Not many bands can pull off drummer, bassist combo without coming off like a White Stripes tribute band, but DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 are one of the few that can. Consisting of two sweaty Canadians, Sebastian Grainger (drummer and singer) and Jesse F. Keeler (bassist) DFA are loud and angry. Very loud and very angry, but that’s a good thing. Honest.
If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of experiencing DFA live imagine heavy bass riffs and frantic thrashing of drums mixed with angry, passionate singing. Oh and lots of sweat (but again, that is a good thing). DFA kicked off the set with ‘Little Girl’ and swiftly followed it with four more songs all with much head banging and moshing from the audience. Things then got really exciting as Grainger left his drumkit, took off his shirt and started singing to the adoring crowd- who were all competing to see who could touch the most of Grainger’s sweaty body.
The set was quite short- lasting only about half an hour but it was half an hour of intense energy and packed full of songs such as ‘Blood on our Hands’ and ‘Pull Out’ (which is about being in a serious monogamous relationship and not using condoms- or so they said). In fact if they had played for much longer the band would have probably collapsed from exhaustion- as they put all of their efforts into making sure that each song was delivered with all the fury and vigour possible.
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DFA don’t take themselves too seriously- which is brilliant, especially with their devout following of über-trendy emo kids hanging onto every word Grainger said, or should I say shouted. They laughed and joked with the crowd- and at one point even got them to sing along to a Futureheads song. Apparently DFA are big fans of the band- as well as Newcastle’s famous ale. It was a great gig and a fantastic time was had by all, I know this as its two days later and my ears are still ringing!
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