Knocked Loose
9th January 2020
Neck Of The Woods, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Kate Taylor. Photography by Chontalle Musson.
Last night I dusted off the Zimmer Frame and got my old Hardcore Kid ass along to Neck of the Woods in Auckland to catch a heavyweight cronch of a Hardcore line-up starring Cold War, Xile and Kentucky’s finest – Knocked Loose; and wow was I rewarded by my trip off the couch and out of the house!
You see I remember this kind of verve. The electric pulse that used to be humming through the hardcore scene here in Auckland. Blinking my eyes and squinting, from the safety of the back of the venue (cause that’s where us old bastards stand now…), I was pretty sure I actually saw circle pits, stagedives, high-fives and mic grabs? Yes! Yes, I did and thank fucking goodness! Plus how good’s Neck of the Woods?! What a beautiful venue, it’s spacious, it’s snappy with the set times (which us old people also like!) and it feels like it could be a new home for hardcore, or is that just me? Can we do that? Could we do as Luke from Xile sort of suggested during his “motivational speech” in his set…could we just like, make a cool new home for one of the best, most empathetic and social justice enforcing musical genres of all time? Cause honestly, have you had a look at the dumpster fire of a world we’re working with? It’s time to make hardcore a threat again (shouts Shot Point Blank).
I digress, sorry us old timers tend to ramble on a bit. Kicking off the evening, was Wellington’s ColdxWar, purveyors of straight edge, beatdown brutality. But I’m an idiot that couldn’t get my parking situation together in time and missed it. Yes, I suck. I’ll make it up to you ColdxWar I promise, but what I can say is that everyone I quizzed about their set were enthusiastic, impressed and a little bit like “Dude. Kate, you missed out!” Aaarrragghh! I know!! ColdxWar will be playing next at Elimination Fest in Wellington on Jan 31st and you bet your sweet bippy the next time ColdxWar are in Auckland I’ll be making sure I’m there front and centre. At the back. Cause old.
Ahhhh Xile, geez I love you so much. Thanks so much for holding this shit together and reminding us of what hardcore should and could be. Touching on Luke’s aforementioned motivational speech, Luke implored us, requesting “…if you’re thinking about being in a band or putting a band together, or you’ve got a band and you want to start playing shows, do it! We need more bands.” And like most things Luke says into a mic he’s 100% right and I’m of course 100% biased. Auckland, make more hardcore bands, right now. Let’s have some fun. Let’s start getting together in dark rooms again more regularly and sing songs to clean the filth off our hearts and minds we feel every day. Let’s scream about the things that we want to change. It’s not about a 4-letter F word…Fame. It’s about expression and release and what the world needs now is riffs sweet, riffs. Xile of course performed superbly, with a sense of urgency and as the commanders and top dogs in town (Grafton oowroof, oowroof, oowroof, oowroof!) Catch Xile next time in the Whammy! Backroom on Jan 31st with Pale Flag and Soul Void.
Next up…Hey Ben from Valhalla. Thanks so much for all you do to ensure that New Zealand music fans get to see, experience and interact with the bands and musicians that bring their lives meaning. It’s a thankless task being a tour promoter sometimes and without the tireless efforts of people like yourself we’d have n-o-t-h-i-n-g at all in an Auckland landscape where we’ve been stripped of so many of our venues and joy. Yes, she’s managed to elude to The King’s Arms in there somehow. So because of the mighty Valhalla we were treated to seeing Knocked Loose last night who unleashed a beast of a set that started inclusively with warm tracks to get us all involved and lubricated, by set’s end Knocked Loose had slabbed tune upon TUNE down on our heads. In a rapid-fire succession of favourites KN smashed us with the goodness. Mistakes Like Fractures, Billy No Mates, Counting Worms, Forget Your Name and Oblivion’s Peak were absolute perfection. There were shoes lost. There were stage invasions. So good. Great to hear from lead vox Bryan that we brought the love as Bryan said “This is our first time playing here and you’re never really sure how it’s going to be and I could never have imagined [this response] in a million years, so thank you!” OK, every vocalist says, that right? Yeah but, Bryan means this man and he’s also sincere when he says that it’s always so exciting to travel to new places and to see what they have done with the [hardcore] community and that it gives them a place to play; “So thank you, we’re so grateful for that and to be here.”
Counting us down from the last four songs Bryan and KN let us know precisely how much time we’d have with them and how long before we could all race up the stairs for a gulp of air cause woooooweee did we make it hot in there. Good job kids, good job. Maybe there’s life in the old girl yet.
Were you there at Neck Of The Woods for this hectic hardcore gathering Or have you seen Knocked Loose perform live some other time? Tell us about it in the comments below!
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Please get them to come back soon! That was such a good night