Californian natives, Dance Gavin Dance, swung through Toronto on Thursday for their Return of the Robot Tour. They were supported by The Home Team, Belmont, and Dwellings for a sold-out night at History in Toronto’s east end.
Starting off the night was Dwellings Band, from Sacramento, California. A 5-piece outfit made up of Isaac, Thomas, Eric, Marco, and Marx. They were a great introduction to an evening of post-hardcore math rock. The group was squeezed onto the stage, as there was equipment piled up everywhere for the 4 bands playing over the course of the evening. Let me be clear, the stage is not small. It made everything look quite chaotic, but that would be my only complaint, and that might only be my photographer’s eye having a hard time trying to pick a spot to focus on. Outside of the chaotic stage, the group did a wonderful job of introducing the crowd to the evening’s decadent musical formula, and they were thrilled to take part and scream along over the course of their 6-song set.
Next up was the Chicago, Illinois-based quartet, Belmont. Made up of Taz (vocals), Brian (drums), Jason (lead guitar), and Joseph (bass), they took to the stage with an insatiable energy. The progressive-punk group has been putting out music for a little over a decade with 3 albums: Belmont, Aftermath, and Liminal. Taz (and his mullet) took to the stage like a house on fire, never standing still, and keeping the crowd bouncing for the duration of their 7-song setlist, touching on all of their releases.
The third and final opening act of the night was The Home Team. Another band with over a decade of experience; the group formed of Brian Butcher (vocals), John Baran (guitar), Ryne Olson (bass) and Daniel Matson (drums) brought the house down with a blistering 11-song setlist, featuring a guest appearance by the guitarist Aaron, from Toronto local prog-metal band, Intervals. The now-packed venue was taken by the energy on the stage, and the entirety of the building was hot and sweaty by the end of their set.
It was 9:45 when the headliners for the night hit the stage. The crowd was well and truly warmed up, and everyone was ready for Dance Gavin Dance to take the stage. Dance Gavin Dance has dealt with their fair share of drama over their 20-year career, with seemingly endless lineup changes and more former members (and touring members) than could comfortably fit in my apartment! There are only two original members, Will Swan (lead guitar) and Matt Mingus (Drums), and they have managed to keep the vision for DGD alive and kicking through all the changes that have plagued the group.
DGD will most commonly be associated as a post-hardcore, progressive band, also known as Math rock, or Swancore, their very own sub-genre, named after their guitarist, Will Swan, and his style. Their stylistic influences are very clearly seated in the Prog-Rock genre such as Rush, and one of the first comparisons I made was to say they sounded a bit like if you put Rush in a blender: chaotic, jittery, a little all over the place, and yet, fundamentally sound, interesting and unique.
Their current lineup is: Will Swan (lead guitar), Matt Mingus (drums), Jon Mess (unclean vocals), Andrew Wells (clean vocals), Sergio Medina (bass) – touring, and Martin Bianchini (rhythm guitar) – touring. The group plowed through the first 10 songs of their 13-song setlist, which included a good mix of songs from across their 20-year career. When they came back out, they had Brian Butcher from The Home Team come out to help them with “Uneasy Hearts Weigh the Most”, the second of their 3-song encore.
A highly energetic show, albeit a shorter setlist than I would have liked. They were done by 10:40, making their set time under an hour, which for a band with 20 years of releases to draw on seems quite short. It was mildly disappointing in that regard, however, the songs that we were treated to were executed wonderfully, and with an intense strength from the two front men, Jon and Andrew. I look forward to seeing what the future holds for DGD as they continue to blaze a trail for the genre, and influence new, young, up-and-coming bands in their unique style.
See photos from the show below.
