Kylesa

support Deville + Pet The Preacher
author PP date 15/08/12 venue Gimle, Roskilde, DEN

Gimle has an outdoor drinking patio for those not in the know. The pros of the weather being so nice for the time being are that it's not so fucking cold and windy, so it's naturally kind of nice to sit outside and drink beer. The cons are, at least from a concert perspective, that most support bands receive minimal attention from concertgoers unless they are a well-known band to start out with, because most people prefer to get their drink on outside before the headlining band. Alas, both Pet The Preacher and Deville enjoy sub-par audience levels for the duration of their sets tonight, but such is life during summer time. Oh well.

Pet The Preacher

It's been about a year since I saw Pet The Preacher play in support of Rival Sons, and since then the band has increasingly began to appear as supporting cast to whatever rock and heavy band is available. The experience from playing more shows is starting to show on their performance, as the band are far tighter and much more confident than they have been in the past. Their lead singer still looks like a fuckin' rock star with his grungy, no-shirt look, and clearly puts his heart and soul into every song the band performs tonight. They air a number of new songs both unreleased and from their full length "The Banjo", but especially the unreleased, instrumental song features an even more progressive build up than is normal for these guys. Here, their grunge/stoner influence is less audible, which makes for a more streamlined sound than the progressive grunge/stoner the band otherwise deals in. The crowd nods in approval to the majority of songs, mostly because of the band's love for solid riffs, which again showcase how much the band have improved as players and songwriters since the last time I saw them. The thing is, without a proper audience it's difficult to get a good dynamic going on, and also today Pet The Preacher are facing a very modest turnout. The songs are good, the attitude and charisma seems to be in place mostly, so lets just write tonight off and wait for the better overall shows in the future.

Deville

Malmö's Deville have never stricken me as a particularly interesting band. I have faint memories of seeing them live a couple of years ago at the now-defunct The Rock, but all I remember from that night was that Dødning were cool and these guys sucked. That is still very much the case tonight, where their groove oriented, riff-driven rock'n'roll amounts to nothing else than boring songs and a stand-still performance that contains absolutely no emotion or passion from their part whatsoever. The drummer is the exception, though, as he appears like he's playing his heart out. But I get it. It's difficult to be excited about the mundane, generic material that Deville air tonight even if you're in the band. The lone highlight of the set comes from new song "Lava" because of a catchy riff, but that's the third song of their set, and after that the crowd start leaving in droves towards the bar and the outdoor area. I can't blame them, because Deville really have nothing going on for them, and as the reviewer tonight I curse my fate of not being able to join them.

4

Kylesa

Kylesa, on the other hand, impress straight away from the opening moments of their set with a spooky introduction created entirely through the usage of Theremin, a proximity-based instrument that reacts to hand movement, and is regulated through an impressive set of effect manipulators. Speaking of effects, Kylesa probably use more pedals than ten bands put together, but that's what's required for their droning expression. To add to their expression, a hypnotically spinning video background behind them ensures everyone is staring at the stage in complete concentration. It takes some time for the band to find their unifying groove in the beginning, but once they do, the crowd begins slowly head banging in unison, completely spellbound by the band's hypnotic grooves and the mysterious vibe that surrounds them on stage. There's no crowd interaction, just sludgy, droning songs, clever usage of the Theremin, and a soundscape flush in muddy melody and slow progression. It's the kind of band that you really need to watch by yourself uninterrupted to properly immerse yourself into their rich soundscape, and tonight with a modest turnout, that's exactly what happens, and no chatter or discussion is heard as everyone just bobs their heads in uniform movement in intense concentration at what's happening on stage. It's unusually quiet even for a metal show. Not that Kylesa are throwing around their instruments or even moving that much, but they don't need to. Their songs speak for themselves, and although the show isn't as magnificent as the one experienced at Roskilde Festival last year, it's still a solid performance from a band with a wealth of sludgy experience underneath their belts.

Photo credits: Rasmus Ejlersen

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