Music • Haste
the Day performed at the House of Blues
in Downtown Disney April 1.Haste the
Day.
‘ Winter Truth’ tour ends with high expectations
By
Brigid McGuire
Online Forty-Niner
Diversions Editor
My pace quickened as I realized I would be late, while trying to maneuver my
way around large groups of families wearing Mickey Mouse ears and pushing strollers.
My phone rings at exactly 5 p.m. and I tell Michael Murphy from Haste the Day
I’ll be there as soon as I knock down some more tourists weighed down
with gifts and useless Disney memorabilia.
Haste the Day opened the Winter Truth tour with Bleeding Through April 1 and
had just completed a whole U.S. tour.
This wasn’t Haste the Day’s first national tour, but it was the
group’s first tour with new lead singer Stephen Keech.
The old singer Jimmy Ryan left the band right before the new tour started.
I saw a young man wearing tighter pants then my younger sister’s and
whose hair looks longer than mine standing in front of the House of Blues Anaheim
in Downtown Disney.
After apologizing for my tardiness, I asked Michael what is next after this,
because it is the second to last show of the tour.
“
We’re taking a month and a half off to write, to write a new record with
our new singer Steven,” Murphy said. “So we’re really excited
about that.”
“
We really needed time off. We haven’t really had any time off for six
months. We’ve been touring our little butts off.
After [recording] we’re doing ‘It Dies Today’ tour in June.
Then we’re doing a headlining tour in August. That will be really fun,
we haven’t headlined in like a year.”
I commented on how the band is usually the supporting band on tours.
“
We really try to support a lot,” Murphy said. “So by the time you
headline you have twice the fan base.”
What was the craziest show on this tour?
“
Atlanta, we were shooting our DVD,” Murphy said.
“
There were four cameras and all the kids were going nuts. The reaction was
awesome.”
The scene at the concert itself was a mixture of hardcore and metal fans galore.
Everywhere I look I see black T-shirts and hair that looked like it was styled
in the dark.
On most tours, the very first opening band usually does not receive that much
attention, but as soon as the lights dimmed and Haste the Day took the stage,
the crowd burst with yells and chants for the band to start. There appeared
to be no hesitation with the audience, as new singer Keech took the stage.
The pit opened and was soon filled with scenesters and their karate-chop style
of dancing began.
On first hearing Keech sing, I was blown away by the amount of power he had
in his vocals. With some screamo bands, the singer’s lyrics and message
are lost in the screaming and growling that is very characteristic of this
style of music, but not with Keech. His voice was crisp and his screams were
gut wrenching.
The group’s performance was intense and chalk full of metal and rock.
At one point in the show, the lead singer of Winter Solstice, Peter Walters,
came on stage and sang a song with Keech.
Some of the best crowd reactions came when Haste the Day sang “Long Way
Down” and “For a Lifetime.”
In “For a Life Time,” the crowd chanted with Keech and pumped fists
in the air.
The next band to take the stage was Between the Buried and Me, the experimental
hardcore group from North Carolina. The group’s sound is different and
spontaneous. During one song in particular, a very heavy breakdown was interrupted
with an ire melodic guitar riff. If you enjoy the Locust, I highly recommend
this group.
Every Time I Die then took the stage and opened with their new single “Kill
the Music.” Singer Keith Buckley owned the audience as he screamed, “Come
on baby! Give me the creeps, yeah!”
They continued to play songs from the group’s old album “Hot Damn!” and
the new release “Gutter Phenomenon.” The group had strobe lights
flash continuously throughout the performance, which kind of gave you the feeling
of a seizure coming on.
Lastly Bleeding Through took the stage with a huge aurora of determination
and darkness. All band members were dressed completely in black, except for
keyboard player Marta, who was dressed all in white. She looked like a lost,
innocent girl in a sea of sin.
The group played many of its new songs from the 2006 album “The Truth” and
from its last release “This is Love, This is Murderous.”
The lead singer Brandon Schieppati kept the crowd entertained with “monkey
rolls” and songs about blood, death and despair.
The Winter Truth tour was completely filled with metal, rock and screamo. This
summer except to see Every Time I Die on Warped Tour, Bleeding Through on Ozzfest
and Haste the Day headlining their own tour.
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