15 years and going strong on the back of their 6th album the loudest band in NYC were the loudest band in Glasgow for the night as A Place To Bury Strangers brought their sensory overload to the basement of Broadcast as part of their “Nothing Left to Destroy” tour.
Camilla Sparksss starts with her collection of custom pressed vinyls propped up against the wall, with her heavy synth beats and haunting vocals she looks to be picking up the mantle forged by Alice Glass (+ Crystal Castles) who had played across the road just a few weeks previously.
Next along were Come, the cult American rock band who definitely attracted a few fans who came mainly to see them. The venue’s audio didn’t quite do the band justice as much of their material depends on Thalia Zedek’s strong vocals but there was a lot of love in the room for the very experienced band.
Then it was time for APTBS featuring a line up of new faces with Sandra Fedowitz on drums and Oliver’s old Skywave bandmate John Fedowitz reunited on bass. Descriptions of APTBS usually don’t get far before mentioning the major influence of The Jesus and Mary Chain so in some ways this was a spiritual homecoming. From the second the band turned on stage the already packed basement was filled with a wall of noise that didn’t let up throughout the entire set. Any band that turns up with their own lighting is putting on a performance and this was never more so than tonight with Oliver Ackermann constantly reconfiguring the projectors and strobes mid set.
Old favourites like Dead Beat had their place however it is a credit to the band that a lot of material from the 2022 album “See Through You” was what shone through with Sandra’s drumming becoming a central part of their sound. At times the strobes were turned off leaving the venue in complete darkness with only the occasional ominous shadows hinting what the band were up to. Midway through the set the entire band impressively managed to sneak undetected into the middle of crowd instruments and all for a rendition of “Hold On Tight“.
Never has a show been more accurately described as an assault on the senses as the smoke filled pedal mashing strobe flashing performance put on by APTBS and for fans of shoegaze noise rock they are an absolute must see.
Words and pictures: Dale Harvey @daleharvey