The Blood Brothers

support White Circle Crime Club
author TL date 04/02/07 venue Loppen, Copenhagen, DEN

Only ten days after the last time I was at Loppen attending the Mewithoutyou show I found myself back, this time waiting in the longest line I've ever seen for this venue (and let's just remember I saw Razorlight at this very venue last year). It was like a flashback from the Panic! At The Disco show at Vega last year, in that it seemed like every emo/scene person in the country had flocked to Christiania to witness one of the (apparently no longer) rare performances by a semi-famous band from a genre they like.

White Circle Crime Club

Before the underground heroes could get the main party started however, there was the small matter of the support band they had brought along. Belgium-based White Circle Crime Club seemed like quite an odd choice for support to everyone I talked to who'd been checking them out prior to the gig, as their music can be described as some weird kind of indie/stonerrock fusion. It's certainly doesn't seem like coincidence, that on their Myspace page they've chosen "Other" as their only genre label.

Since I, as you've probably already cleverly deducted, didn't know any of the bands material in advance, I took up position as close as I could get and watched as the four-piece lounged into their set. The sound seemed decent right up until the point where the bands vocalist was supposed to kick in with the first lyrics. You could tell he was singing by the voice-like noise coming from the speakers' direction, but deducting anything from the muddy stream of words was next to impossible. Not that doing so seemed important, as my impression of the band is that vocals are hardly where the primary focus is supposed to be. Just as their music can accurately be described as being a bit strange, I'm inclined to utilize a similar description of their live show. I have no idea how long their set lasted (which is usually a good thing though), but most of it could easily be compared to a jam session. Seemingly endless periods of building up accompanied the adding of layers upon layers of all kinds of weird guitar sounds to repetitive rhythms with endings made up of a wide array of different crescendos. I must say that I quite enjoyed the show, as it presented a nice opportunity to just lose yourself in a musical universe seemingly without meaning or purpose, and while most of the crowd did enjoy the warm up from "the position", more than a few open minded people could be found dancing casually. Rating the bands performance strikes me hard, as it was pretty mystical compared to most other support bands I've seen, but remembering how I at least enjoyed it pretty much myself without concentrating too much on it, I can't find it in my heart to grade it less than

The Blood Brothers

Now I might have just enjoyed myself too much this evening (seeing as many friends of mine were attending), but The Blood Brothers came on stage after what seemed like a ridiculously short period of waiting, and in an instant anxiety took hold of the crowd. Now I write 'instant' because this moment was brief to say the least. The blond half of the bands duo of frontmen Johnny Whitney initiated the distinct opening screams of "Set Fire To The Face On Fire", and from the first word the crowd was with him, shouting "FIRE FIRE FIRE!" from the top of their lungs. It didn't take any detectives to figure out that the catchy opener from the most recent album "Young Machetes" would also be opening the bands' set, and let me just be clear about just how intense the situation was at this point, approximately two seconds into the gig: The crowd was going mental fuckin' ape-shit, and for the next "I have no idea how long span of time" this wouldn't calm down for a second. From where I was standing, sound was just about perfect, as both the music and the characteristic screaming came across crystal clear, and though some would later say that the vocals fell out a bit in the back of the venue, I certainly didn't notice so. Now if I hadn't been a God damn retard and trashed both my computer and my ipod on the week prior to the event, I would have had listened up on the bands material, so I could have told you exactly which songs the band delivered the ecstatic crowd this evening, but since that was sadly the case, the only songs I was able to make out beyond any doubt were "Set Fire To The Face On Fire", "Laser Life", "1,2,3,4 Guitars", "Lift Veil, Kiss Tank", "Love Rhymes With Hideous Car Wreck" and of course the infamous "Trash Flavoured Trash". Following the opening song came a barrage of up-tempo material with which the band drove us to the point of collapse, but just at the point where there didn't seem to be any air left in the lungs of the crowd members, the band slowed the pace down for about two songs, leaving people room to take a bit deeper breaths between the still present scream-alongs. That was all the respite given though, as the brothers gave us a grand finale at full speed including the nefarious "Trash Flavoured Trash" pushing the audience even further than earlier. Of course the people wouldn't allow the band to leave the venue, clapping and shouting to have them on stage once more, and just as naturally an encore was played, squeezing the very last drop of sweat out of the screaming and dancing mass of bodies in front of the stage. All the way through the show, the band displayed passion and quality showmanship that doesn't leave you doubting the fact that they've been around for quite a while now, and this show has situated this band solidly in my live band hall of fame. Go see them if you get the chance, you definitely wont be disappointed

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