Well it’s immediately obvious that SNAYX have grown their support in the last couple of years. The last I saw them was with a handful of like minded souls in 33 Oldham Street. Tonight though in Academy 3 there’s triple figures and then some.
I miss the first band on the hill, but catch Soapbox. They play frenetic Glaswegian punk driven by a girl beating the living daylights out of the drum kit, whilst a large bald bloke in shades and tight running shorts bounces around with the mic shouting lyrics about having no money, public transport, Prince Andrew and the dangers of depression. It’s not groundbreaking, but they are bloody good fun to watch and alongside the solid bass, there’s some pretty intriguing guitar. I can only pick this out because of the earplugs I’ve reached for two songs in, they’re fucking loud! By the time they get to one that I’m pretty sure is called ‘The Fear’ they’ve got me and they get better the more I hear. The lad with the mic is magnetic, he’s covered in sweat working the crowd like this is his last night on earth. They’re a great band to set the scene for SNAYX.
Despite there being three of them, they seem to be even louder. Lainey is now a permanent member on drums and she’s an absolute monster. You’d need to be to keep up with Charlie’s menacing bass and Ollie’s deadly vocals. They sound great on record, but they really need to be witnessed live to understand them. That said, I’d probably say that about a lot of bands. It’s clear as they kick off with ‘Work’, there’s not many casual fans in here. The pit explodes and radiates to take over all but the edges of the room. The sound is meatier thanks to Charlie’s bass and a bank of distortion wizardry. That said there’s nothing complicated. Just solid power punk like ‘I’m Deranged’, which sounds even better hitting the gas after the teasing mid-song tease. They are quite funky in their brief quieter moments, Charlie giving off Flea vibes as Ollie orchestrates the bounce on ‘Body Language’. “Manchester show me what you got” and Manchester is not shy in its response. “How about a new one?… ‘Brain Cells’”. It’s a dirty little beast and ups the ante for things to come when they finally release an album. ‘Better Days’ gets a false start after someone blacks out. Honestly this seems to happen at almost every gig I go to these days. I felt the ground thud as someone collapsed near us at Godspeed You! Black Emperor the other night. Drink more water people! I’m not sure I’d feel a thud tonight, my entire body is already vibrating. The sound is filled out a touch with some tape, but honestly the live set up is so damn loud you could miss it. Songs like ‘King’ and ‘False Friends’ still sound great though. ‘Boys in Blue’ is much more punchy and angular though and for me they sound better for it. It’s elbows out, fast and venomous. Bloody catchy too with half the room serenading the band as Ollie feeds off the energy. He looks pleasantly shocked at the response to ‘H.A.N.G.’ It is pretty phenomenal, but so is this set, they climbing the gears now as ‘Sink or Swim’ surges. The crowd is one of the best I’ve witnessed in a while. Totally engaged, like one entity totally in sync with the stage, but friendly too. Some pits get a bit too much, like PWEI last week when some lost control and managed to piss off half the crowd. Not hear though, it’s like everyone already knows everyone. I know that’s not the case though, as I can see the singer from Soapbox in the centre going bonkers. They really don’t need covers, but their take on The Prodigy’s ‘Breathe’ is undeniably pretty brilliant. “We’ve only got a couple more for you, but that means we’ve really gotta go for it, I wanna see you bounce!” You don’t need me to tell what happens next as they unleash ‘Fayx’. It’s carnage. Ollie’s in the pit as the dirty synths mix with the monstrous riffs and the temperature soars. They close with another new one ‘Violence’. It doesn’t matter if it’s not as well known, they’ve already built up enough energy to feed a crowd 10 times this size. It wonderful to see how far they’ve come already, I suspect they’ve much further to go.
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