Wednesday, April 10th was a night of macabre vibes and exhilarating music. Packed into the small room beneath the streets of Philly, fittingly called Underground Arts, was a show teeming with the energy of a cemetery on Halloween.
The first to hit the stage was Budderside. A band that well represents the sound of the west with soaring power chords, thundering drums, driving bass, and electric vocals. Budderside brought the energy and the feel of classic rock and metal from the East Coast with a tinge of their own enigmatic style. Up next was The Bites. The Bites came from Hollywood California and sounded like they had just walked off Sunset Strip with a sound as brazen and bold as the LA legends before them. Taking chunks out of the audience with songs such as Heather Leather, Pretty Boys, and Squeeze shows the fun side of their songwriting while maintaining heavy energetic riffs and a grooving rhythm section
Finally taking the stage to put the nail in the coffin was a group of vampires from deep within Helsinki Finland, the Lost Boys themselves, The 69 Eyes! Introduced by the one and only Brandon Novak, The 69 Eyes brought their classic brand of dramatic goth metal and laid it upon the audience like a death mask. While the songs may be dark and brooding, the live energy kicked them up and had the crowd bouncing and rattling their bones with drums echoing throughout the room and guitars that pierce the minds of listeners. In between his gothic lullabies and anthems, lead singer Jyrki 69 spoke on the importance of Philadelphia to the band as it was the first city they ever played in the US. It was a warm welcome on a cold dark as The 69 Eyes continued to rock the house until the graves shook.
It was a night of celebration and great music as the iconic 69 Eyes came to Philly on April 10th. Major thanks to all the bands and everyone at the venue for making this possible.
The 69 Eyes
The bites
budderside
