Very rarely will a band live up to the industry hype that’s swirling around it during that ever so important album release and subsequent tour, but this is one of those times where it does. Having signed to Mike Patton’s Ipecac records, the Rhode Island band Daughters return with their first album in 8 years, You Won’t Get What You Want. Critics and fans alike are hailing this record as the perfect evolution of the band. The songs, the lyrics, the musicianship; but most importantly the live show have all come together as the stars have finally aligned for these post-punk underdogs.
How good is the live show? So fucking good that I went two nights in a row and brought my camera to document the experience at the nightmarishly dark and small (but super cool) Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco. Daughters would headline for two sold-out nights with rumors that Mr. Patton himself would be in attendance for night two. The calm before the storm took place just after 10PM—then the fury would hit fast and hard.
Frontman Lex Marshall and guitarist Nicholas Andrew Sadler lead the five-piece live band which quickly becomes an orchestrated assault on all senses. It falls somewhere between a Mack truck crashing through a brick wall at 100 miles per hour and a massive wall of noise that teeters in and out of Melvins-style drudge and punk fury. The remarkable thing here, and what makes it so unique, is the underlying melody that brings an element of light to the overwhelming darkness and anger that ignites the crowd. There was a full-blown mosh pit that would rival anything I’ve seen at a Slayer or Lamb of God show.
Having experienced this show for the first time, I could see the band drawing influences from Fugazi and Jesus Lizard, but I couldn’t help but hear a bit of Glenn Danzig, or maybe it was an angry Jim Morrison in Lex’s vocals. Was that intentional? Is he a fan? Either way, it was a brilliant two-night stand in San Francisco for a band that has evolved their sound since their early grindcore/ math metal days. Watch for these guys to dominate year-end lists as the tour continues through the US and hits the UK in 2019.
