SWMRS, Destroy Boys - Institute - Mar 11, 2019

SWMRS have carved out a niche for themselves in the under-18 crowd. A strong mixed-sex crowd showed up downstairs at the Institute (some lugging their parents along to stand, roped-off, at the back). From the get-go these four fellas had the crowd eating out of their hands, despite the somewhat straightforward banter although I did like after an individual cheer for each of the openers they said "and now the most important cheer... for your moms!" It was good clean fun with a giant swell of a pit going for pretty much the entire night that cleared those of us not feeling as into it to the sidelines or back beside the sound booth while the rest moshed about. Picking from only two albums the hour long set-list consisted of pretty much everything, though my favourite moment was probably the Bloc Party cover of Helicopter that really proved their chops to me in how tight they were. Earlier in the set they were not very impressive musically but it may have just been the sound, with the vocals lost deep in the mix. For the most part it was upbeat and rocking, new tracks including the title from last month's Berkeley's On Fire hit their mark, though they did mix in their brooding Miley Cyrus loving tune later on, and the chilled first album closer, Lose It. I won't pretend to know all their songs but they probably hit their high point on the third from last when I expected them to call it. Seeing as they didn't encore I could pretend that this was their set closer and the next two which didn't match quite the intensity were the encore. All in all they were pretty good but I may just leave them for the kids next time and stay home with the record.

Zuzu definitely pushed the punk out of the room with some more straightforward songs. I'm not even sure how to classify it as despite her decent vocals the music was rather blasé. Her speaking voice on the other hand.. I couldn't make sense of it. She claims to be from Liverpool but that didn't sound like any Scouse I've heard before. Is she putting it on? Am I that sheltered? 

Destroy Boys are a bunch of girls out to destroy the male dominated punk rock world. Maybe not destroy it but show that they definitely deserve their own place in it. Every one of them demonstrated their way around their instrument and as a whole they write a solid rock song. With long hair and tees they played their way through an entirely too short set and had the kids in the audience moshing along (not that this was too hard, but still). I'd keep an eye out as they seem like their just at the start of a fruitful career.

Big Character were up first once we got through the queue of teenagers out on the sidewalk. There was very little to set these guys apart from much of anything else.