LIVE REVIEW: ELECTRIC CALLBOY + ICE NINE KILLS + COLDRAIN @ RIVERSTAGE 13/09/26
Words by Cecilia Pattison-Levi Photos Charlyn Cameron
Ice Nine Kills photos supplied by band.
There has been a run of concerts with triple band bills in the metalcore world this year. This Tanzneid Tour was the last stop of the world tour for Electric Callboy and their supporting bands in Australia: Ice Nine Kills and Coldrain. Brisbane was treated to two concerts and I was lucky enough to get along to Riverstage for the last night and end of tour blowout.
It was an odd mix of metalcore bands. The crowd could imagine themselves at: 1) a Japanese hardcore venue like Club Upset, 2) The Horrorwood Cinema or 3) A Berlin Disco. The Japanese band Coldrain brought the J-hardcore. The Americans, Ice Nine Kills, brought the pop horror film-metal. The Germans Electric Callboy took the piss with their Eurodisco metal! Whatever place or adventure you chose, metalcore culture was subjected to a battering from the international line-up.
The second evening started with Nagoya’s Coldrain. The band is a major part of the post-hardcore scene and a large crowd had gathered early at Riverstage to listen and mosh along to the band’s catchy songs and great energy. Their seven-song set was loud and ferociously alive. Nobody stood still. You either headbanged, jumped or collided in the mosh pit. There was no middle ground.
Coldrain opened their set with ‘Ex-humanity’ and the heavy hit. Following it was ‘Free Fall’ and the mosh started, and a circle pit formed and from that moment, the show became a sustained sonic assault. Masato Hayakawa was fearless. His wild vocals ranged from guttural screams to pop-punk high notes as ‘Chasing Shadows’ was delivered.
The same went for the rest of the members: Y.K.C. (lead guitar), Sugi (guitar, backing vocals), RxYxO (bass, backing vocals), and Katsuma (drums), who absolutely tore up the stage as ‘Rabbit Hole’ got the venue jumping. ‘Cut Me’ was performed with precision as Masato Hayakawa told Brisbane to jump and bounce with them. The band sealed the end of their set with the wild ‘Vengeance’ and the first wall of death.
Coldrain teased the crowd and they asked: “Brisbane. Do you want another song?” The response was a massive roar of “Yes!” and the final blow of ‘Mayday’ was delivered. By the end, the crowd were well and truly warmed up, as Coldrain promised to return as they left the stage. The crowd called for them to stay and keep playing, but the time was up.
The crowd had swelled and Riverstage was completely full for Ice Nine Kills. You could feel the anticipation in the crowd as the stage was set for the band. Brisbane metal fans had obviously decided that no one was missing this set.
Ice Nine Kills opened their cinematic set with ‘The American Nightmare’, that took the idea of the supernatural slasher ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ as lead singer Spencer Charnas channelled Freddy Kruger complete with a glove. It set the tone about the decay of American society since the death of JFK. Then, the next film referenced in ‘Meat & Greet’ was ‘Silence Of The Lambs’ as Hannibal Lecter was wheeled onto the stage. Spencer Charnas aided Hannibal Lecter in escaping his straitjacket. He then started to kill and eat the police officers accompanying him.
Ice Nine Kills brought the musical theatre ensemble big band approach to their music as Spencer Charnas, Ricky Armellino, Joe Occhiuti, Dan Sugarman and Miles Dimitri Baker were joined by a trumpet and saxophone players from Reel Big Fish. This was important as the brass featured on the ode to Stephen King’s ‘Pet Sematary’ played on the back screen, and the band commenced delivering ‘Funeral Derangements’ with Spencer Charnas holding a shovel in hand throughout the entire song. Then, it was all about ‘Batman’ and The Joker in ‘The Laugh Track’. The ‘Matrix’ influenced ‘The Great Unknown’ saw an actor performing as Neo take on Agent Smith in a mid-song fight scene and Hollywood action sequence. Then, ‘Welcome to Horrorwood’ followed taking aim at the shallow LA culture.
Then, the set got weird as Huey Lewis & The News were parodied in ‘Hip To Be Scared’. The infamous scene from ‘American Psycho’ that sees ‘Paul’ decapitated with an axe and chainsaw was performed. The crowd were loving it! But I was a bit unsure about the point the band were trying to make – if there was one! Then, it was time for the ‘Scream’ franchise to be referenced in ‘Twisting The Knife’, featuring a surprise appearance from Make Them Suffer's Alex Reade, who performed the vocals of the song's counterpart. Alex Reade’s vocals soar through the venue, and the duet was delivered with style, before she was killed on stage by Ghostface.
