Trails / Honningbarna [Live Review – The Boileroom, Guildford, 25/9/13]

Opinion

The Boileroom has, for a long time, been my favourite Guildfordian venue. The atmosphere always wins, the staff are awesome, and the bands (this time picked by in-house booker Lydia) form the cream of the crop of the local/national scene. Tonight, of course, was no exception. The bands I saw were:

Miss Vincent

I got in midway through this punk group’s set to find their vocalist/guitarist making his presence felt on the floor in front of the stage, splitting the crowd to welcome / admonish any latecomers. The platform’s confines were scarcely enough for the remaining musicians – these guys kept up a high-intensity performance for the duration of their set, and their sound and stage presence reminded me of Green Day; nothing too original, but professional and entertaining to watch nonetheless.

Honningbarna

Hailing from Norway, these guys dropped into Guildford mid-tour to wreck eardrums and pummel eyes with a strobe-soaked set. Their name translates as ‘honey children’, but there’s nothing sweet about this band. The most high-energy group of the night, they were little more than sweaty stop-motion silhouettes halting only to allow vocalist Edvard Valberg to pick up his cello…and tear the thing to shreds. Beautifully disrespectful stuff.

Trails

Local math-punk headliners Trails closed off an epic evening with an insanely tight set. Mixing pop-punk hooks with complex instrumental layers, these guys have clearly been putting in some serious rehearsal time, punching out song after song with a professionally polished style. And what’s more, there were plenty of actual smiles onstage – these guys weren’t afraid to make it clear that they were genuinely having fun, making them an excellent final act. Brilliant.

Links

Miss Vincent: https://www.facebook.com/missvincentband

Honningbarna: https://www.facebook.com/honningbarna

Trails: https://www.facebook.com/trailsofficial

The Boileroom: https://www.facebook.com/theboileroom

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