viscera the twist, colchester 010302

Who was it that said "necessity is the mother of all invention"? Hailing from the wilds of Suffolk invention is what is required to entertain yourself. With some members of this band clocking up three bands, not to mention the inevitable fulltime jobs and girlfriends, these lads certainly have their work cut out waylaying their boredom.

Arriving in Colchester we are faced with the typical journalistic problem of finding the venue, and we are ably assisted by two Bottoms Up sales assistants who draw us a simple yet highly functional map. God only knows what we would have done if all the offy's had already closed!

On entering the Twist we are thrown back in time (not that many years) as we stand amongst crowds of school age kids and parents. I rightly presume that most are here in support of a local band of young upstarts. Although this provides us with marginal entertainment I won't bore you with the details, I'm sure you can imagine.

However, we are here to see one band. We have been so eagerly awaiting our first glimpse of Viscera for some time. They provide a high octane performance fronted by an animated (and I later learn 'wasted') Ditton, whose constant movement on stage makes it near impossible to take any decent pictures. My job is made even more difficult by the fight going on in front of the stage. As the headline act thrash it out with a group of local kids who I felt compelled to give a lesson in pit etiquette. But in true Hardcore style the fight is ended swiftly with a warm embrace. And I'm sure Bassist Nick's intervention of "Play nice", also had a key part in the reconciliation.

The set is quite short, but the guys, who have only been together in this incarnation for a few months, convincingly give it their all. And the crowd seem to enjoy themselves; yet, I get the distinct impression that they are storing up their energy and their full gamut of enthusiasm and vigour for later in the evening, as it is still relatively early in the proceedings.

Viscera had previously been described to me as 'emo', I would disagree, and describe them more as Melodic Hardcore. But whatever you want to call it I was enthralled and thoroughly entertained for the whole performance.

This band encapsulates everything I feel about coming from where I do. They have the drive and ambition to make it coupled with a fervent passion to stay true to themselves and the place that made them.

Long live the RBD

www.fuckviscera.cjb.net

Words: Amy Barber