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The subtle rise of an unspoken buzz in the tiny room behind the Star Inn led to an explosion of energy.
5th of July 2022
By Charlie Cooper
Putting on your own gig is one task but headlining it, creating and selling merchandise and tickets on the door as well as making sure the bands before you are perfectly curated to build the energy and excitement in the room is a task like no other. Nihilist do all this and more.
The subtle rise of an unspoken buzz in the tiny room behind the Star Inn led to an explosion of energy from not only the band, but the rowdy audience watching on. Every song encouraged more and more movement from the audience with a consistent mosh pit to every drop that grew three or four people every song. By the end of the gig everyone was in the pits, including front man Jacob Gaunt. Swallowed whole by the chanting group in front and spat back onto stage with a roar of encouragement.
The band mirrored that same pent up aggression and energy smashing their instrument necks together and pushing each other around on stage, this did result a silent, few minute retuning of the instruments, allowing the band time to branch off into stand up comedy. With stage banter like no other, Jacob jokingly dubs the group as a “comedy rock band”, the camaraderie between the members makes the audience feel like a small collective letting loose and rallying against the common, everyday struggle’s of modern life. The overall movement of the band reminds me of the London Punk Scene of the mid-to-late 70s such as The Clash and Sex Pistols. This ode to the punk fore-fathers was clear in Jacob’s outfit choice, a distressed union jack jumper with “I have a big mouth” emblazoned with cigarette holes across the knitted pullover, a timeless anti-facist stance against the aristocracy.
There was a certain electricity in the room, like a mutual understanding between the audience and the band that binds the 2 together. The crash of the Bass and Drums paired with the chugging guitar transposing its melody over a big, chunky room filling sound, making the walls shake up to crown mouldings.