Fireside Chat

Gallows

Epitaph, Warner, UK

Let's step back a couple of years, to a time when it At The Drive-In broke through to the mainstream (or to it's fringes, at the very least), rejuvenating both the sound and the fanbase of hardcore punk along the way. Only to break up right after their breakthrough. Or consider, for a moment, the fate of Sweden's Refused, who not only named their ultimate album "The Shape Of Punk To Come" but managed to actually live up to the title. and break up afterwards. It seems like few things are as hard to handle for bands that grew up with the strict idealism of hardcore punk than success. Now take Britain's Gallows, whose take on the history of pre-fashionshot emocore and screamo mania made them an unlikely success both in Britain and the USA, with massive tours and a resulting deal with Warner Records. You'd think they'd stumble, wouldn't you? Either to give up on the ideals, or the wild imagination that made them attractive in the first place, or or the power to kep fighting for all that within the machinery of the music industry. But not so, they turned in, of all things, a concept album on the decay of their home country, 'Grey Britain', an even darker, heavier beast than its predecessor. Now there's success worth having a chat about. Needless to say, though, don't play this show in front of your grandma.