Live Review: Into It. Over It. and The Hotelier - Sound Control, Manchester.
On May 10th, I was invited to the sweaty confines of Manchester’s Sound Control to watch Into It. Over It.’s headline performance as part of their Standards tour named after their latest album release, ‘Standards’.
Walking in, I was struck by the sheer number of emo and punk band t-shirts of bands that I was very familiar with, ranging from Modern Baseball to Joyce Manor to Gnarwolves. The t-shirt I was wearing? Counterparts. It made me realise that this is a family of fans, not dedicated to one band within the punk genre, but a large group of them that tour and release music in the same circles.
It’s a great feeling to be part of something like that; the security of knowing that everyone in the room knows exactly what the music is about and the feeling of mutual respect that comes with it.
Further demonstrating my point, the cripplingly miserable four-man band from Massachusetts
- The Hotelier - warmed up for the headline act. However, it seemed that Into It. Over It. couldn’t wait to get up onstage; during The Hotelier’s crowd favourite, ‘Your Deep Rest’ - the stage was gate-crashed by the members wearing lion onesies that IIOI’s Evan Weiss later admitted to spending 49 dollars on. They roamed and leapt around the stage while Hotelier’s Christian Holden tried to hold back the laughter as he sang. After the cats left he joked,
“They could have chosen a better song, it looks bad when I’m singing about suicide and laughing.”
Despite Holden’s concerns about the dark content of his song, it was a heart-warming moment. Imagine being comforted by your own fluffy puss-puss, except this time it’s four grown-ass men wearing lion costumes. The Hotelier played a lovely set, there were sing-alongs, emotions and some tasty time-signature throw-downs. They even showcased new material from their upcoming album, ‘Goodness’, including the solemn singles - ‘Soft Animals’ and ‘Piano Player’. The audience, however, were mostly motionless, apart from the occasional lyric-driven fist-pump, though energy from the crowd wasn’t expected or needed; it was sufficiently nice to stand and admire as they played their more complex compositions such as the currently unreleased ‘Sun’. The track featured an intensely long build-up which most bands would not be brave enough to feature in a live set, yet it had me frozen with awe. Although I did note that throughout the set, there were frequent smatterings of awkward silences between songs which left members of the audience to chat amongst themselves. Bad transitions between songs is a trait I usually don’t forgive live acts for, though Holden later admitted,
“When I went to rockstar school I missed every lesson on banter”
– that may be so. And maybe there’s no such thing as “rockstar school”, but I know that if there were this band would graduate with flying colours.
Since the beginning of Into It. Over It.’s tour on March 13th, Weiss claimed not to have a single fault with any of the equipment, but Manchester had something to say about that. Midway through the set, the bass-amp cut out, leaving Weiss to apologise profusely for the delay, for which he received the cry, “Anything for you!” from one rowdy member of the audience; Weiss joked,
“Only in Manchester, I swear everyone is so polite here in England”.
Later, someone took the honour of proving him wrong. Josh parks played his guitar using a bow during the serene performance of ‘Anesthetic’. Afterwards, Weiss credited his trusted guitarist, “First it was Jimmy Page, then it was Roger Waters, and now it’s Josh Parks”. “Sigur Ros!” – some smart prick called from the crowd. Weiss replied “You can leave […] I’m the guy with the microphone and if I say Jimmy Page did it first, then Jimmy Page did it first” – and the crowd goes wild. The music elicited the same fire that Weiss did. ‘Vis Major’ and ‘Closing Argument’ really got the sparks flying. The entire set consisted of Into It. Over It.’s most augmented material from all across the board, old and new. The transitions were slick and the breakdowns were sick. Though the selfish side of me would have been pleased to hear some live examples of their gentler melodies such as ‘Where Your Nights Often End’ and ‘The Circle Of The Same Ideas’, with Weiss’ encyclopedia of enthrallments, It’s impossible to please everyone. I’ve never considered ‘Upstate Blues’ for be an example of one of these gems, though the track claimed the highlight of the evening. At a break in the song, Weiss expected the crowd to sing along to the line ‘But I couldn’t follow through’, after an awkward pause as no one sang, only one drunken man stepped up to the challenge. Weiss invited the jolly Daniel Johnson up on stage and they rocked out to the rest of the song. Apparently it’s not even the first time he’s joined Into It. Over It. on stage! The band finished the set on my favourite – ‘Midnight: Carroll Street’. Biased reasons aside, I still cannot get over Into It. Over It.