Violent Delight / Instruction - Exeter Lemon Grove - 17/2/03
3/5
By: Thomas Hannan
The word of the night is rock - and it's of the hopelessly loud, in-your-face, fresh and fearsome variety. And, for once, it's even coming from the UK in the shape of eventual headliners Hell Is For Heroes, and possessing the kind of heads-down brutal determination and focus that means failure simply isn't a conceivable end. Tonight, as with every other on their presumably endless touring schedule, the set is one long explosion of conquest.
First, we're faced with a familiar scenario. As seems so often the case, there's a quartet of Americans lurking near who have to show the Brits exactly what to do before we can get on with it. Tonight, they come in the brand new shape of Instruction from NYC, who played only their second show in this very city a mere two months previously. They say they hope we enjoy the rock. We love it.
Consisting of ex-members of mighty outfits such as Quicksand and Error Type 11, they make a sound akin to Fugazi telling Rival Schools to liven up a little bit, all topped off with an alarming Cobain-esque howl. Their debut record is called 'The Great EP' and more than lives up to its name. A gutsy 'Your Punk Sucks' not only tells us exactly what's going wrong, but helpfully offers a remedy we'd be crazy to ignore. There are already followers - they're joined for their final song, the aptly named 'Great', by Colin and Paul from Hundred Reasons, whilst fellow band-member Larry watches from the centre of the pit. It's awesome, but perhaps ill-advised on HR's part. Their mother band haven't sounded this good in a while. Instruction make the kids jump and the adults give a resounding nod of approval.
Violent Delight, next up on tonight's triple bill, make the kids go crazy. They know every word, laugh at every juvenile joke and seem to firmly believe VD (yes, that abbreviation was intentional) are the greatest rock band in the world. The adults are decidedly less impressed, chants of "Busted wannabes!" filling gaps between each song. But these days, it's all about your target audience, and Violent Delight score a direct hit.
The response to every tune is rapturous from most under 15 year olds present. 'Jump' serves its purpose well and even a pretty dreadful cover of The Undertones' classic 'Teenage Kicks' gets some encouragement, but it's recent single 'I Wish I Was A Girl' that's received with near euphoria. Watching VD when you're a kid looks like one hell of a lot of fun. What'll happen to them when their audience gets past the age when the word 'gay' is hilarious is anyone's guess.
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