May 18th, 2010. The Swellers

may 18th, 2010. the swellers, crime in stereo, this time next year, and hawkboy. rocketown. nashville, tennessee.

Review by: Michael Jackson email facebook

hawkboy setlist. ???. ???. ???. pirate blues [as cities burn cover].

this time next year setlist. alex in wonderland. liquid diet. new florence. rise & fall, curtain call. new sensation. sweetest air. silver springs. no bed of broken glass. cheers to a late night.

crime in stereo setlist. xxxx (the first thousand years of solitude). not dead. …but you are vast. animal pharm. type one. i cannot answer you tonight. i am everything i am not. small skeletal. drugwolf. i, stateside.

the swellers setlist. vehicle city. welcome back riders. sleeper. ups and downsizing. bottles. do you feel better yet?. feet first. dirt. 2009. fire away.

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crime in stereo and the swellers found their way to nashville, tennessee’s rocketown music venue on the fifth night of their twelve-date co-headlining tour, bringing along tourmates this time next year and the recently-formed hawkboy. i arrived at the venue early (i’d been waiting to see the swellers ever since they played at rocketown’s previous location last november), which meant two things — one, i was amongst the first few inside of the building. and two? the only other people in the building were the staff, the bands, and hayley williams. so essentially, i wound up spending the first thirty minutes hanging out with the swellers and hayley williams. (and by “hanging out,” i do mean leaning against the front desk talking to michael cheng whilst they all hung out a few feet away at the merch area… but i digress!)

opening the night shortly after 7:00pm were hawkboy — the brand new project from cody bonnette & aaron lunsford of the recently-disbanded as cities burn. bonnette (vocals/guitar) & lunsford (drums) played a brief fifteen-minute set, which consisted of — to my knowledge — three originals and a closing cover of their former band’s “pirate blues.” unfortunately, i never got around to checking out as cities burn, so i’m not in the position to compare; i have read, however, that the band progressed from a screaming-vocals/post-hardcore sound into a clean-vocals/indie rock sound, and bonnette/lunsford appear to be staying true to that as they move forward with hawkboy. an impressive showing for their one-off appearance on the tour (they currently reside in nashville), and i look forward to hearing more from them as time progresses.

“we want to be five genuine kids who play good pop-punk. that’s all we’ve ever wanted to be,” is the calling card of walnut creek, california’s this time next year, whose nine-song set proved to be exactly that: good pop-punk. despite a relatively small crowd, the five-piece certainly didn’t lack energy, packing a punch with their thirty-minute set fit for a new found glory-sized turnout. (or the movielife, from whom the band’s name is derived.) frontman pete dowdalls bounced vocals with guitarist brad wiseman, as the band — including guitarist denis cohen, bassist tony allio, and drummer robbie coran — played through a majority of their 2009 equal vision debut full-length, road maps and heart attacks, as well as a couple of throwbacks (“sweetest air” and “silver springs,” each from 2007’s self-released a place for you). this time next year don’t quite deliver anything the genre has yet to see, but the set was nonetheless a solid collection of good pop-punk songs.

i was unfamiliar with the work of crime in stereo until the announcement that they’d be co-headlining this tour; i spent the weeks ahead digging into their two latest full-lengths, i was trying to describe you to someone and is dead. and come to find out… crime in stereo is incredible. “incredible,” as in: if this is the new face of hardcore, i’m in. all the way. so it was no surprise that by the time they took the stage, the crowd had nearly tripled — and rightfully so. the long island, new york quintet delivered their unique brand of progressive, punk-infused post-hardcore with an amazing ten-song set, comprised of songs from 2010’s i was trying to describe you to someone and 2007’s is dead, as well as a set-closer reaching back to 2006’s the troubled stateside (“i, stateside”). their music is unpredictable, riding up & down feverishly, but all of the twists & turns ultimately come together for a cohesive, raw, and impassioned live performance. fronted by the rugged vocals of kristian hallbert. alex dunne (vocals/guitar), eric kuster (guitar), gary cioni (bass), and scotty giffin (drums) round out the bridge nine five-piece, who wrapped up their set at the thirty-four minute mark. i looked over crime in stereo for years; take my advice, and take a listen while you can. get ahold of i was trying to describe you to someone, get ahold of is dead, and perhaps more important that anything, get to a live performace. absolutely incredible.

and finally! after six long months, it was the nashville return of the best band in punk today — the swellers. the crowd had dwindled down after coming to see crime in stereo (such a complete shame), but the swellers — having spent recent months on much larger tours with the likes of motion city soundtrack and labelmates paramore — still played to the remaining few like it was their last show ever. banter was kept to a minimum, and the band packed as much as they could into their thirty-five minute set. the flint, michigan four-piece — brothers nick (lead vocals/guitar) & jonathan (backing vocals/drums) diener, ryan collins (guitar), and anto “the hitman” boros (bass) — pulled out a surprise immediately with opener “vehicle city,” a personal favorite of mine from 2007’s my everest. a trio of songs from 2009’s ups and downsizing — “welcome back riders” (the song that introduced me to the band), “sleeper” and its title track, “ups and downsizing” — followed, before the band checked back to 2007 with live staple “bottles.” “do you feel better yet?” preceded the epic “feet first,” whose anti-suicide sentiments were capped off with the equally-epic “whoa oh oh, whoa!” outro. “dirt,” the excellent “2009” (i’d been waiting forever to scream “this is my holiday!”), and “fire away” closed out the ten-song set. and i’m pretty sure i’ve never shouted along that much at a concert. “cathartic” would be the word here. i said it once, i’ll say it again: the swellers are the best band in punk today, and that set proved why. i waited six months for those thirty-five minutes, and i couldn’t have been more stoked on what i got out of them.

pick up the swellers’ ups and downsizing, their 2009 debut for fueled by ramen; top-to-bottom, one of my favorite albums ever, and easily one of the best of last year. do the same for 2007’s my everest, as well as 2005’s beginning of the end again (which i finally got ahold of at the show). and somebody find me a physical copy of end of discussion!