Tiny Jiluka live report, coming to you from Austin TX.
I tried so many times to get into this band and couldn’t, really, not my thing. But I see a vkei band coming to my state, what am i gonna do, not go?
One show in and i’ve done a 180, i see the light, i’ll join the church of br00tal kei. (Do people still call it that?)
Ricko has incredible charisma and knows how to work a crowd without the canned speeches i usually expect from vkei bands in the US - nothing but confidence and nothing but what he seemed confident in.
It’s still not exactly the core of my favorite vkei but i think the show today was a lot more kinetic and active than some of the more melodic / musically complex sets. That’s not a sneak diss… these guys know what they do and they deliver. Except the small couple of songs where Ricko did sing clean and now i know he can absolutely hit those huge high melodies with as much power as the studio take implies.
The openers were two metalcore bands and look, i’m sorry, they’re great but i just don’t love metalcore that much, even when they’re great at it. I asked why - when the music is so similar, no clean vocals so no “vkei voice” to lean on, do i find Jiluka worth an right hour drive when i won’t go see most metalcore acts at my doorstep? It can’t just be the costumes…
But today made it clear the answer has to be the drums for me, the amount of signalling different energies and movements with each style of drumming gives me so much more to do and enjoy. More guitars bands need to incorporate break beats and disco beats, makes for such a killer groove you can ride in and out of. I think changing drums and bass under a repeating guitar groove is so underexplored anywhere else.
In short i’m way more impressed than i thought i would be, def gonna buy tickets to every show i can get to from now on