Down an' dirty, heavy-ass rock n' roll
The Black Spiders don’t do subtle. Having been on perma-tour this year, they roll up to Hard Rock Hell and proceed to bemuse the crowd with a very strange mic check technique. Chaotic, funny, dangerous and downright rock and roll, these guys bust out everything they’ve got to bring on a great show.
And so they should, because their presence at HRHIII cements their growing reputation as one of the most talked about hard rock bands of the year. And they go down a storm. Despite rocking the amps like they’re trying to blow the roof off, they’re canny enough to realise that their strength as a band lies in the melodies rather than just valve-busting volume (although the latter rarely hurts around here…)
‘Stay Down’, from their debut EP is an assault on the senses in all the right ways. It’s a fist-pumping sonic powerhouse that draws people away from the bar and gets them gawping at the stage for the entire set. They don’t go in for theatrics in the same way as some of the other bands here, but they really don’t need to. Every ounce of energy goes into the songs, and they perform with a gritty, dirty determination that lifts the show from a bunch of guys playing loudly to an actual event.
Easy as it would be to take themselves too seriously, it’s refreshing to hear a band have to encourage the crowd to yell “F*** you Black Spiders!” Not that much encouragement is needed, but frontman Pete ‘Spider’ Spiby does enjoy winding the audience up. “Not bad for a bunch of girls” he says dismissively after we’re done shouting. How wise that statement is when they’re following Hysterica is a matter for debate…
Want good old fashioned down an’ dirty volume-to-eleven heavy-ass rock’n’roll? You’ll be hearing from the Black Spiders again soon.