Stick To Your Guns – Gig Review 2nd February @ Adelaide UniBar, Adelaide SA

Posted on February 7, 2024 by Will Oakeshott

Stick To Your Guns
Adelaide UniBar, Adelaide SA
Friday 2nd February 2024
Support: SeeYouSpaceCowboy, Outsider and Stressed

“A life spent in service of others is the most profound thing you can do.” – Jesse Barnett, Stick To Your Guns, Friday 2nd February 2024.

The respected vocalist and sole original member for the long-serving melodic moshcore quintet is a man of admiration. Undoubtedly Stick To Your Guns are adored worldwide for their modern take on hardcore music and Mr Barnett’s lyrical prose of social awareness and global issues. However, arguably the most impressive feature to Jesse is his praise toward people who work to make the world a better place, no matter what scale of difference it makes. It is this positivity that has him held in high regard, it is this positivity and support that makes STYG such a treasured outfit, and it is this positivity in the above message that helped make this show so memorable.

Local straight-edge hardcore five-piece Stressed were presented with the honour of opening the event and even though it was very early in the evening and the crowd numbers were still building, the quintet exploded into action once their ten collective feet hit the stage. ‘R.O.T.S.E.’ was presented as their introduction and the 53-second track acted as their mission statement, they were there to move and move the audience. Inspired by the greats of the genre including LA’s Strife – Stressed do not hold back whatsoever; vocalist Nicole Fickling shared her message and meaningful lyrics to those willing to meet her at the barrier offstage and many were present to sing-along. Guitarist Max Shammall broke a string during the band’s second song, and even though this forced a quick exit, Stressed continued without missing a beat.
‘Unite’ brought about the two-step dancing and ninja-mosh antics as are consistent at every show the outfit does. A notable and outstanding aspect to the performance was the between song speeches Nicole shared; these mostly incorporated the theme of using any kind of privilege to help others and voice one’s concerns, whether it’s climate change or the current situation with Palestine. Remember that opening quote? Positivity and support of others will always help in even the smallest way.

Outsider (Ovstider) wasted no time in enhancing the tenacity of the show to the next level with their brand of progressive moshcore. Instantaneously the quartet’s fans began their slam dancing and windmilling once the first breakdown was administered. ‘Calloused (From Trying To Hold On)’ was a highlight, with drummer Harry Mason blowing a kiss to the audience before the trigger beatdowns were unleashed. The title track from their EP Reflection Of You included some striking nu-metal nuances and fascinating drum and vocal duets where the atmosphere changed astonishingly. Front-man Tom Drizner is commanding and maniacal in his presence, demanding crowd members to dance along with him as well as performing his own fly kicks without missing a beat.
Ovtsider’s following is unsurprisingly growing quickly and if bands like Varials and Sworn In get your feet moving, this four-piece is one to keep an eye and ear on.

There is no doubt that the headliners were certainly a drawcard for this event, but California’s SeeYouSpaceCowboy were the group that in all probability, brought the most allurement. The quintet’s brand of math-metalcore is dazzlingly dissonant and as first-time visitors to our shores, a near-capacity audience were eagerly awaiting the mystifying mayhem that the band is known for.

Not an entrance but an eruption. The five San Diegans shook the venue within milliseconds of their first track; it was beyond chaos. Each member swung their bodies and instruments around in acrobatic madness with no concern for their personal safety. For this scribe, it was similar to witnessing The Chariot or The Dillinger Escape Plan – two outstanding outfits who not only threw caution to the wind when they performed, they threw themselves out with it. Even with an arm injury and in a brace, vocalist Connie Sgarbossa had no hesitance in putting themselves in harm’s way and not once did their voice falter.

‘Life As A Soap Opera Plot, 26 Years Running’ was a theatrical display of luminous lunacy, ‘The End To A Last Moment Of Intimacy’ was a brilliant musical swordfight of jazzy indie pop duelling with deranged metalcore, and ‘Chewing The Scenery’ would have made The Callous Daoboys rather envious with SYSC’s ballistic delivery.
Suddenly it was over, a blur of frantic figures came to a halt and exited the stage. Honestly, it was too short and a return headline tour is an obligation; enough said.

A-Ha’s synth-pop hit from 1980s ‘Take On Me’ was a weird choice to indicate that the headline band was about to begin, but it is a wonderful song and it worked. Adelaide UniBar was brimming with excitement and hardcore fans ready to do their mosh workouts and shout along louder than Stick To Your Guns could deliver. It happened with the first gang-vocal of opening track ‘Diamond’ – “I Know!” was screamed to the ceiling and at the five men who were performing their cherished fourth LP in full. Frontman Jesse Barnett was already at the barrier with his adoring audience, screaming the powerful words in their faces and before the closing breakdown he quipped: “Oh Buddy” then howled the words: “My time, Your time, Our time is running out.” This was just the opening song.

‘Against Them All’ carried on this liveliness, but with one of the best pop-punk driven choruses in melodic moshcore ever written; it is near impossible to not sing-along. ‘The Bond’ brought about the first circle-pit with more thrash directives and a colossal beatdown that saw fists swinging wildly. ‘We Still Believe’ then transformed the aura to a punk posicore motif that had an emotional stir of hopefulness. It was quite breath-taking how impactful the anthem is.

Mr Barnett then announced that it was STYG’s eighth time in Australia and they were so thankful that they had supporters still after all this time on the other side of the world. He then joked about how his knees hurt and it was past his bedtime. ‘Beyond The Sun’ ended up being quite the juxtaposition of his complaints as the whole band seemed to reverse their ages by 12 years to when the song was released, and the groove-to-crossover-to-hardcore-to-punk anthem was astounding.

‘Life In A Box’ maintained the youthful exuberance and somehow ‘Bringing You Down’ accelerated it. ‘I AM’ was extremely touching and harnessed an energy like the sound Defeater exhibit with their brand of poetic and progressive hardcore. Jesse’s speech about how we currently exist in a very difficult world and that we need to keep persevering and helping each other engaged the entirety of the venue. Truthfully, he was barely able to finish before the applause overtook his eloquent words in reverence.

The five-piece then did a non-core (remained onstage) which included the cry-out chant track ‘Nobody’ and older favourite ‘Amber’ which thankfully Connie Sgarbossa returned to the stage to help intensify the farewell.

Upon returning to the statement made by Jesse Barnett at the beginning of this article, he declared: “a life spent in service of others is the most profound thing you can do.” Stick To Your Guns’ music has uplifted spirits, the lyrics tell tales that are about the difficulties of life, but they are delivered with empathy and support to help find positivity. Their art and “service” has been passionately profound and for that, countless of hardcore aficionados are immeasurably grateful.

Gig Review by Will Oakeshott. Insta: @teenwolfwill

Photo Gallery by Danny Wallace Insta: @dexamillian
Please Credit & Tag Wall of Sound and Danny Wallace if you repost photos.

Stressed