Kids In Glass Houses, VersaEmerge @ Metro Theatre, Sydney (28/02/2012)
This would be one of many Sidewave shows that Sydney music punters had to choose from on this particular night, so it was an undoubted shame to see the room lacking in bodies.
VersaEmerge are a young band hailing from Florida USA and despite the difficulty of trying to warm up a rather cool audience they powered through their short set. They bring a lot of energy to the stage, but unfortunately female vocalist Sierra Kusterbeck’s notes are often waylaid in favour of bouncing around the stage. Opening track ‘Figure It Out’ has those standard soaring anthemic notes and hooky guitar riffs. Whilst ‘Stranger’ challenges Kusterbeck’s vocal range, the rest of the band are awkward when trying to engage the crowd as they just seemed too focused on performing. They closed their set with the title track from their debut LP ‘Fixed At Zero’ which has Evanesence-style tinges of nu-metal and use some interesting prog samples to round out their gutsy sound.
Kids In Glass Houses are the next step up from VersaEmerge both in experience and in overall sound. They clearly cranked the decibel metre up a few more notches, thus allowing frontman Aled Phillips a chance to go careening around the stage like a bull in a proverbial china shop. It’s so notably different to see a band with that extra experience under their belt come onstage, they seemed to be able to engage with the crowd a lot better than VersaEmerge. This may be due to them having visited our shores previously and having a small pre-existing fanbase, but it could also be attributed to their appealing songs. ‘Saturday’ off their 2008 debut LP ‘Smart Casual’ has a structured feel, with slower verses against a punchy chorus. Whilst ‘Animals’ the second single off their 2011 album ‘In Gold Blood’ shows a more layered progression in their sound. Utilising the rhythm section of bassist Andrew Sheehy and drummer Philip Jenkins to steer the two guitarists, Iain Mahanty and Joel Fisher and melding their pop-punk and nu-metal styles together almost effortlessly.
Carina Nilma
VersaEmerge are a young band hailing from Florida USA and despite the difficulty of trying to warm up a rather cool audience they powered through their short set. They bring a lot of energy to the stage, but unfortunately female vocalist Sierra Kusterbeck’s notes are often waylaid in favour of bouncing around the stage. Opening track ‘Figure It Out’ has those standard soaring anthemic notes and hooky guitar riffs. Whilst ‘Stranger’ challenges Kusterbeck’s vocal range, the rest of the band are awkward when trying to engage the crowd as they just seemed too focused on performing. They closed their set with the title track from their debut LP ‘Fixed At Zero’ which has Evanesence-style tinges of nu-metal and use some interesting prog samples to round out their gutsy sound.
Kids In Glass Houses are the next step up from VersaEmerge both in experience and in overall sound. They clearly cranked the decibel metre up a few more notches, thus allowing frontman Aled Phillips a chance to go careening around the stage like a bull in a proverbial china shop. It’s so notably different to see a band with that extra experience under their belt come onstage, they seemed to be able to engage with the crowd a lot better than VersaEmerge. This may be due to them having visited our shores previously and having a small pre-existing fanbase, but it could also be attributed to their appealing songs. ‘Saturday’ off their 2008 debut LP ‘Smart Casual’ has a structured feel, with slower verses against a punchy chorus. Whilst ‘Animals’ the second single off their 2011 album ‘In Gold Blood’ shows a more layered progression in their sound. Utilising the rhythm section of bassist Andrew Sheehy and drummer Philip Jenkins to steer the two guitarists, Iain Mahanty and Joel Fisher and melding their pop-punk and nu-metal styles together almost effortlessly.
Carina Nilma