Having just started their Australian tour in Adelaide on the 18th after a tour of America with rock/post hardcore heavyweights CKY and Slaves, Brisbane-hailing Awaken I Am are in full swing on their first ever ‘proper’ headlining tour here in their homeland. Along with them for this round are U.S Kentucky-based boys Picturesque, and locals Anyone Anyone and Colour & Shade.
I unfortunately only made it in time to see Colour & Shade finish up and Picturesque open their set, but they surely started strong. Picturesque lead singer Kyle Hollis jumped onto stage repping a Tonight Alive hoodie in true support for the Aussie legends and kicked off the performance with some intense vocals. Having only done the slightest bit of research before the show, it’s safe to say I was blown away by the band’s well-developed sound and the crazy high pitches Hollis was reaching that night – reminiscent of Awaken I Am’s prior vocalist, Adam Roger Douglas. Hollis’s vocals are truly something to be witnessed, with the occasional scream and consistently clear, controlled pitch being consistently confounded. While unfortunately, the sound did seem a little unbalanced, drowning Hollis out on and off throughout the act, this meant the rest of the band were being well and truly heard and man, they know how to play. The gorgeous guitar riffs, the focus of the musicians, and the stage-to-crowd engagement showed that this trip to Australia surely won’t be their last. The smaller sized crowd started out being not quite sure about what to do with themselves, but Picturesque definitely didn’t let this stop them from interacting and engaging with their audience as any great band does. They were able to create a stage presence that kept your eye on the stage and left you feeling satisfied. One particular girl was obviously a dedicated fan and starte filming herself with the band during their performance, singing along, Hollis jumping in shot and singing right to her and her camera – as any fan would know, that’s an AWESOME moment. Picturesque had an onstage sync with each other that meant you were visually delighted as well as aurally, with consistent performance synchronicity between themselves, their songs, and the crowd.
There were occasional technical difficulties throughout the night – no band gets a perfect show every time, but the rest of the performances surely made up for this. Picturesque actually had to ‘borrow’ Awaken I Am’s drummer for their set due to tour expenses that meant they couldn’t fly their own drummer over from the states for the tour, but the performance was not deterred or impaired by this fact at all. If anything, it showed the respect shown between the groups of musicians which I have so much appreciation for.
Picturesque are;
Kyle Hollis – Vocals
Zach Williamson – Guitar
Dylan Forrester – Guitar
Jordan McGreenway – Bass
Awaken I Am started their set 2 minutes early, to the joy of the audience and I’m sure the stage manager alike. About 3 songs in after a fantastic performance of Blind Love, vocalist Jimmy Alexander mentioned he was ‘as sick as a dog’ and couldn’t quite hit his high notes, but adjusted himself near perfectly, even doing the band’s old singer’s vocals justice. Before playing a brand-new song, only previously heard at their previous shows on this tour, Alexander took a moment to talk about the loss of their guitarist Connor Oakley, an emotional but true moment with the crowd before stating ‘If you wanna dance and get fucked up now is the time to do so’. The still small but evidently appreciative crowd were from then on truly showing their love, dancing, swaying, and cheering at any given opportunity. Being their first ‘proper’ headline tour, they also took a long moment to thank their support bands as well as allowing for Alexander to recover between songs, with the oh-so-true starving artist statement;
‘If you like what you see we have merch for sale, and I’m not kidding this is how we eat.’
It is clear that the band are all close, passionate, and dedicated musicians, working beautifully together on and off stage, and creating the same emotional, such well-developed and meaningful music they always have. This definitely showed through during the performance itself, with bassist Ryan Oxford nearly losing his glasses a few times over the night while kicking around and headbanging during the set, the crowd eagerly singing back ‘I need to let you go’ into Alexander’s microphone during ‘Dissolution’, and the entertaining back and forth banter amongst the band members and with their audience.
Before the final two songs for the night, Alexander made point of his sickness situation, mentioning ‘We’re here for a good time not a long time and if I sing more than that my throat might fall out of my mouth’ and the band went on to play their most recent new and first release with Alexander, ‘Dissolution’– my personal favourite in all honesty – with the crowd singing right back and ‘sweating up a storm’, the new track is clearly one of theirs as well. The bassline, the lyrics, their genuine human interactions, everything Awaken I Am are doing is what I love about this music scene – the authenticity of great music and great people doing great things.
The final song for the night was ‘Walk My Way’, ending on a beautiful note to a beautiful night, the whole room holding an excited, satisfied vibe. The crowd tried for a ‘one more song’ chant at the end but this didn’t last long as I think the crowd was well aware of Alexander’s dedication of even performing how he did on the night with his illness at the time. I just hope the boys know that they and their work are definitely much appreciated – but please, get some honey and lemon tea into you and please, keep doing what you’re doing.
Awaken I Am (as currently listed) are:
Jimmy Alexander – Vocals
Luke McKenzie – Drums
Ned Jankovic – Guitar
Connor Oakley – Guitar
Ryan Oxford – Bass
I must say, while I myself was guilty of not making it to the first two local support acts myself this night, the number of attendees for all of the support acts was somewhat disappointing and I do believe they deserved better – we really need to better promote the idea of actually supporting these support acts, for even our biggest and best headliners were a local act one day, way back when. If not for their commitment and passion for what they do, and the support they received they would not be where they are today. Speaking to the bands after the show, Hollis mentioned something that I think surely anyone who understands the nostalgia of listening back to their ol’ childhood tunes can recognise –
‘‘Music is music, it’s what’s engrained in us.‘
That is to say, music is something that has been evident throughout (almost, if not) every age and culture known, as something that brings us together and creates a unity amongst the creators and listeners. Support what you can, while you can, and it can be guaranteed that it will be well worth it in ages to come.
