Megan Langley | The Camera Affect

Grayscale’s Nella Vita Tour 2019 ft Bearings, Belmont, & Rich People.

October 19, 2019 Leave a comment

Grayscale are a band that have been on my radar for quite a while now. I first became a fan right when they signed to Fearless Records and released their single “Atlantic,” the lead single of their debut LP, “Adornment.” Since then, the band have been on numerous national and international tours, including the 2018 Vans Warped Tour, and this year, they did their first headlining tour here in the United States, in support of their newly released sophomore album, “Nella Vita.”

Opening up the night was New Jersey based Rich People. Three of the songs that the band played (“Fierce Grace,” “White Mark,” and one of my personal favorites of theirs, “Back Step (All The Real Girls”) are off of their most recent release, their 2018 album “Grace Session.” I love the raw emotion in this band’s music, but that is amplified even more in their live performance, which really impressed me.

Second on the bill was Canada based pop punk band Bearings. They primarily played songs off of their debut album, “Blue In The Dark,” such as “Where You Are,” “Aforementioned,” “Eyes Closed,” “Beautiful Places,” and the title track from that album. The band also included “So Damn Wrong” (one of their two recently released singles) and “Letters Home” from their third EP “Nothing Here Is Permanent.” Bearings brought quite a bit of energy throughout their whole set and were a lot of fun to watch.

Second to last was the Chicago based band Belmont, another pop punk band that have now become label-mates with Bearings, with their recent signing to Pure Noise Records. Belmont’s music leans more towards the more energetic and overall more punk influenced side of the pop punk genre, and they carried that energy into their live performance from start to finish as they played many songs from their self titled record (“Pushing Daisies,” “Hollowed Out”) as well as a few older favorites, such as “Overstepping,” “731” and “Convalescence.”

Finishing out the night was Philadelphia based band Grayscale, who have evolved their sound quite a lot over the years, and especially with their sophomore LP “Nella Vita,” which this tour was in support of. They played a handful of songs from that album, including singles “In Violet,” “Painkiller Weather,” “Old Friends” and “Baby Blue,” as well as a few others off of the album: “Just Right,” “YOUNG,” and “Twilight: My Heaven.” Grayscale have quickly become one of my favorite bands to see live and have impressed me each time I’ve seen them, and this show was no different.

Grayscale put on yet another impressive performance, I got to see Belmont, Bearings, and Rich People for the first time (and all their sets were a great first impression of their live performances), and overall, the Nella Vita tour may just be one of my favorites that I’ve attended in 2019 so far.

9/24/19 – Marquis Theater

Photos + Review courtesy of Megan Langley | Instagram

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Free Throw ft Chris Farren, Youth Fountain & Macseal | Fall 2019 Tour

September 29, 2019 Leave a comment

I’ve heard a lot about Free Throw over the past couple of years through the albums they’ve released and tours they’ve been apart of, but really became a fan of them this year when they released their third album, “What’s Past Is Prologue.” The band began a headlining tour in support of this record, with support from Chris Farren, Youth Fountain and Macseal, which I attended the Denver date of.

Macseal kicked off the night. The emo/alternative quartet played songs that spanned their discography as a band so far, from playing “Cats” and “5:45 AM (Not Fun)” from their 2015 self-titled debut EP, to “Harry” and “Next To You” from their 2017 release “Yeah, No, I Know,” and “Golden Hour” and “Sure, Thing Shelly” (which was a great choice to open the set with) from their most recent EP to date, 2018’s “Map It Out.” Their set also included music from their upcoming debut LP, “Super Enthusiast,” – the lead single “Always Hazy,” and another new song from the record. Macseal put on a very fun and energetic set and started off the show very well.

Speaking of energy, that’s easily a word I’d use to describe the set from the next band, Youth Fountain. The Canadian pop punk band played several songs from their recently released debut album, “Letters To Our Former Selves,” an album that has also quickly become one of my favorites of this year so far. I love the band’s more emotional and slightly aggressive take on pop punk, and that all shows even more through their incredible live show. From the set opener (Rose Coloured Glass) to the song that not only closed out their set, but also closes out their album (“Blooms”) and the many songs in between (“Letters To Our Former Selves,” “Complacent,” “Worried,” “Moody,” “Deadlocked,” and “Grinding Teeth”), the crowd was singing and shouting along with them, bringing as much energy and passion as the band did throughout the entire set.

