Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Orto bar / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: June 15, 2015
Attendance: 100
Defeater, a band from Massachusetts, or more precisely the city of Boston, are an interesting musical hybrid who somehow managed to carve out their own recognizable stylistic corner of a (over)saturated music scene. Especially when we’re talking about offshoots with hardcore at their core. In mid-July 2013 the guys put out their third studio album »Letters Home«, which did really well on the charts and brought them wider, you could even say global, recognition. So with that still-current record in their pocket, they landed at Ljubljana’s Orto bar too, where a nice crowd of Slovenian faithful was waiting for them on a Monday.
The opening warm-up went to local boys Seul Ocean. The guys, based in Logaške Rovte, make entirely instrumental music. It’s all about following clean melodic lines that grab you the moment you hear them, and those lines take the dominant role in the band’s character. They’re often layered over a smeared wall of riffs, and since these motifs are multi-repetitive, you’ve surely already guessed that we can slot them in with the post-rockers. Maybe they missed the genre’s hype train by a hair, but that’s a bit of a stepmotherly remark. The curious yet dreamy hypnotic loops sounded sweet and easygoing. In many ways Seul Ocean don’t bring anything new to the scene, but their commitment delivered a confident show. And for a band fighting its way up the scene, it’s super important to get the chance to play in front of established acts. A good reference and an encouraging performance from the youngsters.
If Seul Ocean drew 30 people at most, the picture changed drastically before Defeater took the stage. A good 100 heads gathered in front of the stage on the ground floor of Orto bar, including a solid dozen fired-up fans of the band, who dove into a full-on mosh right after the acoustic intro track, when the band “switched on” the electricity, the guitar riffs came crashing down, and the room was flooded with the piercing barking and screaming of vocalist Derek Archambault.
The band put on the show their fans came looking for and demanded. You could feel it from the first second to the last. The chemistry between crowd and band clicked perfectly, and the band fed that returning energy from the audience straight into their stage presence, which made for a really nice concert. Musically, Defeater are by no means a towering achievement and they don’t bring any creative revolution. The sprinkles of predictable melodies carry that typical American “heartland rock” element, which, combined with the hardcore foundation, even reflects a kind of revival of the emo wave from the first half of the previous decade. Defeater are superbly tight and in sync, they delivered a very precise stage performance and a gig that was confidently charged in both energy and execution, fully satisfying every last die-hard fan who came that night to back Defeater at Orto bar.
Setlist
DEFEATER:
1. Brothers
2. Bastards
3. No Shame
4. The Red, White and Blues
5. Dead Set
6. Rabbit Foot
7. Blessed Burden
8. Dear Father
9. No Savior
10. A Wound and Scar
11. Empty Glass
12. Cowardice
—encore—
13. Hopeless Again
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