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Pictured: Dani Miller (left) of Surfbort and Amy Taylor (right) of Amyl and The Sniffers / Photo by: Anthony Mehlhaff |
I go to a lot of gigs. At this point, I have lost count of how many I've gone to, and I've seen a lot of bands that were just straight-up insane live. But, I've never seen anything quite like Starcrawler, and I'm saying this in the most positive way possible. I've been listening to them for quite some time and I finally got the chance to see them live last week in Rotterdam. It was genuinely a life-changing experience. The members are barely adults - the guitarist is only nineteen - but their entire act is incredibly professional and worked-out.
I've seen Amyl and The Sniffers live three times and I was convinced that singer, Amy Taylor, was the wildest and craziest person I'd ever seen. She spits on people, jumps on people's shoulders, straight-up punches random people in the audience, and steals drinks. She dances, jumps and screams while running around the stage and her eyes, always covered in eccentric and thick makeup, are wide open while she's performing. Whether you like punk music or not, Amy Taylor is a whole show by herself that you just can't help but watch.
I thought there was no-one like her or at least no-one as crazy as her, but Amy's good friend, Dani Miller from Surfbort, does come close, with her colourful winged eyeliner, a tongue that constantly sticks out, extravagant outfits and unconventional dance moves. These two women have ruled my life for quite some time now; their confidence and originality are extremely inspiring, but the thing is, it was just them, as singers, that blew my mind. Their bands are extremely not made up out of the most regular and conventional boys. Gus, the bassist of Amyl and The Sniffers, definitely blew me away with his playing, but the thing about these boys is that their on-stage presence is overshadowed by the singers of their bands. They aren't boring, hell no, but their singers are just way more interesting.
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Pictured: Starcrawler at The Fonda Theatre / Photo by: Jazz Shademan |
This is where Starcrawler come in. Arrow de Wilde, vocalist of Starcrawler, is the craziest bitch I've ever seen. Her stage outfits are nearly always covered in blood, whether it is a ripped ballerina dress or an adult diaper. Her dancing can best be described as choreographed seizures and she does not shy away from the crowd. You have to make sure that you do not have loose objects when you are in the first rows because Arrow will steal them. I witnessed her taking a man's glasses and throwing them into the pit; take someone's beer and pour it over him; take someone's beanie, and she also took someone's phone and threw it away.
That's not it. She will grab you by your hair, clothes, anything, and drag you to the ground with her; she will grind on you and if you resist, she will only get more intense. There was a guy in the crowd who clearly had no idea who Starcrawler were or what they were capable of, so when Arrow grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, he resisted, full of shock. She started grinding on him and he tried to push her away, but Arrow, being the character that she is, pretended he pushed too hard and fell on the ground, not getting up for a few seconds. The man tried to get her up, but Arrow pretended to be unconscious. Her act did not faze the band, but at one point, a crew member started getting concerned and when he went into the crowd to check on Arrow, she suddenly jumped up, pushed everyone off of her and went back on stage. The show went on like nothing happened. Starcrawler do say to expect the unexpected at their shows, but even their crew does not seem to know what's happening sometimes.
Tim Franco, bassist of Starcrawler, may seem boring at first sight. He barely moves on stage, he plays the notes to the songs in the exact way that he is supposed to, and only steps forward when he is singing some backing vocals. He was always a complete mystery to me because he has no social media presence, so I was very intrigued by him. Even the pope has a social media presence nowadays. He does not dress unconventionally like Arrow, but just wears a formal shirt and some jeans. At first impression, you might think he's shy, but I think his attitude is a performance.
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Pictured: Tim Franco at Rough Trade East / Picture source: PSquared Media |
When Arrow is pretending to choke herself with the microphone cable, he doesn't budge and just keeps playing his notes. It doesn't matter what happens, he just keeps staring and playing, completely unfazed. This attitude makes him even more of an intriguing person and creates this mysterious aura around him that I am just completely infatuated with. The contrast between him and the other members on stage is just too interesting.
Starcrawler's drummer, Austin Smith, looks like the perfect representation of a metalhead. He has long hair and his clothes look a bit too big for him. You'd expect that with the whole show going on in front of him he'd become invisible on stage, but the opposite is the reality. His drumming is so powerful, energetic and intense that you can't help but become obsessed with him. He is the first person on the stage and the audience does not even notice, as he gives off the impression that he is just setting up, but suddenly he starts drumming and a high-tempo, loud beat fills the room.
For an entire minute, it is just him drumming, before Franco joins him and the rest of the band follows a bit later. The audience is forced to watch Smith rock out and it is impossible not to be blown away by his energy and talent. He is pushed to the background by the performances happening in the front, but his energy is very present. The beats are fast and the fills are faster. Smith is the perfect ingredient for the mix that is Starcrawler.
Henri Cash, guitarist, has a real rockstar name and is a real rockstar. Wearing a green customised and extravagantly decorated suit, he looked like one too. His pedalboard is so big and varied that I couldn't even find which pedal was for tuning. He is the only guitarist in the band, but when you listen to Starcrawler's albums you definitely hear more than one guitar. I wondered how he would do this live - because you can't just play both parts - but he did it so well. Sometimes he played riffs that weren't even on the album that did really suit the songs. He played different Telecasters, my favourite guitar, so naturally, I paid close attention to him and I noticed how talented Cash is.
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Pictured: Henri Cash of Starcrawler at The Fonda Theatre / Picture source: Jazz Shademan |
His fingerwork is completely rapid and he switches sounds with his pedal multiple times during songs to compensate for the fact that there is only one guitar. You would expect a rock band to sound less full with only one guitar, but the opposite is the reality in Starcrawler. Cash plays his riffs mixed with chords and uses rad effects that create such a full sound, the idea of the band ever expanding seems unrealistic.
Cash is quite the performer, too. His facial expressions while playing are very entertaining and when he isn't making faces, a big smile is plastered on his face. His dance moves are unconventional, but they seem quite normal compared to Arrow's appalling moves. I was blown away by his guitar playing and his energy, and when I found out he was only nineteen after the show, I was even more impressed. He stands there like he has been doing this all his life and like nobody can take him down, completely fearless.
Starcrawler's albums don't do their live performance any justice. Their studio recorded songs are good garage-rock tracks with punk and metal influences that are definitely enjoyable songs to listen to, but their live performance brings these songs to life in a way you could not imagine when streaming them. The performance completes the songs. Without the performance, these songs are just recordings. Their physical albums and zines do have an aesthetic that gives the songs an autonomous aura, but they don't have the power that their performance has.
Starcrawler are currently playing shows in Japan, but they can be found
playing shows with The Struts in the US next year. If they are ever playing near you, I am urging you to go to their show. Tickets aren't expensive and their shows will truly change your life. There is so much happening on stage that the price does not even do the show justice. To get a slight impression (only slight) of what I'm talking about, check out their newest album
'Devour You' that was released recently.