School's Out And Poison Ruin · breakbone

School's (Almost) Out 9th November

First up were The Amphetamines, and you gotta give it to them, they're popular and well liked within the scene. Heath McTegg engaged in rather excessive stage banter, which was well received by the crowd of mainly pop punk fans, emo fans, and a few metalheads, mainly under 18. Not in the mood to mosh, most of the crowd just watched in their friend groups and swayed their heads a little bit. A little disheartening as a hard rock and roll fan, but I get that some people like to just absorb the vibes. Played a bunch of covers, honestly it was an alright performance.

Konfess were next and the vibes were the same. I don't really remember that much from this set other than the sound being a bit more metal, even nu-metal, with a Deftones cover which was well received by the 'alternative' crowd, and overall the correct type of person would love the performance.

Next up was Ambrosial and they are very popular. Much of the set felt like a wall of sound, and with an alternative rock sound. They aren't really comparable to Piss Off or Bubblegum Haircut, they're in their own league. Not punk, not indie, not metal. Just alt rock.

Now The Chimpeltons were the act I anticipated the most, and they didn't really sound like the punk rock of their album 'Out Of The Jungle'. Their sound has definitely developed, and it sounded more metal if anything. There wasn't that old school shedrock sound of their Casualty days. Much of the crowd by this point had left to go to another gig or somewhere else, and while I was happy to see The Chimpeltons, the deep yearning just wasn't satisfied.

Overall, the gig cost 15 bucks, and for the right person, it would've been a brain breaking gig. The audience was best described as mainly being alternative teenagers/people in the scene and it's suited for pop punk, mall emo, metal fans.

Poison Ruin at Spring Hill Hall 30th November

Infinite Christmas was first, and their set was pretty suiting for a hardcore gig like this. No mosh pit activity yet, but it was a good warm up. Short, fast, awesome.

The time in between sets would turn it out to be long for this gig, so I went on a walk and missed out on a fair bit of Drudge, but from what I see they were up to their usual antics, hardcore, more metal/slam sound.

Phenomena was next, ans honestly they were the most punk act of the lot. The lead singer wore these cool looking glasses, and they delivered a short, fast, energetic set through a Marshall amp of course. Great.

It was lights out for Poison Ruin, the headliner from Philadelphia, and this was where the mosh pit action really happened. It was more of a slam/black metal pit though, with karate kicks and slam dancing. I thought there would be more of a punk push pit, though I guess with the large venue size it wouldn't've been very possible. Good nonetheless, and hardcore gigs always leave you with your heart warmed and meeting some nice and kind people.