Tonight's show, Landlocked's first of their UK tour, has been a chore from start to finish. The problems started when support band Heavy Hands could no longer travel down from Scotland due to van problems. The bad luck almost culminated in headliners Landlocked being stranded in Manchester without transport just hours before the show. The turn out was a bit sketchy too despite a decent online effort to garner attention from the Pinky Swear guys; the DIY label who bust their balls and empty their pockets to put these shows on.
Openers Sleepwalker are a mixed bag, but that's ok seeing as that seems to be their aim. There's a lot of ideas and influences merging together here, from straight up hardcore, moving through some melodic metal moments. It's a little messy in places when moving from one style to another, but some of the stronger moments actually come when they quieten it down. The intro to 'Life' sounds great ringing through the small Santigos crowd, before it's back to the heavy. There aren't many of these moments but they definitely stand out.
Sleepwalker are a young band and they look an awkward bunch, but their saving grace tonight is their frontman. He spends the show stomping and thrashing, totally undeterred by the fact there's more people in the bar area at the back plugging their ears than there are at the front actually watching the first support band. Good effort lads.
Stoke's heaviest youths The River Card more-often-than-not have a warm Northern welcome when they visit these parts, making it even more of a shame there's such a small turn out tonight. They're a strong band on record but it's their live shows that always make the biggest impression.
It's always awkward when the singer of a band beckons the crowd to circle pit or 'move the fuck around!', only for the crowd to give that 'who, me?' look and carry on drinking their pints. Fortunately tonight The River Card managed to get a crowd of 15-or-less to actually shift and jump around. Singer Chris is a pretty kinetic chap and the whole band bare that typically Stokie swagger which gets right into the crowds veins.
God bless Missouri's Landlocked. Not only have they flown from the States to kick off their tour in the decidedly small Santiagos bar in Leeds, but they almost didn't end up making it from Manchester on the day. The bad luck surrounding the gig didn't end with their fortunate arrival though. From start to finish there's mic problems on almost every song of their admittedly short set, and at least one song when almost no vocals came through at all. It's a massive shame however it really didn't make it the complete disappointment that it may seem.
They still throttled through tracks from their absolute knock out new EP 'Erudition'. 'C.Bukowski' swells with seismic rage before exploding into Santiagos as the nights highlight. Not far behind is 'E.Bellamy', a song that even with shitty mic problems manages to shred with machine gun drums and crushing riffs.
'The better the idea, the more volatile' crows Singer Aaron on 'T.Robbins'; a statement that pretty much sums this band up perfectly. There's not much straightforward about Landlocked at all, as the structure of their songs are as erratic and challenging as Aaron's leftover Movember triumph.
On paper, all these setbacks probably make the night seem like a bit of a disaster. Potentially it could have been, but the reality is the bands destroyed tonight and Pinky Swear put on another great show.
The Weezer cover band upstairs weren't bad to watch in between bands either.
PHOTOS BY JACK SUTCLIFFE: http://jacksutcliffe.co.uk
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