Given that dubstep’s trademark ‘wob wob’ is so often used to mimic guitar riffs by exponents such as Skrillex and Knife Party, who have also worked with bands like Korn and Metallica, it was only a matter of time before a group formed that included a guitarist, drummer and DJ to bring these sounds together under one banner.
Enter Modestep: a brash quartet (mainly originating from London) which combine the harshest and least nuanced aspects of these genres. Despite how jarring this may seem, it works on the ears; slotting together by avoiding conflicting elements and by breaking the set down to its most base components.
Those who managed to get tickets for this sold out Concorde2 gig witnessed Modestep’s penultimate performance of their Evolutionary Theory tour, promoting the new album of the same title. The mass of little cups of water the bar staff had lined up at the side in the build up should have been a clue to the dehydrating carnage that was to ensue – but few took heed.
After the support act concluded their own sporadic set the average age of the crowd diversified from something resembling a school disco without teachers, to a stage where there was even a group of men in their 60s dad-dancing at the side of the dancefloor – as if it was a wedding reception playing the hits of Wham or Dexys Midnight Runners. The group actually looked as if they could have been the actors from Modestep’s own video for ‘Sunlight’, but on much better behaviour as they weren’t tearing up the place and snorting drugs off strippers.
Lead singer Josh Friend has the look and stage demeanour of a punk performer, but with such wild limb thrashing he often resembles someone angrily and hurriedly throwing heavy furniture into a skip. But his skill as a conductor of this futuristic orchestra should not be underestimated. His vocals wouldn’t sound out of place alongside Ed Sheeran, but are versatile enough to seamlessly move over the various genres Modestep incorporate. As an MC he can spit the lyrics of Zach de la Rocha without losing any of their intensity.
Older brother Tony’s DJ skills are the heart and soul of this throbbing ensemble. As the focal point he drives the band’s kinetic energy through the whole set combining the disparate components of metal, rock drums, boy band vocals, all mixed with dub, reggae and dance beats.
As soon as the band took to the stage, they wasted no time in whipping the crowd into a frenzy with Prodigy’s ‘Out Of Space’ before mixing into Benny Bennassi’s ‘Satisfaction’ and following it up with ‘Smack My Bitch Up’ and ‘Zombie Nation’ by Kernkraft 400 – but of course with a lot more bass. ‘Promises’ and ‘Bangerang’ also made brief appearances, via an extended dub-assisted guitar solo and DJ Fresh’s ‘It’s Gonna Get Louder’, before a reggae beat joined the party.
However, at this point it actually got a bit quieter as all the previous beats, bass and shouting stopped, and a few bars of a keyboard on an organ setting rang out. As if that wasn’t emo enough, lead singer Josh Friend began playing a delicate and heart-felt version of ‘Paradise’, which caused the crowed to momentarily cease barging into each other and start screaming along to the words.
There was no way this level of sensitivity could last, as Cold Play’s ballad was then well and truly put through the dub machine. Guitarist Nick Tsang (who Josh revealed was recruited from Gumtree) promptly launched into a full-blown 80s metal riff that fed into a mix of ‘Another Day’.
As moisture began to run down the walls, the younger Friend brother introduced the other members of the band: “Kung-Fu Panda” on drums (Matthew Curtis) and “the guy who came out of the same vagina as me” on the decks. Tony Friend managed to convey his disappointment at this, despite his face being covered by a mask (similar masks were distributed throughout the audience with tour information on the back).
Now that the crowd had got to know the band a bit better it seemed the time to take the metal/dub/dance infusion to the next level with fellow crossover band, Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Killing In The Name’ mixed into Modestep’s own crowd favourite ‘Show Me A Sign’ then ‘Save The World’.
Having left the stage to immediate chants of “make it louder” and “one more song”, Modestep returned for the inevitable encore of ‘Sunlight’. By now the crowd had become a seething mass of sweaty, venue-wide moshing.
That was the final action of the set and as people left examining various facial and bodily injuries, this metal dubstep glimpse into the future continued to ring in everyone’s ears long after the gig was over.
Concorde2, Saturday 16th February 2013
Words by Chris Dyer
Photos by Mike Tudor @ Studio85