Concert Report: Seven Year Kismet Tour

When the line-up for an event consists of Chromium, Knave, Facing The Gallows, Pestroy and Seven Year Kismet, you can expect it to be a slamming party of epic proportions.

Date: 6 February 2010
Location: Cool Runnings, Fourways

Due to the rain and suicidal roadworks around Johannesburg, I arrived at the event slightly later than expected. After getting over my initial disappointment of not watching the 11^th Hour at the 17^th hour of the day, I still managed to catch a large part of Only Forever’s set.

Only Forever
You have to feel sorry for opening bands. They generally have to play to near empty venues, yet deliver a stellar show to make sure the 20 people in the audience don’t go home early.

Nonetheless, Only Forever did a commendable job as they delivered a rocking professional performance, which included a terrific cover of Incubus’ ‘Wish You Were Here’, and never once letting their heads drop due to the lack of a large audience. Frankly, if OF continue to progress at this rapid rate, they’ll certainly be headliners by the year’s end.

Facing The Gallows
By the time the thrashcore beast known as Facing The Gallows took to the stage, the crowd had already started filling the venue, waiting to mosh to the band’s high-octane, riff-centric, sonic assault.

Vocalist, Bryan Binneman, may have been the tiniest man on stage the whole evening, but he surely must be eating napalm for breakfast – because his voice was parting oceans, not just the wall of the death. While they may not be everybody’s cup of tea, FTG certainly put on a decent show to keep the crowd happy.

Knave
I caught up with Chris and Mike before their performance and both of them sounded exceptionally drained. While you might assume it was from an alcohol-fuelled binge from their previous gig, it was actually just a bad case of the flu – even rock stars get sick, believe it or not.

Regardless of their health, Knave weren’t about to compromise on their performance for their fans. Delivering an array of hits from Polarity and their latest album, Cognition, Knave came out and rocked the audience like a hurricane! It marked the first time on the night that the whole venue was united and interested in seeing a band’s entire performance. The goosebumps I got, when the crowd sung along to ‘Taunt & Tether’, was one of my personal highlights of the evening.

Interestingly enough, the second most interesting event of the night also happened during their set, as a couple of douchebags managed to get lost on their way to Taboo – I presume – and found their way to Cool Runnings Fourways.  These clowns were hilarious as they attempted to dance in the middle of a moshpit to what seemed like David Guetta rather than Knave – as expected, one of them was shirtless and the other had a popped collar. However, in all fairness, they were harmless and didn’t cause any trouble, just a couple of laughs as they continuously hugged each other and uttered, “Hey boet, this is schweet, hey?”

Chromium
Ever since the departure of former guitarist/vocalist Matthew Engelbrecht, there has been a heated debate amongst die-heard fans over whether new member, Justin du Preez, could really fill his boots or not. Before Chromium even got up onstage, this debate started to warm up once again amongst the crowd.

Let me just state that once Justin went into the first verse of ‘It Begins Here’, I was completely sold. While Matt inevitably brought something unique to Chromium, Justin is no slouch and is equally talented in his own right – he is the real effing deal, folks. The horns were flying high at the end of their set, and Justin was finally accepted into the brotherhood after a few words from the MC on the night, Gordon Laws.

On a side note: The guest appearance of Chris and Louis from Knave on ‘Set Me Free’ really brought the house down, as every member of the crowd went wild to the metalicous tune.

Pestroy
Firstly, I wish to publicly apologise to Pestroy for not paying full attention to their set on the night, as I lost focus at approximately 22:30. As I looked over towards the bar, I couldn’t help but gawk as two nasty lesbians kissed, grinded, and fondled each other on the counter – The reason I got a fright is because they looked like two guys!

After getting over this initial…ahem…shock, I watched on as Pestroy completely destroyed. If any band is just starting out, I suggest they do themselves a favour and go watch Pestroy to see how it’s done – the way they controlled the crowd and fed off their energy was just surreal. I’m seriously praying that they bring out a new album soon, because we’ve all waited long enough for it.

At that stage of the night, the venue was exceptionally packed and I struggled through the crowd to get to the bar for a final drink – obviously after the lesbians had moved on to God knows where – and prepare for Seven Year Kismet. PS I hate douchebags who push in front of you to buy 20 Jagerbombs – I hope you pissed nails for days, bitches.

Seven Year Kismet
I must be honest, before I learnt of their tour, I had never even heard of Seven Year Kismet. Luckily though, music is forgiving and I was given a second chance at metal redemption on the night.

Simply put, SYK were brutal. The band was extremely tight and delivered a rapid onslaught of the finest and purest metal.  The circle pits and stage-diving raged, as vocalist, Luke Sohn, was extremely humble and thanked the crowd after every song – SYK were so down to earth and approachable throughout the night. No bad attitudes or Axl Rose behaviour whatsoever.

‘Drag The Corpses’ was a particular personal highlight, as the sludgy guitar section and anthemic chorus proved to be a perfect ode to the band’s obvious hardcore roots. If you’re a fan of Unearth, you definitely need to check them out.

By the end of the night, I was barely able to walk out of the venue. Even to this day, my neck is still sore from all the headbanging, but it has been worth every ache and pain as I experienced an unforgettable night.

To all the bands on the night, mission accomplished and a job well done. You played your hearts out and the audience had a rocking time.

A huge, huge thank you must go out to Duncan Bell from Turning Tricks Entertainment, who organised a truly amazing event and was responsible for bringing out Seven Year Kismet – it was world-class in every way.

For more info on the tour, please email Duncan Bell: dbccomms@gmail.com

© Photograhy by Gray Stills.

- Sergio Pereira
sergio@musicreview.co.za
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