Trash Boat, Stray From The Path and While She Sleeps
Roundhouse // London, England // 1 March, 2019
Photos and review by Rachael Dowd
Trash Boat
British punk band Trash Boat helped open up the night at the prestigious Roundhouse in Camden Town last Friday. Playing new material off of their recently released album, Crown Shyness, like “Inside Out”, “Controlled Burn” and “Shade”, Trash Boat proved as to why they have been getting so much buzz in the scene over the past few years. Led by vocalist Tobi Duncan, their energetic performance was one to remember, earning them applause from the audience that was comparable to if they were the headlining band. Joining together elements of pop punk and post hardcore, Trash Boat’s unique cross genre sound is enough to appeal to listeners of both genres, helping to earn them new fans in the London crowd that night.
Closing their set with “Strangers”, their most popular song to date off of 2016’s Nothing I Write Can Change What You’ve Been Through, the familiar melodic guitar chords that open up the song caused a frenzy to erupt out of the audience, ending their set on a high note. Keeping the promise they made during their set, Trash Boat will be doing a UK headlining tour this fall with their London date shaping up to be one of their rowdiest yet.
Stray From The Path
Hailing from Long Island, New York, Stray From The Path are a standout act in the hardcore genre due to both their live performance energy and lyrical content. Presenting songs that are all about inclusion, acceptance and rejecting a lot of politically-charged topics such as police brutality and more, Stray From The Path are using their platform to talk about subjects that matter, vocalist Andrew Dijorio taking a moment during their set to say that he still can’t believe Donald Trump is the President of the United States.
Playing a 10-song set list that included tracks off of their 2017 release, Only Death is Real, like “Goodnight Alt-Right”, “Loudest in the Room” and “Plead the Fifth”, the energy each member Stray From The Path exudes onstage is unlike anything else in the genre. Refusing to stay in one place for more than a few seconds, members of the audience that chose to focus their attention on Dijorio for too long most likely began to feel dizzy by just how much he moved around.
Closing out their set with “First World Problem Child”, Stray From The Path surprised everyone in attendance that night as Architects’ Sam Carter joined the band onstage to perform the song, causing claps and screams to fill the entire venue. That performance alone proved to be a highlight of the night and the headliner hadn’t even hit the stage yet.
While She Sleeps
Last Friday was a special day for While She Sleeps. Not only was it one of their biggest headlining shows to date and the final date of their tour, but their brand new album, So What?, was also released, causing the entire night to be a celebration for many reasons.
Treating the Roundhouse crowd to a 14-song set list that spanned most of their discography, While She Sleeps set out to make their performance one to remember and they certainly succeeded. Opening their set with “Anti-Social”, a single off of their brand new album, all of the energy both the band and the audience had been containing all night seemed to explode, crowd surfers emerging from the sea of people as the opening guitar notes rang through the speakers.
A stand out moment was their performance of “Haunt Me”, off of So What?, as they brought Stray From The Path vocalist Andrew Dijorio onstage to help perform the track, the mix of vocals from Dijorio and Lawrence Taylor creating a moment in the night many will not forget.
The production value of their stage and lighting set up alone is something to be appreciated. With an intricate backdrop and entertaining light show there to enhance While She Sleeps’ live performance, the band was also accompanied by a choir. The group of singers that stood in the back of the stage elevated each of their songs with their powerful vocals, creating a strong element to their live show that could not have been executed otherwise.
“Four Walls” was another powerful moment during the night, the opening guitar chords filling the venue as audience members got on each other’s shoulders and turned on their phone lights to illuminate the historic venue. Using their voices, everyone in the room came together to sing the opening lyrics, “so when the saints go marching in / they won’t be singing for your sins / they just hope to hell you’ve learnt something living and breathing” before the song kicked in, transforming the moment into an all-out frenzy as a circle pit opened up and vocalist Lawrence Taylor jumped into the crowd to join the chaos.
Closing out the whole night with a three-song encore of “Silence Speaks”, “Our Courage, Our Cancer” and “Hurricane”, While She Sleeps proved once again as to why they are one of the strongest forces in hardcore music today. After being in the industry for well over a decade, they continue to not only produce powerful music distinctly their own that fans of all sorts can relate to, but still manage to put on one of the most memorable and entertaining live sets the genre has ever seen.
