Words by Belinda Quick
Photos by Missy Smiley
Special thanks to Destroy All Lines
“Do not feel lonely, the entire universe is inside you. Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion. Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames” ― Rumi, In Your Light
Let not any quantitative measure define significance, it is the quality of what is contained which tells the truer tale. These words define HOLDING ABSENCE. Hailing from “the best place in the world”, capital of Wales, Cardiff, even the geographically demure but culturally-rich city embodies this; their music even more. On the eve of releasing their fourth album, “creating again, after what seems like forever”, the band chose intention; rediscovering their essence and, for the very first time as headliners, returned to their “home-away-from-home”, Australia.
Last performing at the Lion Arts Factory almost a year to the day, STEPSON announce their return: “Let’s get fucking rowdy!” Brock Alan Conry spits Venom, while guitarist Nickolas Sean Farr tempers to Discover Lonely. An eviscerating cover of LINKIN PARK’s iconic hit, Faint, counterbalances “a bit of a slower one”; Parting Words provides an opportunity to “catch your breath before we tear this place down.” The live premiere drifts into old favourites, audience applause wrests attention from the stage and wakes me from Deeper Sleep; This Is How It Feels to be part of something bigger.
A sonic echo supersedes KINGDOM OF GIANTS’ Dana Willax’s scream: “Adelaide, tear this place apart!” The lead singer’s Asphalt rasp punctuated by drummer Truman Berlin’s pulsating beat is mellowed by new bassist/clean vocalist JT Gutierrez’s lush harmony, there’s no Wasting Space in acknowledging old fans and new worshippers, “Welcome to the Kingdom, this is Bleach.” One of the many otherworldly tracks taken from their inimitable 2020 LP, Willax requests the crowd Respawn for their latest. “Just a month old, I need your energy”; crowdsurfers oblige and Collide moving stageward, magnetised by KoG’s gravitational pull.
Warm sentiments to “those who came by themselves tonight, remember, you are not alone in this universe. That’s what’s wonderful about music, it connects us, and it’s one of the only things we have left to enjoy in this world. This one’s for you all”, Willax emotes as the band unleashes the infernal Burner. Smoke rising from the ashes, “it’s time to put on your dancing shoes” and as the moshpit’s nuclei combusts into chicanery, “just like that” the Night Drive has come to an end. Not without a royal wave goodbye, twinkle lights guide the Wayfinder’s final thank you to the “reason we’re here, only for the second time” – every Passenger along for the ride.
HOLDING ABSENCE and Adelaide’s undivided attention, Lucas Woodland’s haunting Whisper of a Dream is heard, breaking through the darkness. An ethereal single off the Welsh quartet’s upcoming fourth album release, the band in planetary alignment, its lyrics, ‘I saw a god’, symbolise the angelic experience to come. The vocalist’s choral Kiss deepened by the omnipresent hum of Benjamin Elliot’s bass and driving rhythm of Ashley Green’s drumbeat, A Crooked Melody of heavenly proportions is drawn together by guitarist, Scott Carey.
‘Like Gravity is pulling me’, every aspect of the performance if flawless in its execution and demands universal, quick eyes catch the simultaneous split kick shared between singer and stringed screamer; the playfulness of the friends compels the room to fall further into Lucid Love. One of three lead singles taken from Modern Life Is Lonely, during the heavy bridge breakdown a wall of death erupts and erases any Aching Longing for connection amongst the participants; it is literally felt In Circles of ‘ecstatic motion’ and communicated across the airwaves by Holding Absence themselves.
Markers of the emotional atmosphere are mirrored on several audience members’ counternances: one sheds tears, another simply lets eyelids lilt and the masses unanimously reach their hands to the heavens. Taking a moment for Reflection, Woodland speaks honestly: “We’ve been terrified that we were gone too long, that we may have been forgotten. To be with you all tonight, and see that is not the case, is so special. It always gets me at this point of the set, when I look out at your faces. It’s a privilege to be here; we’re already planning our next trip back,” and every assurance is given, the return will come shortly in this and not the Afterlife.
A universal exclamation is heard when Woodland announces the close of the evening. Determined to leave every heart full of wonder, the frontman prolongs the final Wilt by imparting one final touch of wisdom: “If you’re feeling like you shouldn’t have the audacity to dream, don’t listen to that voice, hear mine. The whole world is in front of you, it’s yours for the taking, and we’re always with you”, Holding Absence together and ready to set ‘life on fire’.
PHOTO GALLERY
STEPSON
KINGDOM OF GIANTS
HOLDING ABSENCE
COMMUNITY
