Rockfreaks.net

support Holding Absence + Future Palace
author AP date 21/03/23 venue Amager Bio, Copenhagen, DEN

I’m not gonna lie: I signed up to review tonight’s concert more or less in jest, though also eager to find out how the German ‘electronicore’ outfit Electric Callboy has grown so popular so fast. “Time to turn our brains off”, I joke to our photographer as I arrive at the jam-packed venue, but to my surprise, it contains an extremely diverse audience; some people are in that characteristic ‘90s get-up complete with mullet wigs, others are wearing battle vests, and still others look like they’re here expecting to see Slipknot. Clearly, the appeal of the evening’s headliners stretches across the entire spectrums of rock and metal music, which makes me start to think that perhaps I’ve been a bit presumptuous about who Electric Callboy caters to, and what their music is all about. Time to find out…

Future Palace

The evening kicks off with a set by Future Palace, a German alternative metal trio who bear a certain resemblance to the Danish band South Haven. While the music itself is hardly brimming with original ideas, vocalist Maria Lessing quickly captures the spotlight with her energetic performance and slick crowd control techniques, drawing the audience into whoa-oh-ohh chants during the chorus of the second track “Ghost Chapter” off the band’s 2020 début album “Run”, and getting a good portion of the crowd bouncing off their feet for the following “Defeating Gravity” from their 2020 outing “Escape”. She has no problems replicating her singing voice from those records in the live setting, with the catchy and pumping fifth song “Fever” in particular invoking references to Poppy at her most mainstream and danceable. It’s a shame that guitarist Manuel Kohlert largely remains in position on stage right, without contributing a whole lot to the outfit’s overall performance — but at the very least, Lessing, and to an extent also drummer Johannes Frenzel, do plenty to compensate for his rather subdued showmanship. And with an enthusiastic circle pit spinning during the penultimate “Heads Up”, not to mention the wall of death that forms for the final piece “Paradise”, Future Palace undeniable has a strong grip on the crowd, resulting in an enjoyable show, albeit one that seldom inspires from the musical standpoint.

Holding Absence

Second in line is the Welsh post-hardcore outfit Holding Absence, whose vocalist Lucas Woodland has been suffering from voice loss for the past few days — though with limited knowledge of the group’s repertoire, I’m not sure I would have noticed it had he not admitted it. Certainly in the opening piece “Celebration Song” (taken from their 2021 offering “The Greatest Mistake of My Life”), his voice sounds pretty decent through my earplugs; a bit hoarse and strained to be sure, but still capable of reaching higher notes than most of us. And what he may be lacking in vocal abilities tonight, he tries his utmost to make up for with his frenetic showmanship. “OK, let’s keep this going!”, he yells, “Hands up, hands up, hands up!” — before proceeding to dart back and forth across the stage, pausing to jump, spin around, and kick the air at every opportunity as “Curse Me with Your Kiss” off that same record is played. This cut, and indeed the majority of Holding Absence’s setlist here, feels like a nostalgic trip down memory lane to the mid-’00s era of the genre, with bands like Finch, Hawthorne Heights, and at times also Silverstein coming to mind by virtue of the band’s mixing soaring clean vocals with harsh growls by guitarist Scott Carey. Just as was the case with Future Palace earlier, the audience is keen on following Woodland’s every instruction, including his quirky appeal for a “nice and easy circle pit” during the anthemic “Aching Longing”, which appears on the group’s 2022 EP “The Lost & the Longing”. Phone torches likewise fill the venue for the subsequent “Coffin” upon his request, though at this point I’m getting distracted by the fact that the synths chiming in the background from track have an unfortunate tendency to overpower Carey’s riffs and melodies — just as they do in this particular piece. It’s another decent and entertaining support set, but I have a feeling that Holding Absence would fare much better as a headlining act, and with a fully charged vocalist.

