The Restarts @ Temple of Boom
There seems to be within DIY touring circles a certain
avoidance of Leeds by certain bands. Hardcore shows are almost guaranteed to
have a good turnout of crew and a fun atmosphere, as are any TNS affiliated
events, but for most southern punk bands (younger ones at least) things can get
a little strange. As such Leeds is often ditched in favour of Manchester and
Sheffield, so it was good to find out that The Restarts were Leeds-bound, and
at the city’s finest new DIY venue at that. My plans to finish work and then
cruise around on a skateboard until the gig were scuppered by shite weather, so
my gig preparation consisted of sitting in the back of my shop drinking cider
and chatting shit, before I headed to the venue for doors to carry on in a
similar vein. After texting a bunch of the usual suspects and receiving replies
in the negative I wasn’t sure how many people would turf out, but by about 8
the Temple was getting nicely packed out. Sitting in the bar area, the building
is small enough to usually hear the moment a band plays their first chord and
head through – unfortunately this doesn’t compute to acoustic music, so my
first inkling that Paul Carter was playing was the gradual drain in bodies from
the bar. This was a slow realisation, hampered by a fog which was equal parts
customer service exhaustion and cider abuse, and as a result I only caught the
very last few songs. These were good songs however, including his classic
‘Speed’, ‘You’re Living in the Past’, and to finish a crowd-enhanced
sing-a-long of something which I should remember, but which is unfortunately
lost in the foggy haze of a week and a half ago.
Mood uplifted, I headed out to the bar where it was bought
crashing down by, shall we say, the attitudes of certain crowd members (I
originally wrote this out in detail but fuck negativity, this blog is meant to
get people hyped on going to shows).Luckily Canadians The Rebel Spell put me
back on keel with a set of melodic hardcore which bought to mind such
luminaries as SNFU, Avail and Youth Brigade. Fast, tight and with a shit hot
bass player, they worked out a treat as the only unknown for me in the
evening’s line up. As the evening wore on I started to flag, but The Restarts
are always a reliable wake up and they didn’t disappoint with a set of gravel
voiced classics including ‘Outsiders’,
‘On To You’, ‘Timewaster’ and a glorious encore of ‘Frustration’ while
everyone got jumping down the front. Tiredness was paradoxically washed away in
the rivers of dank which poured into my lungs, and I headed out stoked on places
like the Temple and bands like the night’s line up who are out there keeping
the DIY spirit alive!
Jono Coote
