The first time I saw Evil Scarecrow (10) was back at Hammerfest in 2012. Since then it has pleased me to see the band’s following (and consequently the venues they play) grow bigger with each passing gig, culminating in a very very packed headline show on board the 450 capacity Thekla in Bristol last year. This is even more remarkable when one considers that the band have little more than word of mouth powering this growth. So it was with much eager anticipation that I once more headed over the bridge to watch them headline the much larger capacity Motion club.
One of the first things that struck me when entering the venue was the actual size of the room, and in particular the stage. Whilst the venue certainly wasn’t sold out, the size of the stage allowed the band to put on a visual, errr, spectacular that was lapped up by those in attendance. A large glowing-eyed effigy of the bands new mascot, Jacob, hung atop the stage above the central prop of a cardboard cut out igloo, which was to serve as the base for the visual effects that were to follow. Hitting the stage to the underrated (in my view) Way To Die from their outstanding new album Chapter IV: Antarctica it took only until second song Skulls Of Our Enemies for the visual accompaniments to start; two lumbering costume-clad sentinel types emerged from behind the igloo to ostensibly provide some percussive back up (a la Slipknot) but actually just served as eye candy.
Third song End Level Boss was followed by a surprisingly early showing for what is probably the ‘Crow’s most popular song about robots, accompanied by two robot-suit clad actors poking out of the windows of the igloo demonstrating to the crowd exactly how to draw that perfect robot square (even though everybody there already knew how to do it). Audience participation being a staple part of an ES live show was proved again tonight with some of the new madness including an attempt to incite a square pit during Robototron, an audience dance battle before and during Red Riding Hood, splitting the audience and getting each half singing alternate syllables of Cosmos Goth Moth Gong and the introduction of one of those wacky inflatable arm flailing tube men and a giant Garganega during the 10 minutes of insanity that was main set closer Antarctica, which I can only describe as “indescribable”. This is all in addition to the regular bouts of audience lunacy that is the Crabulon scuttling, Space Dementia’s zero g moshing and the weeping during Blacken The Everything.
All in all the audience feels as much a part of an Evil Scarecrow live show as the band are, a sentiment seemingly echoed by the bands heartfelt and humble thanks at several points during the show. As mentioned by frontman Dr. Hell sans any kind of record deal the band are self-funded and promoted and it’s a huge testament to the dedication of all those involved that they have gotten to the point they’re at already, although being such superb musicians helps. I for one am happy to have finally seen the band in a venue whose size appears to match the band’s imagination; next time let’s hope they can upgrade again to an even larger one.
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