Electric Callboy

As the lights abruptly dim after a good half an hour of ‘90s classics ringing from the speakers, a female train attendant appears on the enormous LED screen that forms the backdrop and part of the platforms on stage, announcing that the “Tekkno Train” is about tot take off, and ensuring that we’re all strapped in. Contrary to what I was expecting, none of the five musicians who charge in to deliver this track from the band’s latest studio album “Tekkno”, are dressed in the sardonic outfits they usually wear in music videos, and instead have a pretty ordinary metalcore look about them. The group is without one of their vocalists, Kevin Ratajczak, who traveled back to Germany due to his partner giving birth, but if you had not known this, you probably wouldn’t have noticed it either. Indeed, Nico Sallach fills the two pairs of shoes quite seamlessly, nailing both the soaring clean vocals and the ridiculous growls of “Choo choo choo choo choo choo choo!” in that song and taking up swathes of space with his hi-energy antics. The following track, “MC Thunder II (Dancing Like a Ninja)” from the band’s 2020 EP “MMXX”, sees the quintet all engaging in a synchronised hip-sway in front kaleidoscopic shapes flashing on the screen as though this were an EDM show in a Magaluf nightclub. And to be honest, that is kind of what it is: tacky, albeit tongue-in-cheek Mallorca music for metalheads. Quite appropriately, Sallach tells us to put our dancing shoes on for the title track to 2017’s “The Scene”, and they remain firmly on our feet for the following 2021 single “Castrop X Spandau”, a pumping, energetic track that is accompanied by rave-style laser lighting and sends the already boiling audience into a frenzy of ecstatic movement.

There is no question that Electric Callboy’s music borders on silliness — this is already evident from the pastel pink guitar axe slung by lead guitarist Daniel ‘Danskimo’ Haniß. But the five musicians play it in an almost trolling manner, with tongues out and twinkles in their eyes. That’s how they get away with a drum solo to the tune of Darude’s techno classic “Sandstorm”, not to mention an acoustic cover of the Backstreet Boys’ iconic “I Want It That Way”, which is met with a thunderous singalong featuring every single person inside the venue. Everybody, it seems, is in on the joke. And to be fair, there are plenty of genuinely impressive aspects to Electric Callboy’s show and repertoire. The songs are played tightly and are, without exception, ludicrously catchy, as the likes of the 2015 single “Best Day”, not to mention the fan favourite “Hypa Hypa” off the aforementioned “Tekkno” go on to prove. And there is a heart-warming element of inclusivity about it all, perfectly crystallised into the celebration of love in all its shades and colours that is the poppy and danceable “Arrow of Love”. At one point during the show, Sallach specifically asks people not to mosh, but to form a dancefloor instead, so that the Schlager-turns-deathcore piece “Hurrikan” can be enjoyed in the appropriate manner. It is one of the most hilarious moments of the entire concert, particularly when, in the end, the festive vibes on the screen are exchanged for fire and pentagrams and the track is brought to a conclusion in an absolutely brutal fashion.

Indeed, it is impossible not to feel drawn to Electric Callboy’s music in the live setting. The group have perfected their show into something bordering on a visual spectacle, whilst injecting exactly the right amount of cheesiness to their music to render it fun rather than plain ol’ stupid. One has simply not lived until one has roared along to “MC Thunder”’s absurd chorus: “I’m driving in a Cadillac, Cadillac! / And I don’t wanna give it back, give it back! / I’m driving in a Cadillac, Cadillac! / So fuck that, fuck that! — This is not my Cadillac!”. When the band eventually returns for an encore, they are once again dressed in the ‘90s-style wigs and tracksuits that they have whipped out for a number of the songs this evening, and proceed to deliver a full-frontal trident of “Pump It”, “Spaceman” and “We Got the Moves” to finish the night off in style, oozing love and appreciation for their fans and… well, everyone else too. If, like me, you were on the fence about Electric Callboy, you need not be any longer. When the band returns to Denmark this coming summer to play at Copenhell, it is almost certain to be one of the most memorable, or at least different performances at the festival this year.

Setlist:

• 1. Tekkno Train
• 2. MC Thunder II (Dancing Like a Ninja)
• 3. Hate/Love
• 4. The Scene
• 5. Castrop X Spandau
• 6. Supernova
• 7. Arrow of Love
• 8. Best Day

— Drum solo —

• 9. Hypa Hypa
• 10. Mind Reader
• 11. Hurrikan
• 12. Neon
• 13. I Want It That Way (Backstreet Boys cover)
• 14. Parasite
• 15. MC Thunder

— Encore —

• 16. Pump It
• 17. Spaceman
• 18. We Got the Moves