Live Review: Drug Church, Angel Du$t, Anxious | The Exchange, Bristol | 29/07/22
Three different bands, three different takes on modern punk, one evening. This is what went down when Angel Du$t, Drug Church and Anxious took the Exchange once again.
Anxious
Given that it’s the band’s very first time visiting our shores one wouldn’t be too surprised if Anxious where to live up to their respective namesake. Yet as the Connecticut emo quintet jump straight into material from this year’s Little Green House, it’s perfectly clear that the band are anything but the feeling that they take their name from. Seemingly instilled with a sense of confidence following their colossal set at Outbreak Festival, Anxious are simply on impeccable form this evening, airing their perfectly tailored sound that draws from the golden halcyon days of classic emo with crystal clarity. It may still be relatively early on a dreary Wednesday night, but tracks such as ‘Call From You’, ‘Your One Way Street’ and ‘Growing Up Song’ are subject to the kind of reception that the pioneering content that inspired these songs would receive.
Of course, it’s hardly surprising; Anxious are a unit of pure energy, a band that bounces off the sweat-coated walls of this venue and infills this room with the frustrated and infectious energy that made their debut LP so originally charming and brilliant. This may be their first trip to our side of the Atlantic, but clearly, if this set is anything to go by, it shouldn’t nor hopefully be too long before Anxious are here once again.
Score: 8/10
Drug Church
Unlike tonight’s openers, Drug Church are more than acquitted with the UK – and as frontman Patrick Kindlon jokes – our less than pleasant weather and our collective penchant for public intoxication. But still, this tour is their first with their latest record Hygiene in their arsenal, and as the band dive straight into ‘Grubby’, ‘Avoidarama’, ‘ World Impact’ and the power chords of ‘Fun’s Over’, it’s easy to see why The Exchange has already reached max capacity even before 9pm. Much like their previous trips to our island and this very venue, this set is a riotous exercise in a rugged and rough shade of punk that can only be created by this act, with fans trying their best to mosh, move and two-step in a room that can only aptly be described as packed to a borderline dangerous degree.
Yet as the band duck and dive through the satirical ‘Bliss Out’ and tracks from their name defining record Cheer, the real reason why Drug Church are also dearly beloved becomes perfectly transparent. They may have sold out this room with effortless ease tonight, but they’re still the punk and post-hardcore band for the people, thrashing and dancing through the music in an attempt to shake off the mundanity and frustrations of life just like everyone else. There’s no pompous stage gimmicks and no rehashed half-hearted speeches about the vales of punk and hardcore to be had here, just a band revelling in the music much akin to everyone else gathered. It’s refreshing and grounded, and as band close with the classic that has become ‘Weed Pin’, it’s difficult to think of another band that are more deserving of the acclaim of sold out shows such as this than Drug Church.
Score: 9/10
Angel Du$t
In contrast, relative supergroup Angel Du$t play slightly more into cliches, something made flashingly evident as the former Trapped Under Ice frontman Justice Tripp flashes his gilded fronts. But just like their tour-mates, they’re here for two things; to play music and have a good time doing so. The once sold out crowd may have thinned out noticeably between the end of Drug Church and the great stomping fun of Angel Du$t’s ‘Toxic Boombox’ and the summer-scented ‘Big Bite’, but for those remaining this set serves as a fun demonstration of the band’s completely undefinable sound. Tracks such as ‘Take My Love’, ‘Headstone’ and ‘Let It Rot’ along with the aforementioned Tripp being built like a concrete shithouse may affirm that this is a band fully rooted in the urbanite asphalt of hardcore, but it’s the rest of the set that shows off their multi-faced sound constituting of surf rock, post-hardcore and just general reckless positivity. Yes, even after all these years of seeing what was once one of the most intimidating men in the whole global hardcore scene gently strumming an acoustic guitar is still a smile inducing sight but regardless of the novelty, this is still a brilliant and disarmingly upbeat set from a collective that’s far more dynamic than they’re given credit for.
Tracks such as ‘Never Ending Game’, ‘Want It All’, and the breezy ‘Turn Off The Guitar’ sonically sound totally removed from the punishment of hardcore as possible, but as Tripp and his peers stomp around the stage there’s no denying they’re born from the ethos and steadfast determination of the sound and ethos of punk at its hardest. However, whilst Angel Du$t do a brilliant job in transplanting the hardcore aesthetic into a sound removed from the genre, it’s their live set that shows the how the band are essentially unrivalled in infusing the ethos and ideology of hardcore with unbridled positivity. Again, a large portion of the crowd may have cleared out following Drug Church, but those remaining spend this set beaming from ear to ear courtesy of the bombastic acoustic punk and pop of this unique band. Ending on the calming and pacifying gentleness of ‘Fear Some’, this is set that just reaffirms the fact that Angel Du$t have carved out their own niche within hardcore and are more than content with rocking the fuck on with anyone that choses to join.
Score: 8/10