Walking into The Croft, is always a pleasure – great music, familiar faces and tasty cider. After almost a year’s abstinence of attending though, you’d think ( and be a little afraid, maybe) that a lot had changed. Surely the dark, moody walls had been replaced with a clean, metallic mass? Surely the filthy, after-hours disco to the side of the bar was no longer? But what about the gloriously, sweat box of a gig hall? That had to be gone. To all a welcome, resounding “no”.
This meant the same sticky floor too though and there’s now an indoor burger grill as well. Mixed with booze and music, it’s entrapment. After supping on some thoroughly satisfying Bristolian cider, the night started.
An onslaught of textbook pop-punk, the support wasn’t really up to much, but did serve to boost excitement for what everyone had given up their British pounds for: A Wilhelm Scream promptly came on to rip it up.
Kicking off to a foray of applause from the crushingly packed room, A Wilhelm Scream wasted no time in bringing the punk-fuelled noise. The crowd instantly dropped any memories of lacklustre performances and turned from the tepid pool of boredom they started as to harness more electricity than a flux capacitor. The mosh pit span and bodies flew, colliding together, as A Wilhelm Scream cracked out the numbers. Each speeding track was followed by a nugget of entertaining banter between band members, normally ending in claims of guitarist Mike Supina having contracted Hepatitis C.
It’s true that this is melodious hardcore and to a plateauing standard, but there’s something else to A Wilhelm Scream than just run-of-the-mill punk. Within minutes, the boys from New Bedford had got the entire room jumping, flicking from 'The King Is Dead' to 'The Kids Can Eat A Bag Of Dicks' with seamless aggression.
They created a huge atmosphere, with lead singer Nuno Pereira screaming madly as bassist Bri Robinson once again threw his guitar around his body. They rocked so hard, in fact, that they enticed a few fans on stage, with one jumping off to a cold, empty floor and causing Pereira to laugh so hard he nearly had to stop mid set. More hilarity ensued with increased mockery and then a couple were invited to sing the last song with the band. It all started well, with the twosome cooing together, until the guy grabbed the mic for himself and proceeded to take centre stage, ignoring the girl and probably hurting her feelings a little – it was blooming funny, though!
So, it seems if you want to sit down for a while and enjoy hot cocoa, you should find your gran. However, if you want to party, find your closest A Wilhelm Scream outlet. Although you might think you've heard it all from the last punk band you saw, you haven’t heard it like this. Go see them.
Posted In Live Reviews, Sep 14 2009.
Words - Rich