We turned up a little late for this gig as we had been over at Cardiff Barfly prior checking out the Acoustic gig going on featuring The Story So Far and Bitch Cassidy.
As I arrived upstairs in Clwb Ifor Bach I was confronted by some crazy metal and my years perked and my trigger hand got excited to take photos. The band on the stage was Maroon a Metal band from Germany. Their set was powerful, strong and full of all the metal anyone could ever want. You could tell this just by the crowds reaction. People were going crazy. Stage diving, moshing and just going wild. The singer kept saying that it was their last song every song but that aside I was very impressed by this bands ability to deliver such raw metal live so seemlessly. The drummer was tight as hell double pedalling almost like it was being triggered. But it wasn't. Maroon left the stage a little late and by the time they were done everyone was happy (me included). Not because we wanted them gone, we just wanted a rest. Trying to shoot photos of these guys whilst trying to also support someones weight whilst stagediving became pretty strenuous!
With Honor stepped on the stage next and I was excited as I know all about them through Altsounds working so closely with their record label - Victory Records. Not as metal as Maroon by any means but still packing a crazy punch to the side of the face of all the fans. Not much stage presence from one guitarist and bassist from this band at all. They kind of just stayed as hidden in the corner as they could and the one guy was wearing a cap backwards. Now that might not sound that strange but it is when you look hrough all the photos of With Honor you can find and see that this guy ALWAYS wears a cap backwards. Unfortunately due to the first and only local band (whose name I don't know) having the longest set of a lifetime With Honor were forced to cut their set short by 3 songs to ensure that Stretch Armstrong could put on a full set. This was admirable but unfortunate.
Stretch Armstrong got on the stage with a lot of passion, fun and rowdiness. Now I had heard of this band, but had never heard the band so I was really looking forward to checking them out. Everyone here seemed to be at this gig for these guys because although there were folks that new the words and loved the other bands EVERYONE (except me) here new the words as can be seen in many of my photos from the evening. Everyone in this band had a great stage presence and the band themselves were VERY VERY tight. The singer/screamer knew how to get the crowd angry so that the pits would go insane and he knew when and where to talk to let the crowd chill too. The pits for this band were as crazy as for Maroon but in a different way. The Maroon crowds were just fanatical and crazy where as the pits here were technical. Kids were showing off their moves and doing some crazy moves like spin kicks and backflips.
One kid backflipped off the stage and just landed bang on his back. As he smashed to the ground all life drained from him for that brief second and everyone (even the Stretch Armstrong Singer) was a little concerned at that moment. The kid got up and stumbled away into the crowd and the Stretch Armstrong was shouting out at the end of the song to him to check he was alright.
When the Stretch Armstrong singer announced to the crowd that they had one chance left to go wild the shit went down like I've never seen before. At least 25 people al gathered on the stage. Some getting on to stage dive off, others just swinging from the lights and a huge amount just to jump on the singer of the band (as can be seen in one of my photos from the night).
All in all this was a fantastic gig, full of agression, adrenaline and good music. All the bands rocked hard and reminded me that I really need to wear my earplugs when getting up on the stage to take photos
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I recommend you go see any of the bands mentioned above live. You will not be disappointed.
For more photos from the night here are the galleries:
MAROON WITH HONOR STRECTH ARMSTONG
All Photos Copyright 2006 Promophotos.co.uk
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Stretch Armstrong / With Honor / Maroon - January 9th 2006
Re: Stretch Armstrong / With Honor / Maroon - January 9th 2006
Re: Stretch Armstrong / With Honor / Maroon - January 9th 2006
