Chariot then started setting up on the floor. In a very tight and cramped space. And all I could think of was "my god, it's going to be like Perth." I was a little bit more than excited to think that this set was going to just fall apart into a sea of hardcore crazy.

I wasn't even close. I underestimated the entire evening.

Photographing a gig like this is hard. The light came from two fluorescent tubes overhead and was just crap. The band wouldn't stop moving and my auto-focus was no good. The crowd was insane and surging, meaning I kept being moved. So in the end I grabbed my widest angle lens, which happens to be a manual, I set it to an approximate focus, I turned my flash on, held my camera in one hand, held on to a railing behind me with the other hand and balanced on the edge of a very small couch. It's no surprise some of the photos didn't turn out. It was really just guess work, luck and me trying hard not to fall on my ass and get crushed. Because what came next was insane.
Within a song the band was just tearing it up. Instruments were unplugged, the crowd was everywhere, the band was under them, on top of them, screaming, playing along wherever they could and just losing themselves in the music.

Even as it was only one song in, they already said this would probably be their best show of the tour. And we all made sure it was. The bass player climbed up the sound booth behind me during their second or third song and just stage dove straight in. Basically, like their music and sound, it was just organised chaos. Barely organised chaos of course...




The set list was a healthy mix of their entire career, a perfect mix for their first Australia tour. I was actually surprised how little of Long Live, their 2010 album, that was included. But in the ones they did play off Long Live, they even included the samples, like in Evan Perks.


Not that it mattered. Some times, with random instruments unplugged, you had no idea what songs they were playing. But it didn't matter. It was just the vibe. Like in this video:

Definitely one of (if not the) craziest gigs I've ever been to. It was just uncontrollable musical chaos. And I was by far one of the oldest people there. Kids, they just know how to do it. At the end of the gig, most of the members of the Chariot just collapsed on the floor in exhaustion. The few still standing got hugged to death by the supportive fans.

Gig of the year? The Defeater show may have something to say about that.