Pushing beat-driven industrial, corrosive metal and electronic body music.
Front Line Assembly, the electro-industrial band was formed in Canada in 1986. Their music was introduced to me back in 92 or 93 when a friend at college made me a cassette of some of their songs with some intermix and Front 242 after a conversation about liking the industrial elements of early Depeche Mode. That cassette tape stayed in and was played a lot until a CD player was purchased. Front Line Assembly laid dormant in my head for a while until streaming came along and it sometimes rears its sound in my head and accompanies me on journeys.
They’re playing local to me, ok it’s Easter Sunday but shouldn’t be a problem. Support came from two acts sharing the same ethos on sound.
First up was Tension Control, a German musician called Michael Schrader citing the like of Die Krupps and Nitzer Ebb, the latter I’m a big fan of. Heavy / Fat marching synthesisers fronting industrial and Bauhaus visual. Exactly what you’d expect when describing German Electro Industrial music. A great start.
Next up was Dead Lights, I knew nothing of this band until tonight, definitely came with a following to the gig. Described on their website as Glamgoth? Cyberelectro? Industrial Dance? disguised as dark, sleazy electropop. That works. The drummer was fantastic, driving the performance along. The singer clad in a spiked masked wielding a cane with a torch head that was intermittently , he joked about breaking character on stage to berate Amazon on the purchase. Yes it was Glam, almost performance art and (Sorry) the song ‘I’m Electric did have Future Sailors vibes but overall a great set.
Front Line Assembly took to the stage in their headline slot and delivered exactly what you’d expect. Rhys Fulber took his place next to his laptop and synth accompanied by a drummer with an electric drum pad setup and another member who was twisting sound on an effects panel. Bill Leeb then entered the fray and for the rest of the night delivered the right sound. They sound as good as they did back in the early nighties to me. It was exactly what I expected from them on the night. They’ve been doing this since 1986 and can still get the job done.
Overall a great night. I still like electro-industrial music so from a nostalgic experience time travelling back to art college it was great. Not the fullest house at The 1865 but a great crowd all the same.
@we.will.trampoline.gigs @FrontLineAssemblyOffical at @1865 #livemusic #electro #industrial ♬ original sound – we.will.trampoline.gigs
