Saturday 21st of February saw relative newcomers to the alt-rock music scene Allusondrugs take to the stage in support of Enter Shikari at The Barrowlands Ballroom in Glasgow, Scotland. They put on a rather unorthodox performance consisting of an array of songs from their self-titled album, along with a few newly released singles. With a balanced combination of modern grunge-like vibes, delicate psychedelic guitar riffs contrasting with thick thumping basslines, and a unique skillset of vocals that are strange enough to leave you in a trance, Allusondrugs were by far the most exciting support band of the night.
Concerning their stage presence, this band were a titillating collective that thoroughly impressed from the get-go, with their ability to bound across stage, thrash around, headbang and enjoy the sound of their own music whilst maintaining the ability to switch through a variety of FX pedals whenever necessary, and to follow up on queues whenever needed. Musicians with energy and composure. A band completely enamoured by their own distinctive sound, to which they all seem to have the ability to become captured by it and lose themselves in said music; it’s this which made their performance so authentic and exciting. Additionally, seeing a band with a clear sense of humour and laddish predisposition to play around and have a laugh with each other onstage is cool to see.
“Can I ask something? Can everyone in the room- on three- shout the word ‘herpes’?” frontman Jason Moules proclaimed, in a successful attempt to break the tension throughout the venue.
My first impressions, whilst the five musicians dashed across the stage to plug into each of their extensive FX pedalboards/settle into the drum kit, was that this particular ensemble from Leeds weren’t going to be a band infatuated with lame gimmicks; a band who weren’t wear matching leotards like other bands might do to draw the attention away from the monotonous riff cycles and recycled lyrics; a group who weren’t going to drone on and on about “the one that got away” as we’re all so used to hearing. Instead, they looked the way they want to look, and they play the music they want to play. For example, they have a song about the beverage Irn Bru entitled ‘Sunset Yellow’ and another single written about Ted Bundy watching pornography in heaven. So that’s different, right?
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhTwonJKtHY]
Though I must say the song which really stood out and impressed me the most was a track they released as a single titled ‘Am I Weird?’ which is a strangely addictive song that progressively fluctuates between innocent vocals and clean guitar riffs, into darker undertones, screaming vocals and an intricate hard hitting percussion section. It was certainly very interesting to witness live. Very peculiar.
One of the few downsides to this gig, however, was that these guys were only given around 25 minutes to play, and with that I don’t feel as though the audience had enough time to settle in and relax, but clearly this was more than enough time to leave such a lasting impression on me and I don’t imagine I’m the only person who feels this way. Moreover, I’d go as far to say that Allusondrugs are the band on the cards to grow in the music industry and perhaps even make it big. With their unique sound, great character presence onstage and off, and with a UK headline tour kicking off in March I don’t see much visible room for failure.
Words by Edward Daniell