Live report: The End Will Be Kicks + AHRM @ IAT! Clubnight #1, Debaser, Malmö 09/08/07
It's not easy at all to open up for an act that all members are fans of. But Malmö-based trio AHRM showed no mercy whatsoever and they delivered a punk rock show full of furious beats and maximum overdrive. They kept it tight too, just doing six songs with an attitude that widely exceeded my expectations. Kudos for that! Their driven rock influenced by Drive Like Jehu and, to some extent, Alarma Man, left me exhausted and satisfied. That alone is a very good mark in my book. Singer/guitarist Jonas Ottosson (ex-Revolvo) has such an attack in his voice. A truly great experience opened up the first club night It's a Trap! hosted at Debaser Malmö. Now we'll just have to sit back and wait for the guys to finish up recording their upcoming album. I know I will buy a copy right away.
To say that the anticipations were sky-high is no exaggeration. After all, these guys have backgrounds in numerous bands that, to me and lots more, play such an important role to who I am today. And frequent readers already know what I'm talking about; Him Kerosene and Breach are both bands that Avi and I have been nagging about over the years and this was a chance to get to finally see them as The End Will Be Kicks. I have, to this date, seen Breach live two times and I guess I was aiming a bit over the top in my expectations for this gig, but dealing with the genius mind of Niklas Quintana, anything is possible. The gig was, on one hand, a bit rusty; mostly because of the lack of shows lately I guess, but on the other hand, the songs are pure magic. Giving us tracks like "Top fuel motorsåg", "You are all kinds of red lights", "If you see them tell them I love them", "Ass of a friend" and a new one that's not yet named (referred to as "the one in ¾"), I'm more than satisfied. TEWBK followed AHRM's example and did it short and intense. Beauty.
Text by Jonas Appelqvist
Pics by Sofia Qvarnström