Next up was Chris Farren, who’s been releasing music under his own name for a few years now. He opened with the very catchy “Search 4 Me,” one of two singles that he’s released so far from his upcoming record, “Born Hot.” (The other single of the two is “Surrender,” which he played later on in the set). He also played a lot of previous material, including the singles “Where U Are” and “The Way That I Love U Has Changed,” and three songs from his sophomore album “Can’t Die” – “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Human Being,” and “Say You Want Me.”

Closing out the night was Free Throw. Throughout their hour long set, they played eleven songs, also spanning from throughout their entire discography, including a handful of tracks from “What’s Past Is Prologue” (“The Corner’s Dilemma,” “Tail Whip, Struggle,” “You Don’t Say That” and the title track), as well as some older favorites, such as “Better Have Burn Heal” and “Randy, I Am The Liquor” from their sophomore album “Bear Your Mind,” and “Tongue Tied,” “Two Beers In,” and “Good Job, Champ,” from their debut LP, “These Days Are Gone.” With each song they played, the band brought so much energy and so much emotion, putting on a great live show overall.

Photos + Review courtesy of Megan Langley | Instagram

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2019 © The Camera Affect

Filed under Photography, Reviews, Tours Tagged with Chris Farren, Free Throw, live music, Macseal, Megan Langley, Megan Langley Photography, music, Review, show review, The Camera Affect, The Camera Affect Promotions, TheCameraAffect, Youth Fountain

“Pressure” by Wage War out NOW!

September 10, 2019 Leave a comment

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One of many bands in the metal-core scene who has continued to evolve their sound is Ocala, Florida based Wage War, from their debut “Blueprints,” which showcases the heaviest aspects of the band’s sound to their sophomore effort “Deadweight,” which incorporated some more melodic elements into their metalcore and post-hardcore influenced sound. However, the band’s third LP, “Pressure,” seems to show the evolution of Wage War’s sound the most, as they include elements from past material while also trying out some new styles.

Wage War really experimented with their sound on this record, with quite a few of these songs showing influences of rock and post-hardcore. “Grave” and “Take The Fight” show off Briton Bond’s singing skills through some very raw and passionate performances, “The Line” brings a lot of energy and a bit of aggression through the instrumentals accompanying a mostly melodic vocal performance, and the closing track “Will We Ever Learn” brings some dynamic instrumentals and powerful vocals through both heavier and more melodic performances.

Although the band did experiment quite a bit with this record, there are still quite a few moments on here that are reminiscent of their older material. “Low” is easily the heaviest out of all the singles, “Ghost” brings a ton of energy through the instrumentation and one of the heaviest breakdowns on the record, and “Fury” is one of the most aggressive songs all around, from the vocals to the instrumentals. Two of the singles (and two of my favorites on the album), “Who I Am” and “Prison,” both show off the band’s post-hardcore and metalcore influences with the balance of heavier and more melodic sections. A few of these songs take influence from the more melodic elements found on the band’s previous record, “Deadweight.” “Me Against Myself” has extremely catchy melodies from start to finish and is one of the most memorable songs on the record, “Forget My Name” is just as memorable and even shows some slight alternative rock and pop punk influences in the equally as catchy guitar work, and “Hurt” is a lot slower compared to a lot of these other songs and is a very raw, emotional ballad with a huge chorus.

While Wage War’s album is certainly a little bit different from their previous two LPs, I enjoyed the amount of variety and experimentation on it, and really like the different sounds and styles they experimented with. It not only shows new sides to the band’s sound, but also shows what they are capable of.

Review courtesy of Megan Langley | Instagram

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Dean Lewis’ A Place We Knew Tour ft Scott Helman

August 20, 2019 Leave a comment

I love discovering new music, and one way I’ve been doing so in recent months is through the radio. One of my favorite artists I’ve discovered through doing this is Dean Lewis, an Australian musician who’s gotten a lot of recognition over here in America not just from the frequent radio play of his smash hit singles “Be Alright” and “Stay Awake,” but also from the album that both of these songs are on, called “A Place We Knew.” The album dropped during the spring of this year, and in support of it, Dean headed out on a worldwide headlining tour, which I attended the Denver date of.

Opening up the night was Scott Helman, a pop musician from Canada that I’ve also become pretty familiar with recently, especially with his latest release, his EP “Hang Ups,” which was released in late 2018. He opened with the title track off of that, and continued to play a variety of songs from throughout his discography, such as “Ripple Effect,” “PDA,” and “Gaslight” from his 2017 debut LP “Hôtel De Ville,” and fan favorite “Bungalow” from his 2014 EP “Augusta.” Throughout his entire set, which was just his voice and an acoustic guitar, Scott showed the talent he has as a musician and performer.

