Wednesday 17 April 2013

Seen It>> Fang Island at Birthdays, 14 April 2013


When Fang Island are in town, you’re bound to have a good time. The sunshine was out for the first time since the pre-historic age, which seemed the perfect time to greet the Brooklyn party-metal trio. Formed in 2005 whilst students at the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, whose alumni includes members of Talking Heads, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Les Savy Fav and others, they describe their music as “everyone high-fiving everyone” complemented with stomping drums and metallic stadium-ready guitars.

Opening “The Illinois”, from the self-titled debut, got the party started, before “Careful Crosses” and “Sideswiper” saw frantic head-banging and delirious bouncing. “Sisterly”, from last year’s sophomore release, Major, got so heated it blew the sound, literally! The band had to stop from a few minutes to fix the problem, whilst vocalist/guitarist Jason Bartell organised an a cappella sing-along during the wait. Once the sound returned, the band continued from where it had been halted.

“Welcome Wagon” and “Asunder” contained the aforementioned stomping drums and heavy riffs, whilst “Daisy”, probably their most famous ‘hit’, saw the crowd singing along into the mic and moshing like hell. They returned for a brief encore of “Davey Crockett”, which the drunken fans in the front were yelling for all gig. Bartell was then carried off by the crowd as the hero of the night.

It was an energetic, fun-filled show, where everyone did indeed high-five each other!