Ice Nine Kills’ then played ‘Play Dead’ before closing out the set with ‘A Work Of Art’. The “Art” parodied is Art the clown from the ‘Terrifier’ franchise. Alex Reade re-joined the band for additional vocals as the music video plays behind the band. There was a re-enactment of Art assisting in the birth of a newborn baby (doll) that he brought on stage before swinging it by its umbilical cord around his head like a lasso.
It was musical horror theatre! It was an eclectic, busy and hectic performance from Ice Nine Kills. The crowd ate it up!
The stage was packed up very quickly as equipment, costumes and other gear were wheeled off into waiting trucks and headed to Brisbane airport. The stage was then rebuilt for the last Tanzneid set of Electric Callboy’s world tour and their last performance of the year. A large curtain was lifted into place and the crowd waited.
The music over the PA got louder, the venue went dark and lights pulsed. The sounds of Berlin disco culture had started. Then, Electric Callboy unleashed the opening title track from their new album, ‘Tanzneid’, playing at full volume, power and throbbing speed. The opening had it all with fireworks, flames, and CO2 cannons going off as confetti cannons exploded with red streamers over the crowd.
The band, Kevin Ratajczak, Nico Sallach, Daniel Haniß, Pascal Schillo, Daniel Klossek and touring drummer Frank Zummo, looked like they stepped out of a late 1980s nightclub with matching shoulder pads and it looked like a gym-rave as they performed the Sum 41 cover ‘Still Waiting’. “You have to move, you have to sing, and for the next song I just need one sound – choo choo…” Then came the whistle of a steam train. And it was all aboard the ‘Tekkno Train’ in bright and brash German tourist tracksuit style from the late 1980s with Olivia Newton-John ‘Physical’ hairstyles.
Tanzneid was: all volume, spectacle, and unmistakably German with no subtleness as Eurodance was welded to metalcore. Strobe lights brought in ‘Hypa Hypa’ and it was a Eurodance whirlwind with added fluoro wear and headbands. Then, ‘MC Thunder’ leaned into more Euro-glam with Puma representation. Electric Callboy were pushing ‘Pump It’ and their metalcore aerobic gym workout while they probably should have ‘cranked’ it.
There were animated robots and mash ups as Electric Callboy played around with more Euro-disco. The band asked the Brisbane crowd if they knew about German Schlager music, and taught Brisbane a little dance, before ‘Hurrikan’ kicked in and diverged into a DJ break. Then, Blink-182’s ‘All The Small Things’ was covered and the crowd was singing along. Then, the next cover came from Drowning Pool’s ‘Bodies’ as the refrain “Let the bodies hit the floor” was screamed out by the crowd as the circle pit turned and a banana crowd surfed over the barrier. Frank Zummo led the crowd into a clap along for ‘Revery’, then ‘Hypercharged’, ‘Mindreader’ and ‘The Savior’ came in rapid succession.
There was a break from the EDM when a drum solo by Frank Zummo, formerly of Sum 41, was delivered with added Slayer’s ‘Raining Blood’. It gave the set a rare moment of focused musicianship amid all the disco. Then, the band returned to the stage in the emotional pivot, in white boy band gear, as Electric Callboy covered Backstreet Boys’ ‘I Want It That Way’. They fully embraced the boy band era, as they followed up with ‘The Way You Are’.
The crowd in the mosh parted for ‘Heartclub’ and it was followed by the cover of Maggie Reilly’s ‘Everytime We Touch’ as the ‘Let The Good Times Roll’ and ‘Elevator Operator’ finalised the regulation set.
The band left the stage, and as blue lights pulsed behind the kit, the band ran back out for the encore, starting with ‘Ratatata’, one of Electric Callboy’s signature tracks made with Babymetal. The band then performed ‘Spaceman’ in a surge of disco neon-metal silliness. Then, the set was closed out with ‘We Got The Moves’ played on loop over the PA. The lights cut back on, as the entire band was standing on stage, in costumes. There was more confetti, streamers, and fireworks, and the lads danced around as cock and balls flashed on the big screens as the synchronised rave-metal machine came to an end.
The night had been a review of metalcore done in a way that could be described as: “Good Different”. Electric Callboy are not asking you to choose a metalcore adventure but instead to take all of it: the heavy, fun, brutality, melody and rave culture. Then, mix it into your own cocktail. It was a heady brew!
Check out our gallery from the night here.
