Banks Arcade, Earth Caller, Closure, Heartline @ Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide 23/5/2024
As the clock inches closer to midnight, Melbourne based Kiwi genre bending metal band Banks Arcade smash out the final notes of Self Help to an enthusiastic audience of people singing from the same hymn book.
For tonight’s opening show on the Australian leg of Death 2 A Muse tour has been an intimate, soul touching, whirl of sound and emotions from a line up befitting grander scales.
Opening is Adelaide’s Heartline who dropped a new single in preparation for the show on Lovers. The band have been working over the last few years perfecting their mix of soft vocals mixed with crushing breakdowns that shake the stage. The new song itself has members of the audience jump around before breaking off into a metal Avant Garde section. Finishing with Echo, singer Luke Taylor manages to get everyone to crouch down before bouncing their way to end of the raging set.
Following them is Sydney’s Closure who have quite a few fans in the crowd keen to see them. They have a fun vibe and great energy from the twirling and wailing singer Lucy May. The performance and music invoke memories of those gone before in the 90’s who broke the genre apart as strong female leads, power, passion and a little dangerous with tracks like Bleed Out hitting the mark.
Earth Caller are a ferocious supernova of noise that literally blows my hat off. There really is no messing about as drummer Josh Clinch hits like fireworks exploding, Nick Davies handles the bass like he is fighting off zombies, guitarist Josh Renjen drops riff bombs, vocalist Josh Collard directs anarchy in the pit and keyboardist…well we don’t know who she is however the ambient sonics underneath flesh out what is already a muscular sound.
Graphic is brutal and glorious, the sound electric and vibrant. Down really does suit a raging club setting, Alone is anthemic and I’m No Good switches on the circle pit after numerous walls of deaths, two-steppers and breakdancers. This was an animated Set. We will figure out the secret keyboardist soon enough.
Tonight, though is Banks Arcade show. Going through a project of dropping EP’s as part of a grander story, recent drop was the metal focussed Death 2 for a band equally adept in the heavier styles as well as rap, RnB and dance.
The band start with Worship The Internet from Death 2, vocalist Josh O’Donnell, sinister, aggressive, confident as a rock star as he screams to ‘get the fuck up’ and we duly oblige.
The rapid drums of Sentimental have people jumping before Killing Games showcases the bands ability to switch and morph genres seamlessly with rap lines drawn within vicious guitars.
By the time More Want with the iconic line ‘stay close when you to lie to me’ is performed, a friend advises me ‘When you can feel it in your heart, you know it’s from the heart’ and that sums up Banks Arcade perfectly.
Josh and his crew have always encouraged that you should do what you love and do it wholeheartedly, so for a friend to say that while watching the band swallow up every inch of the stage really does make describe the outfit.
Smile has the first crowd surfers of the night, and the pit becomes carnage during Roulette while Josh directs the chaos with his emotive lyrics, guitar switching swagger that the best frontmen all have.
Josh is humble enough to thanks several people who assist a hard-working band on their travels before the lights go down and the camera lights turned on for the final run which climaxes with Self Help.
Which leads to the clock ticking ever closer to midnight, sweat dripping from the four members of Banks Arcade. They left nothing off the table tonight, it was electric, raw, passionate and powerful. Can’t wait to hear the next part of the project.
Live Review By Iain McCallum