SNM #28: H2O, Regres, Fast Forward, Taut

The gigs of Show No Mercy and the atmosphere surrounding them could be the subject of a book. Also, this event (with the participation of Straight To Your Face) has been etched in golden letters in the annals of hardcore scene history. A very good line-up attracted a crowd of fun-loving people to the Warsaw’s „Progresja”. The announcement of a concert by the highly esteemed, almost cult band H2O, caused a lot of excitement last year when they were supposed to play along with Death Before Dishonor. Ultimately, the „water boys” did not perform, but at the end of April this year, SNM together with the Katowice team Straight To Your Face put the icing on the cake by fulfilling the dreams of many hardcore fans :). I went to the capital with my friend Magda from Świdnik, whom I greet at this point. The journey passed relatively quickly, although we were full of doubts whether we would be able to arrive on time, as we left Lublin quite late. Luckily, a half-hour delay meant that we didn’t miss any performances.

When we entered the „Progresja”, the band Taut from Świdnik was already on stage, which, despite its short career and few concerts played, can be considered one of the most promising revelations of the native hardcore scene. The band performs concerts without complexes that many more „deserving” and experienced bands on our scene would not be ashamed of. The heavy, uncompromising ride in the style of Death Before Dishonor or Terror works excellently live. In addition, Taut’s tracks are composed in a very accessible and high-quality way, which is confirmed by their debut material „…On The Edge Of”, which by the way was distributed for free at the entrance. The Świdnik team, which came with the band, started a big mosh pit in front of the stage, eagerly participating in singalongs. Besides the vocalist, the rest of the musicians were a bit static, but the music made up for everything. The band sounded very good, with the highlight of their performance being the performance of a Polish-language song „Jesteśmy Razem”, during which we were even treated to saxophone parts (a few days earlier in Lublin this element was missing). As Taut are tough guys, there were also greetings for all those practicing MMA sports haha :). At the beginning, they also played a Strife cover, but since we entered the room during that time, we didn’t get to see it. They were definitely the heaviest band of the evening, and didn’t quite fit in with the rest of the lineup.

The next formation – Fast Forward from Warsaw presented a slightly different vision of hardcore – more along the lines of bands like Champion or Comeback Kid. For those who remember the band Hundred Inch Shadow, I inform you that FF is a new band by their vocalist, and the vibes are quite similar. It was not a bad concert, but I missed some power in it, something that could spontaneously get the audience going. It’s possible that the sound system, which in this case failed, negatively affected the reception. Despite that, I think fans of melodic sounds could be satisfied, especially since Fast Forward’s songs are quite catchy and easy to get into. The setlist was dominated by songs from their debut EP supplemented by a cover of Stretch Arm Strong’s „For The Record”.

Just before the main course took the stage, Regres from Częstochowa set up on stage, who incidentally played two concerts that day (the second one at Noc Walpurgii). I think they were the perfect support for H2O, although as vocalist Paweł mentioned from the stage – bands shouldn’t be separated in such a way because each one is equally important. Regres themselves can be considered a living legend of positive hardcore/punk in Poland. The audience’s reaction was a great proof of that, they went crazy and knew all the lyrics by heart, constantly singing along. Another mega-friendly performance sprinkled with cool chats offstage about the message behind the lyrics and how the boys felt uncomfortable and un-punk having a separate dressing room at Progresja hehehe. All the songs were equally well received – both from „W Naszych Dłoniach” and their latest material „Ta Iskra Wciąż Płonie”. The performance wouldn’t be complete without the mandatory song at every Regres concert, „Punk Rock To Pozytyw”.

The crowd intensified just before H2O took the stage, and the lack of ventilation at Progresja started to be felt. However, this did not dampen the enthusiasm of the audience, who erupted from the first notes and the stage dives seemed endless. The friendly guys from NYC started with „1995”, then you could hear songs like „Nothing To Prove”, „Thicker Than Water”, „Still Here”, „Everready” and many other tracks. The set was a kind of cross-section of the Americans’ albums. The melodic, energetic hardcore sparked a maximum positive response among the people – those beaming faces, the fire emanating from them – an incredible sight. The musicians themselves seemed very excited, didn’t mind anyone jumping on stage, guitarist at one point even got knocked over. The guys themselves prompted the security to lay off throwing people off the stage. And the absolute highlight was during the last song played as an encore, „What Happened?”, when fans stormed the stage chanting the whole song, and „Toby Morse” shared the microphone standing on the drum kit. It was like a replay of Suicidal Tendencies at Stodoła hehe. A fantastic ending to the concert. I must mention that the heat in front of the stage was incredible, and at this point, another salute to the organizers who were handing out water to those partying in front of the stage – a wonderful gesture! It’s worth mentioning that there was a donation box for anti-fascists arrested on 24.04 in Białystok at the concert, which the bands reminded from the stage, for which they deserve another round of applause. It was nice to see familiar faces, including a buddy from Chełm (greetings Przemo!) at the front during the stagediving hehe. In summary: 4 solid bands, fantastic atmosphere, chaos in front of the stage, and a bruise the size of a grapefruit on my side from the injury (a miracle I didn’t fall on my head hehe).