Silver Bullet Tour Review

Silver Bullet Tour
Review

Silver Bullet Tour

The Silver Bullet Tour
Haste The Day
Scary Kids Scaring Kids
August Burns Red
Destroy The Runner

Inhale/Exhale
Metro
8/16/06
Reviewer & Photos: Maggie Solum

It was slightly humid the day I trekked to the Metro to attend Haste the Day’s small headlining show. Ever since their midnight set at Cornerstone I had been dying to see them in action again and even the threatening heat did not spoil my optimism. The line was small, and the only thing that lit a spark of anticipation in my psyche was the fact that the boys behind me were talking about how Inhale/Exhale (a brand new Tooth & Nail band who was to open the show) would not be playing. I turned around to ask him about it and he said they had indeed dropped off and a local band had taken their place. Sighing in frustration, I kept my hopes up by watching Brennan Chaulk of Haste the Day chat on his cell phone in their van until we were let inside the venue.

DESTROY THE RUNNER LINEUP: Kyle – Vocals; Duane – Guitar; Nick – Guitar; Jeremiah – Bass; Marc – Drums

The awesome woman that set up my Scary Kids Scaring Kids interview suggested that I check out Destroy the Runner, who had taken the place as opening band for Inhale/Exhale. As I am an obedient person (haha), I heeded the advice and intelligently took pictures without the flash in the process. Despite that idiocy – they blew me away! What everyone had been telling me about them being as big as Haste the Day one day was definitely true. Their music was heavy and melodic at the same time, and even though Kyle (vocalist) had a foxhawk-looking hair style that seemed out of place before they shook their Tooth & Nail asses on stage, as soon as they began to jam bodies started to move. On the other hand, guitarist Duane had a lion’s mane of blonde hair that was a swirl of curly locks and intensity each time a break down was sounded. Their energy was worthy to be captured through the frames of photographs, and I curse myself for flashless photography.

AUGUST BURNS RED LINEUP: Matt Greiner – Drums; (now) Dustin Davidson – Bass; Brent Rambler – Guitar; JB Burbaker – Guitar; Jake Luhrs – Vocals

The reason that Dustin Davidson is listed in the line-up instead of ex-bass player Jordan is because of one reason – they were both there! Yes, this show was Jordan’s last show and Dustin (who had offered through a MySpace reply to the BASS-PLAYER WANTED bulletin to be their new rhythm-artist) had arrived just in time to take over the day after. So it was an amazing night; Jordan’s last show (which he did a phenomenal job in) and an awesome interview that included both the old and the new bassist! Back to the performance – smoke machines! Those damn things really were a big part of the entire roster, but it made for a bad photographic atmosphere. Vocalist Jake Luhrs would belt his stuff before stepping back from the monitors and completely disappearing into the chemical cloud. For being a younger hardcore band, they had an impressive stage presence and spot-on timing within each song they played. JB even felt so comfortable as to wear stylish flip-flops while casually shredding away. The only thing that disappointed me during their set was that they have such fast music and delicious breakdowns, but when they play there isn’t much thrashing around or entertainment for the audience to enjoy. You’d think a band with such a hardcore rhythm would be experts at movement. Despite that, they are a fantastic group of boys that really know how show off live what they’ve written in the studio.

August Burns Red Setlist (not in order): Your Little Suburbia Is In Ruins, Endorphins, Shot Below the Belt, Consumer, Barbarian, Speech Impediment, The Seventh Trumpet.

SCARY KIDS SCARING KIDS LINEUP: Tyson – Vocals; Chad – Guitar/Backing Vocals; Steve – Guitar; DJ – Guitar; Pouyano – Keyboards; Peter – Drums

Since this show, my mother (who was there, yes, and did go by choice) always relates the Aladdin soundtrack to this show. This is because Scary Kids Scaring Kids specifically asked for the CD to be played while they set up their equipment. It still makes me giggle to think about Pouyano singing as loud as he could while he fastened his keyboard to the stand. We need more exciting set changes like that one.

Scary Kids Scaring Kids was a band that, up until I finally saw them live, had heard about from all sorts of kids. I had heard from a friend of mine that she had seen them play Summerfest in Milwaukee (this past summer) and from another that she’d only heard one song and said they “sucked”. I’m not too keen when it comes to taking others’ advice before seeing them play or hearing their music, so this was Scary Kids’ chance to give me a solid first impression; and they did a pretty swell job reeling me in. Scary Kids Scaring Kids live can be summed up in three words repeated three times, getting louder each time: energy, presence, fun. For the exception of Peter (who can’t stand, obviously) and Steve (who looked like he’d just gotten out of bed with his flannel shorts and t-shirt), every member of the band had a map spread out in their mind of when they were going to run to the other side of the stage or stamp and throw their guitar around their shoulders. The smoke machines were a pain in the ass and just the best for flash photography, but that combined with the lighting really flattered the band. If that makes any sense at all. Kids were shouting and screaming along, and that helped me figure out why Scary Kids had been the main opener for Haste the Day rather then August Burns Red – I guess it was a popularity factor.

Scary Kids Scaring Kids Partial Setlist: The World As We Know It, The City Sleeps In Flames, My Darkest Hour, Faith In the Knife, The Only Medicine.

HASTE THE DAY LINEUP: Stephen Keeche – Vocals, Brennan Chaulk – Guitar/Vocals, Jason Barnes – Guitar, Mike Murphy – Bass/Vocals, Devin Chaulk – Drums

And then there were the big guns. So I was just finishing my interview Pouyano, and I darted out of the green room as quick as I could to make sure I did not miss the opportunity of snapping pictures of the Indiana headbangers. I’d seen Haste twice before this (the first being at The Winter Truth Tour, the other being the midnight performance at Cornerstone – which was amazing) and had a pretty good idea of the great show it would be. And it was, of course. If you didn’t know, Stephen Keeche took over vocalist position with Jimmy Ryan in early January of last year (he now works at Tooth & Nail Records) so he is/was still fairly new to the line-up; if you overlook all of that, you’ll realize he is just as talented as Jimmy and has filled the shoes he has no choice but to fit in. When I first saw Stephen I specifically remember thinking, “This boy is kind of scrawny, and he looks really young”, but when I saw him in person I realized – well, he’s still short, haha – he has the appearance and absolutely adorable personality of a great front man.

My heart almost exploded to release blood throughout my innards when I saw that guitarist/vocalist Brennan Chaulk was wearing the rubber phrase bracelet I had given him earlier that night, during the performance. He and drummer Devin Chaulk are (obviously) brothers, 5 years apart in age, and they both have beautiful voices. Devin did not sing much that night other than his usual vocal break in “American Love”, though Brennan was constantly perching his lips on the mic to sing choruses alongside Mike Murphy the entire set. Haste the Day know what they’re doing and do it well! They are energetic and keep your eyes peeled! My favorite memory of this performance was Brennan’s phenomenal handless-bridge sort of maneuver he does while playing guitar. The fans go crazy over it and it always amuses me.

The only thing that surprised me this night was the fact that it seemed as though the crowd was completely tired out by the time Haste the Day started to play. The security guards were barely needed to lift out crowd-surfers or control rowdy children. It was strange. But they weren’t too fatigued to sing along and Brennan and Mike’s duo vocals were often almost matched by the cherubs watching their every move.

Setlist (not in order): American Love, Fallen, Walls & Fears, Long Way Down (cover), Blue 42, The Perfect Night, Walk On, When Everything Falls, Closest Thing to Closure.

I would like to thank JB from August Burns Red for getting the interview set up, and to Stephanie from the Scary Kids Scaring Kids camp for helping me out as well!!