Gig: The Armed @ Here at Outernet, London
The Armed by Jonathan Dadds
Billed as the “definitive vision” of their Perfect Saviors tour, Detroit hardcore collective The Armed put on their biggest London show to date at Here at Outernet - for me this was also the first time seeing the new venue, not far from the site of the widely missed Astoria. Perfect Saviors saw the band’s sound evolve further, combining their hardcore origins with more experimental and even pop influences, some songs containing both blast beats and uplifting vocal hooks.
Empire State Bastard
First on the night are Empire State Bastard, the extreme metal project of Mike Vennart and Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil, Naomi Macleod on bass and joined tonight by Tom Rice on drums (a certain Dave Lombardo is playing three miles down the road with Mr Bungle) - you really couldn’t have asked for better support! Fresh from performing across the USA with some band called Sleep Token (!), Empire State Bastard are a loud, finely tuned, machine. Simon, without a guitar to limit his movements, lurches around the stage while screaming the vocals, occasionally moving to his keyboard for a synth line. Mike provides us with some truly filthy guitar sounds, clearly enjoying hitting the crowd with big riff after big riff. There are some sinister sounding, bass driven, sections and then an all out assault. An incredible band who could headline this room on their own - what a way to start the evening!
The Armed
The Armed waste no time getting into the crowd, vocalist Tony Wolski screaming out the words while atop the audience as guitarist Max stands upon the crowd further down the stage, opening the set with All Futures, a real yell along anthem of a track. Despite the chaos everything sounds incredible - the band in this form, given this size of stage, are the perfect balance of tight yet energetic. Three songs in and the band demonstrate their weird humour, introducing special guest “Frank Carter of Gallows” to play their track Ft Frank Turner. Frank Carter is actually Simon Neil, who walks on stage and says “Hello I’m Frank” before joining the onslaught of screamed vocals, at one point being picked up by guitarist Randall Lee.
This is my second night in a row watching The Armed, the previous night being at Leeds’ Brudenell Social Club and, while Leeds was arguably more fun (barrier-less show usually are) tonights performance is somehow a level above. The band sound incredible, especially on tracks like Burned Mind which have a lot more synth based sounds in the mix, and the visual elements really add to it - the on screen visuals are one thing but the perfectly on time lighting adds so much to the performance. Night City Aliens, a fan favourite from the Cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack, sees vocalist Cara Drolshagen screaming the verses while crowdsurfing, the song eventually descending into chaos. The set is rounded off by an incredible performance of Big Shell, this time joined by Mike Vennart on guitar, rounding the number of members of The Armed on stage to 9. The Armed are a band who put their all into every performance - to play with that much chaotic energy for over an hour and to still sound great is nothing short of incredible - it’s impossible not leave with a huge grin after soaking it all in.
