REVIEW: DAYSEEKER AT THE KNITTING FACTORY IN BROOKYLN
The Los Angeles, California band Dayseeker brought their tour supporting their 2019 effort, Sleeptalk, into the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn, New York. The tour consisted of three supporting bands who were making their American debuts - Caskets (from the UK), Holding Absence (also from the UK), and Thornhill (from Australia). Every band sounded on top of their game and were just so happy to be there and be back on the road.
Caskets was first up, they opened with “Drowned in Emotion” off their 2021 album Lost Souls. The crowd was immediately receptive and ready to jam along with the band, even those who didn’t know the lyrics. Caskets is made up of vocalist Matt Flood, guitarist Benji Wilson, bassist Chris MacIntosh, guitarist Craig Robinson, and drummer James Lazenby. Flood kept thanking the crowd and was impressed with the amount of people singing along. He also made sure to shout out Dayseeker for giving them the opportunity to play in America for the first time, saying, “Big thank you to Dayseeker for giving us this opportunity.” They closed with the song “Glass Heart” off the same record from last year, as a lot of the set was. Near the end of the song, vocalist Matt Flood jumped into the middle of the pit and was singing with the crowd. The band sounded incredible and I knew from the start the show was going to be a great night.
Holding Absence was next, they were one of the bands I was most excited to see as I discovered their album The Greatest Mistake of My Life in mid-2021, and the songs did not disappoint live. Just like last year’s effort, the set opened with “Awake” right into “Celebration Song”. The crowd was absolutely amped up to scream the words back in the face of vocalist Lucas Woodland. Holding Absence is made up of guitarist Scott Carey, drummer Ash Green, vocalist Lucas, and bassist Ben Elliot. They've been talked about as the next big band, and this crowd definitely proved they can be. The band ran through the songs from TGMOML and two songs from the 2019 self-titled record, and the crowd didn’t relent either. In between songs, Woodland kept saying how insane it was that this was their first US tour, that Brooklyn showed out, and that he, “would not forget this night.” You could genuinely see how happy the band was to just be there and have that big of a reception that far from home. The biggest song of the night off their set was also one of my personal favorites, “Afterlife”. The band also mentioned they’d be back to America in September, which the crowd was very excited about.
After the crowd settled back in, Melbourne, Australia band Thornhill took the stage as the direct support. Just like the previous two bands, this was their first show in New York, and they were thrilled to be there. It was really cool to see three bands who had never played in the States absolutely crush it and get the support from the crowd. Thornhill is made up of vocalist Jacob Charlton, guitarist Ethan McCann, guitarist Matt Van Duppen, bassist Nick Sjogren, and drummer Ben Maida. They played songs from their 2019 album, but also several from the upcoming album Heroine, which is out June 3. The new singles, “Arkangel” and “Hollywood” sounded better live than they did on recording. If those suggest what the new album is going to be, it’s definitely not an album to miss this year. Most of the floor had opened up into a pit and the crowd was giving as much energy as they had for the previous bands. The band played a song with the Holding Absence drummer, Ash Green. They ended the set on the last song of 2019’s The Dark Pool.
Finally it was time for the reason everyone was there, Dayseeker. Their background was the album cover with neon lights that read “sleeptalk.” While the lights were dark, an audio introduction played over the speakers. The end of it stated, “This is not a night you will forget, this is sleeptalk.” Once that ended, the lights flashed up and the band walked on stage. Dayseeker consists of vocalist Rory Rodriguez, guitarist Gino Sgambelluri, drummer Mike Karle, and bassist Ramone Valerio. The band opened their set with the song, “The Color Black” off the album. With lyrics like, “If you could think without your fist/ And feel the pain that you inflict/ Surely you would have to cut your limbs, but your soul is the color black.” I knew this was going to be an intense set. Sleeptalk is a very intense album and Rory made sure to discuss what the different songs were about through the night.
The band did not stop and neither did the crowd. For the third song in the set “Starving to be Empty”, which Rory Rodriguez explained was about a person he knew who dealt with anorexia, they brought out Lucas Woodland from Holding Absence. Their voices sounded perfect harmonizing together over the super intense lyrics and clear pain. For “Burial Plot” he asked the crowd who was “sad as fuck.” The pit opened up the moment the band came on stage and even among the moments of talking it didn’t close. “Crooked Soul '' was just labeled as the first single from Sleeptalk and mentioned that it was released over 3 years ago. Every one of these songs sounded incredible live. For the next song, “Crash & Burn”, Rory talked from a deeply personal place of his mother and her addiction to methamphetamines, and how it affected his whole family.
The next song, “Vultures” was a brief break from Sleeptalk to a song for, “Victims of sexual assault and abuse and how it changes them for the rest of their lives.” The energy in the room, despite the enthusiasm for Dayseeker, shifted because of such a serious song. The lyricism painted a picture for the song like any good art does. With lyrics like, “Don't you see yourself for who you really are the vultures came and picked and pulled apart, the hell that’s in her head.”
While on the break from the Sleeptalk songs, they played the new single, “Neon Grave”. I have really dug this song, so I was hyped it was added to the set. “Already Numb” was started acoustically, just Rory Rodriguez and a guitar on stage before the band joined in. The crowd put all their phone lights up and it looked so cool.
The set was quickly coming to an end, and Rory assured the crowd, “We have two songs left and we don’t do encores so that’s it.” The penultimate song, “Drunk” the first track on the album, was dedicated to Rory’s dad who died of cancer last year, and the final song was “Sleeptalk”. The song starts with this almost ethereal beginning and then picks up. If you’ve never seen Dayseeker, they’re clearly at the top of their game on this tour. It’s a banger show from top to bottom.