KNOCKED LOOSE Invades Cardiff, United Kingdom [Photo Gallery]

Knocked Loose

Lets start this by saying today the UK had a heatwave which started on route to Cardiff. My car’s temp gauge was saying it was 35 degrees c outside, but thanks to air conditioning I was comfy. I arrived and parked at the venue Clwb Ifor Bach located in the city center. I was there early and so were the fans. There was a sea of fans all enjoying cold beers in the local surrounding bars on this hot night. I went straight into the club and set my gear up in the green room, where members of all the bands were chilling. Upstairs to the venue was a lot cooler to start with, but then the fans came swarming in to witness the first band on the bill Guilt Trip.

Guilt Trip hailing from Manchester, England. These guys threw down a solid hardcore set and the crowd stayed back to start with and were nodding along to the bands performance, and then a couple people started doing windmills which made an empty arch at the front of the stage as not everyone wants to take part in being hit.. Vocalist Jay Valentine was trying his best to get the crowd up front but they stayed back and were enjoying it without the carnage. Being first on the bill on a sold out night a lot of the time the audience don’t turn up till the second band, but we are talking Hardcore at its finest. I would say over half of the audience were here early and to the half that were not, sorry you missed an amazing performance by these guys, your loss!

Knocked Loose

Change over times were a tad long but was welcomed by the fans as the temperature was rising considerably in the top floor of this club. Broken Teeth vocalist Dale Graham was hyped for this night and the place started to fill up. I was right up the front for these guys and within seconds I was kicked in the head by some random fan throwing down round house kicks, and also this is a new one on me, some guy kept running from side to side in the audience and pushing people into the walls of the venue. I don’t know what that is all about but carry on bud if that’s what you like. You could tell there were some dedicated fans as they kept stealing the mic from Dale and were screaming the vocals. This happened a lot so in the end Dale just kept offering the mic to the fans. One guy got on stage and did a whole verse and he actually sounded great.

Half way through two security guards stood at both ends of the stage and killed the mood a bit, in my opinion, and the crowd must of felt a tad intimidated. Well after being kicked or punched in the head a second time I decided to get on the side of the stage and capture images from there. I was glad I did as I got to see how amazing the guitarist was. The technical little solos are to be seen not just heard and that’s a fact… They played some old tracks and a selection from the new album ‘At Peace Amongst Chaos’ album. These guys are so hard working so look out the UK hardcore scene they are not gonna be yours forever the world is waiting.

Headliner Knocked Loose hit the stage and by now the place is nearly unbearable with the heat. By the end of the third song I moved up on the stage next to the drummer who gave me a nod to basically say I don’t blame you as the crowd was going insane for this Kentucky based band. The ceiling of the venue was dripping due to the heat and condensation but this didn’t bother the members of Knocked Loose and they gave everything they had in the tank to this performance.

Knocked Loose

When the intro to “Billy No Mates” blasted out through the venue and those harmonic notes and riffs from Isaac Hale and Cole Crutchfields guitars rang out, the full attitude from all band members was gonna make the two security guards on the stage work for there money. The band were not going to stop anyone invading the stage for a cheeky stage dive and it didn’t stop from start to finish. Vocalist Bryan Garris was striding round the stage and his vocal delivery was on point all night leaning over the front of the stage into peoples faces, whilst drummer Kevin “PacSun” Kaine is a pure power house on drums. Trust me I was like two inches away from his 18 inch crash cymbal. To round this night up I actually felt worn out and literally beat up but would not change anything about this evening and would do it all again, even with the two punches to the head. Knocked Loose will be a gig that every fan of heavy music would enjoy. Hardcore is here in its finest take note and get to a show. The Tour Continues.