Gig: Dead Poet Society @ Scala, London
Dead Poet Society by Isla Kerr
Los Angeles Dead Poet Society brought the heat of their home city to London's historic Scala last Wednesday evening. Following the release of their praised second album ‘FISSION’ in January the band has been touring through Europe for the last month with support from high-powered, Toronto based, Ready the Prince.
Ready the Prince
The perfect indicator of what was to come was given before the night's entertainment even began. With the room lit in red, ‘Break Stuff’ from the pre show playlist was sung word for word by the eager crowd.
With more and more bands outsourcing for tours these days, it is rare to see a three-man outfit live. Ready the Prince makes it work with Steve DeCiantis covering Bass/Vocals, Daniel Prada on guitar and Jordan Ross on drums. They create all the noise you’d expect from a larger outfit while maintaining a more personal feel.
The crowd did not stop moving for the eternity of the set, DeCiantis encouraged them to create mosh pits from the start and kept this up throughout. Arms swung in the air as bodies collided and sweat mixed.
The band will be back in London to play The Social on the 15th of May and Steve made sure everyone in attendance would remember the date as he paired its announcement with one informing them of free stickers at the merch stall. If there's one thing the Brits love as much as live music, it's a freebie, target market: reached.
As the set drew to a close it felt as if it were their own gig. The last track ‘Lighting’ features an incredible drum section that could easily convert any that were in doubt. I’d hedge a bet that many of those in attendance will be at The Social in just under two months. This is definitely a band to grab a ticket to see as they climb the ranks.
Dead Poet Society
The lights dimmed and cheers grew as Dylan Brenner (bass) walked out onto the stage with all the attitude of a frontman and played out a few basslines for Will Goodroad (drums), Jack Collins (guitar) and Jack Underkofler (vocals) to walk on to. No time was wasted as they launched into ‘Hard To Be God’. The quick-paced, guitar-heavy track sent the crowd into a frenzy. Jack got in on the action as he jumped off stage to stand on the barrier before leaping into the outreached hands of the audience. The energy did not let up for one minute as the whole band moved around the stage like crazy, strutting, jumping and using every inch it had to offer.
Considering ‘FISSION’ was only released two months ago ‘I hope you hate me’ and ‘HURT’ were welcomed as if they were old classics. The crowd sang along word for word, poised to descend into a pit with every drop. These pits grew and grew in size until almost all of the lower-standing section were involved.
‘Tipping Point’ put a pause to the action as Underfolker stood alone on stage and sang the lyrics ‘Coming home at midnight drunk again/Ignoring all my texts, yeah’.
If, as many say, ‘You’re only as good as your live’ then Dead Poet Society are pretty damn good with an effortlessly loud performance that allowed all their unique personalities to shine through while they moved as a unit. Brenner jumped and passed cheeky remarks while Underfolker danced and took time to say some sentimental words. Collins strutted around the stage while Goodroad was glued to his drumset and pounded with attitude.
‘.SALT.’ felt like a climatic release. The Distorted bass line, pounding drums and scratchy guitar riffs rang out while the middle of the crowd transformed into a rowing pit with one person conducting it forward and back like a self elected cox of the boat.
Dylan interrupted some sentimental words from Jack with a Facetime call from the man who took the album cover for ‘FISSION’.This level of unseriousness continued as before launching into ‘.CoDA.’ Underfolker said “Goodnight, but you know it’s not’ alluding to the encore that was to come. What an encore it was! A cover of ‘Hysteria’ by Muse was the perfect way to come back to the stage. Dead Poet Society undeniably have a sound similar to the ever popular British rockers, it's no wonder this rendition was well received.
‘Intodeep’ drew things to a close. An intriguing band to watch live that really put on a show, the best is undoubtedly yet to come for Dead Poet Society and they are ready for it. They embark on a US tour in just under a month and if this show is anything to go by those with tickets are in for a treat.
