Words by Jimmy Glinster
Pix by Kaotic Images thanks to SENSE MEDIA
I rocked up a bit early to this one hoping to sneak down the side alley to the secret back door entry, but unfortunately, I hit a wall of VIP ticket holders waiting for their meet and greet. Then I got accosted by a security guard who very quickly bag checked me and let me know that my selfie stick will need to stay in my bag. I may have exaggerated that; she was actually quite lovely and was just trying to help me out. Anyway, in a tragic turn of events I ended up having to hit the bar next door for a Kraken, Dry & Lime.
Frankenbok enter stage to a weird as fuck intro which may or not be the intro to their latest EP Irrepressible that I listened to for the first time waiting for the guys to land at the airport. More about that later though when I drop my late review next week. The first track Monk Discipline hits hard, and they punch out some heavy as fuck funky grooves reminiscent of their earlier material, but new and tasty as fuck. Strangely enough, their new frontman Adam Glynn is the OG frontman, so the nostalgia is real as fuck.
Thundering bass opens up their second track Dopamine and the heavy as fuck bouncing grooves continue. The crowd is bouncing along with the groove and the longer the song goes, the more they start to move. The song ends and receives a massive applause.
Next up is iWoke, but not after some fun is poked at a generation that grew up on Southpark and The Simpsons but are now woke as fuck. Well, that’s Adam’s truth anyway, and the crowd seem to agree. Tom Rossell’s thumping drums and the riffs by guitarist Azza Bok and bassist Owen Spratling thump through the PA and you can feel the groove in your bones. The crowd screams and applauds as the song comes to a crushing end.
“Make Nu-Metal Great Again” … I agree Adam, and so does the crowd. This is a Nu-Metal night after all. I’m not sure that Frankenbok is Nu-Metal though, they are a little too heavy for that. Next minute Adam makes a remark about “Your dick, my mouth”, the crowd cracks up, and he realises that he completely fucked up that punchline. Good times.
The band announces that they have five minutes left, so I whip out my contraband selfie stick to grab a quick 90 second real and shortly after the song finishes. They then kick into one last track, so I run upstairs to grab a video and photo from the mezzanine. This again turns into me being accosted by security before I finally get let in and am able to grab the last second of the show on video. Luckily it was a great show, so it was worth every second of it, even if just one.
As the lights darken and a spooky into plays, all the bodies hit the floor. I know, it’s too early for that, but it’s not too early to be a Sinner. I suppose there’s no point fucking around, you might as well launch straight into the bangers.
Nev Pearce from Everblack mentioned that the sound is a bit flat, and he’s not wrong. The guitars need to be pumped up a bit, and luckily in the next song this happens. I don’t know this song because I stopped following Drowning Pool many years ago and was honestly never a “massive” fan. Not because I didn’t like them but there was just so much going on in the early 2000’s that I kind of overlooked them even though they slam out my exact kind of tunes.
The band smashes out a few more banging tracks as I’m on the hunt for a track list, so I know what the fuck I’m talking about. Not that it matters because the crowd applauds and screams heavily after every track.
Tub thumper Mike Luce gets some thumping straight kick beats going before asking the crowd to clap along and then the band launches into a cover I only just found out they did on the way up this afternoon. That cover is Billy Idol’s Rebel Yell and it’s an absolute fucking banger. The crowd fucking loved it, that’s for sure.
We get a big speech from vocalist Ryan McCombs, something about crowds worldwide all feeling like we do, or he’s does, or something like that. I’m not really sure as I kind of zoned out and started preparing the ol’ selfie stick for another sick reel. I got one, which is something about feeling like I do, or we do, or you do. Yeah, you get what I’m trying to say, it’s something about this song that was obviously a big single that I missed.
Ooft, this next one is heavy and very fucking familiar, but I can’t quite grab it, or the name of it. Can someone help me with a set list anytime soon. Where are all of my photographer buddies when I need them most? Lost in the crowd of clapping hands somewhere, that’s where they are.
This next one is apparently a big hit from 1995. I didn’t even know this band was around back then, but apparently,they were and apparently everyone knows the words to this song. When that set list shows up, I might give you a song title. It’s also very like that I won’t. It’s something about not caring about anyone, and that’s the best I’ve got for now.
We got told there is two songs to go, and I’m completely surprised and thrilled when the band launches into Pantera’s Cowboys From Hell. Fuck yeah, and the crowd shares my feelings as they scream along to every word. That’s a bit much on the crowd before the bodies hit the floor. Yeah, it’s that time this time. And that my friends was Drowning Pool.
I take a short lap around the venue to take a quick look at this old place and when I return a massive Alien Ant Farm banner adorns the back of the stage. Then the lights go down and some random as fuck intro plays. Nek minnut, the band creeps in on stage and launches into their first track. Unfortunately, the crowd has thinned a little, but that might be because they are all out the back vaping fruity strawberry surprise. This one might be called You’ve Got It All Wrong or Courage or something like that.
I’m not sure if these guys have always had two singers but there is certainly some weird bloke standing in the back corner in the dark dancing and singing along. Weird. I should be 100% honest here and tell you that I don’t know any of this bands songs apart from that Smooth Criminal cover. Maybe they’ll surprise me, but after their third song I am not very confident.
Something something about the next song being from the Mantras record. Frontman Dryden Mitchell asks “Does anyone know that one” to which the crowd was a bit undecided. I didn’t know that one, but the song off it is a bit of a slower/softer one.
I do know this next one. It’s the one just like the movies, and the crowd seems to know the words to the chorus. I believe it’s called Movies.
Apparently, they did a video for the next track on the top of a building, and it was on MTV back in the day when MTV played rock videos. I never saw this video, and I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard this song. The crowd seemed to know it and really fucking enjoyed it though.
The crowd has thickened back up a little and the crew down the front seem to know all these songs and are both singing and clapping. Especially this song which is Dryden’s momma’s favourite song. Probably because it’s a nice cruisy one. It may be called Welcome, but probably not, and I now have a setlist but can’t identify which one of the tracks it is, but they’ve just punched out Last Dance, Attitude, Stranded, Glow and What Am I Doing.
Finally, after I now have a set list, I get told the name of a song and this next one’s called Storms Over. We prematurely get given the hint that it’s almost the end of the night. Anyone wanna take a guess at the next track?
Yeah, you do? Well, you probably got it wrong because they play a track called Sticks and then bail off stage as if they are not coming back for a“surprise” encore. And obviously they came back, but before they get into it, they play another tack called What I Feel. Then we hear what sounds like an interview with a woman asking what she thinks about the Smooth Criminal cover that Alian Ant Farm did. It turns out that woman was Michael Jackson and that he loves it.
You know what happened next, but I’m still not sure if Annie is ok or not. I will say, I’m a little disappointed that they didn’t get anchored down prior to playing this track so that they could do the MJ lean in mid-song like they did in the film clip, but hey, maybe next time.
That was a nostalgic night from the get-go, and a fucking enjoyable one. Even though I completely fucked out on following these bands over the last 20 years and didn’t know any of the songs. I’ll lift my game next time, I promise!
