Ignite are hardcore Punks from America. They take no time to detonate and lay out a formidable industrial strength wall of meshed guitars. Behind a majestic and battering rhythm machine.
Bass guitarist Brett Rasmussen was there from the start. Nik Hill lead guitar, Kevin Kilkenny rhythm guitar, Craig Anderson drums. Newest member is lead singer Eli Santana, formerly of Heavy Metal band Holy Grail.
The band got an early kick start with a European tour in 1994. They also regard their 2006 album Our Darkest Days as an artistic pinnacle. Close to half the songs are from that album.
They don’t hold back on the lyrics, a few of which can be caught from inside the barrage.
From a recent interview. We don’t care if we play to 10,000 people or 50. We play the same songs with passion no matter the crowd size. It should be a blast!
Certainly, the show delivers that, but for their New Zealand debut there was regrettably only 50 present at the Neck of the Woods. These events don’t really follow any logic.
They start hard and fast. A 3+1 formation of guitars out front and the drummer behind. Ferocious guitars intertwine and sound like lasers slicing through inch-thick metal and spraying rainbow-coloured sparks.
That’s the melodic part of their tag as Hardcore Punk.
Think of the first Ramones album, interwoven with Husker Du’s sound when they get angry. The sustained energy of an explosion. Watching a NASA rocket launching, or one of those fascinating footages of massive atomic bomb tests.
That it’s deep appeal, and it can throw off more people than it would attract. Best experienced alive.
I meant live but I’m going to leave it as an electric prod to everyone. The Velvet’s manager Andy Warhol also referred to it as the sucking on my ding dong song.
A massive drum explosions herald Anti-Complicity Anthem, off their latest self-titled album.
Poverty For All is a polemic around the failure of the biggest Communist regime in occupied territory and the human cost. Simple slogans front an effective battering.
Slowdown is a personal favourite of the band. It’s fast when all I wanna do is slow down! / Will you help me.
Their brand-new single Done Digging the Grave is distinctive for a slow guitar intro. A misdirection as it catches fire quickly.
Sunday Bloody Sunday is a surprise. A U2 cover. Their recorded version is melodic. On stage they beat on that brat appropriately.
The Murderchord play as warm up to the headliners.
A local duo who have been around 15 (!) years. I spotted an interview from 2010. They are Dave on keyboards and Ryan Sykes on drums.
Dave sings and declaims, often in a fast natter. He tends to attack the keys like a percussion instrument. He doesn’t have the finesse of a Little Richard or a Jerry Lee, though.
But there are times he plays some jazz chords. I suspect he has that background.
In a curious way the experience is relaxing and meditative, coming from a version of Hardcore Punk.
Their last song is an epic. Staring out from spaceship Earth/ We are the stuff of stars/ It’s all that we’ve got/ Can you tell right from wrong?
The vocals end in jabbering and these guys have a great sense of humour.
Ignite don’t hold back as they smash the path towards the close.
They come to a peak in the same fashion they started. After the rhythm engine room batters the (mental) doors down, the guitars come through and strafe all in their path.
Ignite are a great live experience, and a rematch must be probable.
Rev. Orange Peel
Photography by Leonie Moreland
IGNITE
The MurderChord
Synthesis of Self
