COLCHESTER ARTS CENTRE - Live Review [November 2000]

Colchester is a funny place. The Arts Centre is the perfect venue for ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, an old, gothic church which compliments their music perfectly.

There was one problem with the gig though.

the audience.

With a name like ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead and a preview in a local paper which made them sound like a hardcore metal band a huge proportion of the audience was comprised of 18yr old virgins in boiler suits and slipshit T-shirts who say things like "Slayer..Raaaaaaaaawkkkkkk" and "people=shit". In fact I asked one of these twats (a 13yr old iron maiden fan) if he had ever heard ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead. "yes," he replied "I heard one song, '...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead' off their new album. it raaaaaawwwwwked".

This song, in case you don't know, is only a 15 second intro to the album which contains no music. Luckily these miserable little shits didn't ruin Trail of Dead's performance despite creating a 'beating circle'.

The support came in the form of Reynolds They were superb, post rock that reminds you of early Mogwai. They were charming and blurred their songs together to create a varied, interesting set. I was very impressed. The metal fans were not however and persisted in saying things like "Why is no one singing?" while attempting to headbang to their eclectic tempo changes.

When ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead took the stage they were clearly a bit pissed and handed out grapes and clementine s to the audience, some of which were eaten and the rest chucked back at them. They were, somewhat inevitably, spectacular.

They opened with mistakes and regrets then moved on to Mark David Chapman. Before the third song (Gargoyle Waiting) the first stage divers appeared. I love stage diving and crowd surfing and all those other antisocial activities and ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead do, genuinely make to want to break stuff, but metal fans are so hilariously over the top it hurts. They all try and pick a fight with the audience before jumping or, tentatively collapsing on to the audience (fat boys).

Luckily during Richter Scale Madness, Blight Takes All and Clair de Lune ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead noticed the metal fans.
"look" they cried "look at all those devil signs.in a church!"
They then wedgied the next metal stagediver and then when he tried to start a fight with ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead they went forward to kiss him. You have never seen a more embarrassed metaler in your life, he ran a mile!

"So we guess you guys like Slayer then" exclaimed the guitarist/drummer/singer/drunkard before flicking a devil sign at them. Unfortunately, or fortunately the irony was wasted on them and they all returned the sign inspiring him to improvise "I hate myself" lyrics at the start of A Perfect Teenhood.

Despite having at least a bottle of JD each the new song "Was There" sounded promising and hinted at the new album being in the style of Mistakes and regrets and Mark David Chapman. The played tumultuous acid induced versions of Aged Dolls and Fake Eyes, dragging out the quieter parts and punkifying the faster sections. While they didn't destroy the drumkit (like at Reading) they did break a guitar and the Bass was torn to shreds by the audience.

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead have huge stage personalities and are incredible to watch, the bassist and drummer/guitarist diving off the stage at the end testifies this and their gothic melding of sonic youth and the who works perfectly. While ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead didn't kill any metal fans perhaps they managed to convert a few to their ways.