About twenty minutes after Scott finished, Dean Lewis took the stage in front of 1,100 fans who were ecstatic to see him perform. He opened his set with the opening track off of “A Place We Knew,” called “Hold Of Me,” followed by an older song, “Need You Now,” and the title track off of “A Place We Knew.” His setlist was primarily focused on songs from that record, including hits like “7 Minutes,” “Waves,” “Stay Awake” and “Be Alright,” as well as others, such as “Straight Back Down” (one of my personal favorites off the record), “Time To Go,” and “Half A Man.” Dean puts a lot of emotion into the performances in his songs, and the same thing goes for his live set as well. I loved the emotion he put into every song and think that might have been my favorite part about his entire live performance.

Both of the acts on the A Place We Knew Tour put on very impressive and captivating performances, making the show a great one overall.

Photos + Review courtesy of Megan Langley | Instagram

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Filed under Photography, Reviews, Tours Tagged with Dean Lewis, meg langley, Megan Langley, Megan Langley Photography, Scott Helman

Miss May I & The Word Alive celebrate 10 Year Anniversary of “Monument” & “Deceiver” ft Afterlife, Rozu, & Thousand Below | Photos + Review

August 19, 2019 Leave a comment

In the summer of 2010, two of some of the biggest bands in the metalcore and post-hardcore scene released what could arguably be some of the most important albums in their careers. Miss May I released their sophomore record “Monument” on August 16th, and exactly two weeks later, The Word Alive dropped their debut album “Deciever.” With the ten-year anniversary of both of these albums almost right around the corner, both bands embarked on a co-headlining North American tour to celebrate the occasion, bringing along Afterlife and Thousand Below to support them, as well as having some up-and-coming bands from certain areas open up their local date of the tour.

Opening up the night was Denver-based metalcore band Rozu. Though their set was only twenty minutes, they put everything into their performance and put on a really good show. They played the four singles that they have out currently (“Dissolve,” “Divide,” “Faceless,” and “Anchor”), as well as an unreleased track called “Rue.”. The band’s metalcore sound showed through the energy and aggression found throughout their live set, and their performance overall really impressed me.

Next up was Florida-based band Afterlife. The band dropped their debut LP “Breaking Point” back in January of this year, and primarily included songs from that in their setlist: “PSA,” “Throat,” “Broken Home,” “New Rage,” and “Giving Back The Pain.” However, they still made room in their set for an older track, which was “Vicious Cycle,” the title track from their debut EP of the same name. The band mixes elements from various types of rock, and particularly alternative rock and nu-metal, and that blend of influences showed really well through their set and the songs they chose for it.

The third band on the bill was Thousand Below. The band opened the set with their latest single “Chemical,” which is one of the most melodic (and in my personal opinion, one of the catchiest) tracks that they’ve released so far. They followed that up with two more of my favorite songs of theirs, debut single “Sinking Me” and “The Love You Let Too Close,” the title track from their debut album that came out last year. The remainder of the set was filled with a few more songs from that album: “Vein,” which is one of the band’s most aggressive tracks and one that really got the crowd moving, “No Place Like You” and “Tradition.” The band has always stood out to me in the post-hardcore genre and their live performance was further proof of that.

Second to last was The Word Alive, who began the set by playing their album “Deceiver” from start to finish in honor of the anniversary. This album in particular is one of their much more aggressive records, but also has plenty of powerful and memorable choruses and some meaningful lyrics, so as much as their set had the crowd moshing and surfing, it had them singing along for the hour long set. After those ten songs were finished, the band played some of their more recent tracks – “Trapped,” the lead single off of their 2016 album “Dark Matter,” “Misery,” a single that was released on its own awhile after the album dropped, and “Why Am I Like This?,” which is a song from their latest album “Violent Noise” and one of my personal favorites of theirs.

Closing out the night was Miss May I, who played not only all the songs found on Monument when it first dropped, but also the tracks found on the deluxe reissue. After that, they concluded their set with three different songs that spanned from their entire discography: “Hey Mister” from “At Heart,” “Forgive and Forget” and “Shadows Inside,” the title track from their most recent release. They easily played one of the heaviest sets of the night, with people moshing and crowd surfing almost instantly, and put so much energy into their performance as well.

This tour was my first time seeing all of these bands, and I loved it. Everyone on the lineup put on a great performance, and this tour was a great way to commemorate and celebrate the anniversary of two important albums for this genre of music.

7/30/2019 – Photos + Review courtesy of Megan Langley | Instagram

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