all that's left of you
Chromatin
In Her Palms
your last words

In the early afternoon of Saturday, January 24th, The Workers Club in Fitzroy held a show debuting two new bands from the Naarm emo scene. In Her Palms (which I am in!!) & your last words played alongside Chromatin and all that’s left of you, two bands who have quickly become fixtures of Australian skramz. This day was HOT (41 degrees), so it was very nice to have access to the air-conditioned venue.

With their first-ever live show, your last words were the first band of the afternoon to play. Their songwriting had a distinctive sound that blended slow, bright clean sections with hard-hitting and emotional screamo (reminiscent of doris in their instrumentation). Despite a few difficulties with the kick pedal, their perseverance led to a solid performance that established a clear sound for their band going forward.

During their set, they covered I Hate Myself’s ‘To a Husband at War’, a staple which saw members of the audience swaying and singing along.

After a short break, my friends and I got on stage to play our debut show as In Her Palms, a band sharing the same lineup as Could Be Stars. Our set featured a mix of newly-written songs and material carried over from gatecrash and Could Be Stars.

I was nervous at the start, but as we kept playing the tension eased and I found my footing. yay!

After In Her Palms, Naarm band Chromatin delivered a set of intense, emotional skramz. As the band’s vocalist, Liam took full advantage of The Workers Club’s large floor space, roaming in front of the stage and amongst the crowd to scream. Chromatin proved their sound as consistent and well-established, a balanced combination of melancholic despair and raw, violent energy. Lily’s drumming accompanied slower-paced sections with appropriate space, while blast beats threatened to enter black metal territory at other times.

During an instrumental, Liam encouraged the crowd to “dance, please” along with him. For the closing moments of the set, their bassist Bailey also got down from the stage to join him, the two clashing forcefully in the middle of the room.

The afternoon came to a close with all that’s left of you, a three-piece Naarm screamo band. Their music drew inspiration across an apparently large range of emo, with twinkly & light, nostalgic & warm, and dissonant and aggressive sections interwoven across their songs. Slowly becoming familiar with songs in their set, I am so excited for the day all that’s left of you release recordings.

Just like last time, Valentine’s guitar was crushingly loud, and contributed to a memorable performance as they screamed into the pickups. The intense emotion behind their wailing screams lent itself to building the vividness of the band’s sound. They ended their set with a drawn-out finish that slowly fell apart into chaos, leaving only droning and distorted bass ringing out.

This was such a great debut for In Her Palms! Thank you to everyone involved, and everyone who came to support these other three amazing bands.. and congratulations to your last words in particular for a killer first show.

Once again, my friend Laura (@lauradalezz1e on Instagram) recorded a bootleg of this show which you can listen to here. They also did sound for this show (and did a great job!!) <3

photos from the night (click to expand)

photo credits:
@mustwegospellitout on instagram
@z3nsdigi_ on instagram
@j0rdan.668 on instagram
@eryns.photo.diary on instagram