Another fast riser in the new wave emo scene are Atlanta-based Microwave.
Known for drop-tuned, grungy guitars under cutting yet sincere lyrics, they’re sitting comfortably next to the likes of Pup and Modern Baseball in the conversations of fans. Tonight we’re at the Oran Mor to make sure it’s none of this pre-recorded tracks and samplers.
The opener for tonight is Sick Joy. Playing at approximately ten seconds after doors to a crowd of thirty at the peak. They’re a grungy, alt rock duo from – I think England? There’s a lot of early Nirvana in their sound but when they break out the samples and electronic drums, you hear a lot of Nine Inch Nails. The issue with that is that I either want to hear one or the other, it’s a bit of jumping back and forth between moods. The singer has a bit of Brian Molko in his voice at parts and that’s not a bad thing. It’s all very ’90s alt. The biggest issue is that with a two-piece, it’s very hard to keep the energy up on stage. Royal Blood manage it because they have big riffs that keep the crowd going, but Sick Joy are more about rhythm and song writing so there’s brooding over the mic rather than rocking out on stage.
Next up are the band I was wanting. The Dirty Nil walk on to ‘X is Gonna Give it to You’ and what they give to us is a masterclass in stage presence and energy. Starting with a metal chugging on guitar, we get an amazing blend of alt rock, metal, and punk. I imagine that this is the band that Rivers wanted Weezer to be. There’s the same smooth passages and minor melodies that you get from the Weeze, but there’s real shredding and gallons of showmanship from frontman Luke. The punk in this band is like ‘Smash’-era Offspring with better vocals and the metal is straight from Metallica. Bassist Sam is just as active as Luke and at one point shouts “sing along with me, Glasgow…. ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!”, which I personally found hilarious and amazing. Luke is forever reaching out across the barrier and into the crowd despite being tethered to a mic stand. He has the crowd eating from the palm of his hand and it shows with singalongs and the chant of approval “here we, here we…here we fucking go”. I need to see this band on a bigger stage soon. Find of the century. Go…now…put them on.
Following the hardest act to follow, our headliners rise to the challenge pretty quickly. It’s a swift down-shift of mood, however. The Dirty Nil were full of energy and brought a joy to the stage, but Microwave aren’t here for joy. With Microwave we’re here to shout and to fret and to tell everyone exactly what we think of them. Every song garners a reaction as if it was their biggest hit and the crowd are here to scream it. The atmosphere reminds me of when Brand New were at their peak and the crowd carried the emotion of the songs all the way to the back of the room. This set has a unique rawness about it and is something the scene has been missing since the demise of Brand New.
The sound is huge with the punchiest kick drum I’ve heard in a long, long time while the lead guitar cuts through everything. No matter how big the sound is, the audience’s singing will always come close to drowning it out. There’s slightly awkward pauses between the first few songs but that makes way for electronic passages fairly quickly which fill the gaps. There’s not as much chat as The Dirty Nil brought, but as I said… that’s not why we’re here. This is truly no-nonsense rock. Tonight we’re hearing Nathan Hardy’s stories and they’re better than any chat between songs.
Tonight’s been a gig of two halves and both of them were excellent. The main support and headliner had different feels and moods to them, but share enough of a Venn diagram that everyone was into it. It’s left me excited to see who each band bring back next time they’re this side of the pond.
Photos by Catching Light Photography