Scary Kids Scaring Kids @Hi-fi Bar, Melbourne(20/08/2010)

Mon 23rd Aug, 2010 in Gig Reviews

ARRGGHHH!!! Oh wait, that’s just *Scary Kids Scaring Kids*…and there’s no need for shrieks of terror, but cries of passion and excitement were definitely warranted for their farewell ‘Final Nightmare’ tour, as the Arizonian rockers descended on Melbourne’s Hi-fi Bar last Friday.

Receiving sufficient air time on Triple J’s notorious punk and hardcore show,
‘Short.Fast.Loud,’ the crowd were more than familiar with the work of Tyson Stevens , Chad Crawford , Pouyan Afkary , Steve Kirby , DJ Wilson, and Dylan Smith, and most importantly, the band’s roaring sound and impressive stage presence.

Support acts Stealing O’Neal and We Are The Emergency did a stellar job at warming up for the headliners, with particularly notable rapport and a lot of ‘flipped birds’ from We Are Emergency.

The farewell tour followed an announcement of disbandment after eight years on keyboardist Afkary’s blog at the end of 2009, which revealed a sensitive sentiment perhaps unexpected from the post-hardcore sextet.

“We have created a strong kinship with our fans, which are much more than people of the same interests; you’ve become our family away from home…We created this band together as juniors in high school and though we’ve been able to grow together for many years, inevitably we have also grown apart. We’ve had some very serious difficulties over the years as a lot of you can probably relate to as well… We don’t want this thing that we’ve created to become the source of ultimate negativity and we’d rather remember the great times we’ve had together and move forward knowing we tried our best and had more good times than bad.”

Nonetheless, the boys soon emerged on stage with a whole lot of energy and emotion to unleash on the half-filled Hi-fi Bar. As the first notes were struck, it didn’t feel like it was lacking in capacity anymore.

Playing a collection of songs from their three releases, After Dark (EP) , The
City Sleeps in Flames and the definitive self-titled album, Scary Kids Scaring
Kids, some of the best tunes included Snake Devil, Faces and The Deep End.

Initially it felt as if the vocals weren’t truly unaccounted for, momentarily drowned by the swell of surrounding drums (and a perpetually shirtless drummer I might add). However, sonic balance was perfected as the night progressed, probably assisted by improvements in the sound engineering booth as well.

And despite the seemingly diminished crowd, the sound continued to squeeze into nooks, voids and crannies, and was audible even from Swanston Street high above.

‘You guys are fucking amazing…thank you so much…” with what, amidst the intense beats, I sensed was sincerity.

Good intentions were solidified as we we’re invited to join the boys at the after-party. “We’re going to Trash, doing our little thing there…so if you want to come drink at cash…please…cos we like to party!” The onstage banter also consisted of an insistence to smoke ‘herbs’ in Australia, followed by a redemptive and well received “…and we’re so glad to be here.”

“Everyone give it up for Pouyan -whose finally grown out of puberty!” was also received with resonant cheers and rich applaud.

As Scary Kids announced their last song, both parties gave it their all, and without pause the crowd erupted into chanting ‘one more song!’ as soon as they reached close. “The under-18 crowd weren’t anything like this,” lead vocalist Stevens told us.

A one-song encore ensued, for his “favourite country in the fucking world,” which undoubtedly made attendees glow to their core.

But if nothing was gained from the evening out then I can at least say with conviction that Scary Kids Scaring Kids are doing nothing of the sort, they’re simply having a good time, and spreading the love. And in return we must wish them well in their future endeavours.

CHECK OUT PHOTOS FROM THE NIGHT HERE