Upon entry to Sydney's Crowbar for Canadian band Comeback Kid, a certain shirt sticks out at the merch desk.
It's brandished with the acronym DFWTK, which, as it turns out, stands for 'Don't F... With The Knife'. Shortly thereafter, Western Sydney's own Trenchknife take to the stage to show exactly why you shouldn't.Their Mack Truck-riffs and precision drumming hit both hard and often, with early arrivals windmilling and spin-kicking in approval.
One kid even runs into the middle of the mosh to do a backflip – what other local bands are getting that kind of reaction? Few and far between, that's for absolute sure.
Heists seize the stage next, fresh from an extensive year of touring in support of their debut album 'Troubled Souls'.
The band's more melodic take on hardcore is closer to Have Heart than Hatebreed, meaning some that were previously ready to throw hands are now statue-still.
Thankfully, however, the charm of frontman Chris Zagas is able to ease some of the genre-cop tension. "Come vibe with us," he offers – and, to Heists' credit, quite a few people take him up on it. They even get a few to come and grab the mic during certain tracks, too. Nicely done.
The energy in the room, up to this point, has been simmering. The second that the house music comes down and Drain take to the stage, however, boiling point is hit in an instant.
The Californian band are on their maiden voyage down under, and their arrival has clearly been a long time coming. Many in attendance moshed in their bedrooms to their 2020 debut 'California Cursed', which arrived some five weeks into lockdown.
To then experience those songs up close and personal, without a crowd barrier and with frontman Sammy Ciaramitaro dangling the mic in punters' faces like a carrot, is a living and breathing definition of catharsis.
The momentum does not let up for the entire time the band are onstage, and the hard-partying energy sets an easy highpoint for the entire evening – not to mention a bar for other international hardcore bands to clear on their visits throughout the rest of the year.
None of that, of course, is to disparage Comeback Kid – in either their legacy or in their ensuing headline set.
The Canadian veterans have done a great thing in bringing Drain out for their first-ever tour of the country, taking a younger band under their wing and giving them an opportunity to perform on the other side of the world – one they may not have otherwise gotten.
Naturally, such a dynamic means the band themselves could be left feeling like the Woody to Drain's shiny new Buzz Lightyear – but, for those that grew up with Comeback Kid as their favourite toy, tonight's set (21 January) is a rush of nostalgia that is undeniably joyous.
For those that stick around, the Winnipeg natives put the pedal to the metal and offer up a breathless, career-spanning set that still keeps up the stage dives, moshing and mic grabs that have been part and parcel of the band's shows since their inception over 20 years prior.
Cuts from the beloved 'Wake The Dead' album alight plenty of movement, while detours into their most recent album 'Heavy Steps' impressively serve as highlights rather than excuses to head for the bar.
The band's tried-and-true melodic hardcore is ready-made for venues just like Crowbar – at which they performed previously for New Year's Eve in 2019 – and a performance like this cements their evergreen status among the upper echelon of North American punk rock of the 21st century.
An inspired, exciting end to a sweaty, heavy night that has not offered up a single dull moment.
