Local outfit A.D. Skinner opened the night. It was shouty, fast and hard. Primary support, Jack the Stripper walked onstage to a Cypress Hill sample before launching into 40 minutes of growled vocals, intense riffs and earth shattering breakdowns. Those familiar with metalcore would know that Jack The Stripper were an unconventional choice of support for King Parrot, but their over the top music style was perfect for the hyped anticipation surrounding this show.
While King Parrot’s uncompromising brand of music may be the stuff of nightmares for the uninitiated, it’s the band’s sense of fun and energy that makes them so popular. After exploding through the first song and creating quite the circle pit, singer Matt Young looked at a punter and said, “Fucking hell, what shit are you on?”
Young’s natural stage presence and high onstage energy is an important part of the band’s ability to transfer their energy to the crowd. And the inclusiveness of their sound explains why there was such a mixed crowd, including a lot of females and non-hardcore/metal crew.
A standout moment of intensity came when they played the crushing Psychotherapy & Valium fromtheir 2011 EP The Stench Of Hardcore Pub Trash. The grindcore elements of this song particularly riled the circle pit. One of the new songs King Parrot played, Entrapment,seemed to herald a pure hardcore approach as the song had a few breakdowns and an unrelenting guitar riff.
About an hour in, covered in sweat, guitarist Ari White asked the crowd, “Did we just play 15 songs?” For the 17th and final song of the night, King Parrot played Shit OnThe Liver and it was modern metal’s equivalent of bungee jumping – fucking exhilarating.
BY DAN WATT
Loved: Buying my first pair of hardcore shorts.
Hated: Not a lot.
Drank: Splash back from the urinal.
