Meat Wave
-GULLIVERS, MANCHESTER-
Meat Wave do not mess around. The Chicago-based three piece are a road hungry band that have been going non-stop since the release of their superb LP The Incessant pretty much a year ago. I managed to catch the band last summer in Leeds and it was a fully pumping rock show. Therefore, I am delighted that Meat Wave have decided to come to back to the north and hit Manchester on their current UK/Euro run.
I arrive at Gullivers just to catch the end of French trio The Decibels who are supporting on the whole run. They play off-kilter punk rock with a strong riot grrrl vibe and I feel it’s a fitting opening. Judging by the full room and sea of nodding heads upstairs at the Northern Quarter pub tonight, the rest of the crowd agree.
As both bands have a fairly straight forward drums, bass and guitar set up, Meat Wave waste no time in setting up. They’re ready to go in record time and the set tonight is just like their work ethic: non-stop. ‘No Light’ kicks things off with its melodic indie rock tune that builds into a climatic end as drummer Ryan batters the cymbals, getting harder and louder as the song progresses. From then on it’s just a fully raging set of punk rock belters!
The band play a thorough mix of tracks from their fairly sizable back catalog but lean towards their last two full lengths which works well for me. Both records mix massive sounding indie rock tunes with more intense, brooding punk moments and it’s great to hear them weave through these records in the set tonight.
All three members of the band put in a real shift; for a band a good week or two deep into this run, they sure are full of beans. Bassist Joe jumps up and down manically throughout the tough punk stomp of ‘The Incessant’ and ‘Bad Man’ while guitarist/vocalist Chris screams with passion and head bangs in unison with the spiky guitar punch of tracks like ‘Sunlight’ and ‘Sham King’. The latter has the biggest head banging moment going! I spend most of my time watching drummer Ryan who sits on a simple drum set up but makes sure that every piece of his audience knows his name once he’s done. He’s such a fast and energetic drummer and I love how every tune is played almost twice the speed tonight than it is on record, it’s a proper punk show for sure!
There is no denying how great Meat Wave are at writing songs, there are so many scream-along moments tonight with the indie pop rush of tracks like ‘Delusion Moon’ and ‘Run You Out’ making me get lost in their frantic yet infectious grooves. I haven’t been out of breath from watching a show in while – Meat Wave are an incredible live band and is hard to not get involved with their high energy show. The set tonight is nothing short of monstrous and I would say tops the fist pumping brilliance of the Leeds show I witnessed last year. In short, tonight was sweat-inducing punk fun at it’s finest and I want to do it all over again.
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I joined the Silent Radio family near the very start of my move to Manchester in 2012 and I'm still having the best time! During my stay here I've been in two noisy bands, had a not so noisy solo project, made a zine, started a blog and started a radio show. It's been productive to say the least and it's all been intersperse with a shit load of gig going and beer drinking. I would love it if you followed me on twitter @dr_brainless for excitable tweets about playing, watching and living new music.
