Rancid famously wrote “if I fall back down/you’re gonna help me back up again” in an ode to friendship and camaraderie that only messrs Armstrong and Fredriksen could pen. It’s the notion of grasping at that outstretched hand to haul you back to your feet and carry on as if nothing ever happened. That bond between a family or a group of friends that provides an immense sense of belonging. It’s the comfort of knowing that whatever shitty thing happens in life – there’s someone who has your back. It’s a sense of community felt strongly within the punk scene.
As Leeds welcomes the beginning of autumn with torrential rain, The Flatliners arrive at Brudenell Social Club – a fitting venue for what the evening has in store – carrying a little baggage from their headline UK tour. We’re halfway through this jaunt across the British Isles but it is already starting to take its toll on the Canadians, with frontman Chris Cresswell openly admitting that he was running “at 25 per cent”.
Aside from a support slot with The Menzingers earlier in the year, this is the first time The Flatliners have hit these shores armed with their latest (and fifth) studio album ‘Inviting Light’. It is the most recent installment in the band’s evolution, an encapsulation of the frustrations of modern life and emphasising the importance of maintaining human relationships in the face of an increasingly digital world.
The latest effort marks The Flatliners’ fifteenth year as a band as they edge towards becoming veterans of the punk scene, and this set reflects their gradual change of sound over that past decade and a half. Fresh material such as ‘Mammals’ and ‘Hang My Head’ slot right in alongside older numbers ‘Count Your Bruises’ and ‘Eulogy’.
However, there is an underlying issue from the off. Cresswell’s signature rasping vocals are met with a wince each time he forces a syllable from his mouth and he’s repeatedly apologising for his strained vocals. Like any true professional he soldiers on to deliver ‘Mother Teresa Chokeslams the World’. Despite every word being flung back by an enthusiastic audience, Cresswell is close to admitting defeat and concedes that the half set will be as far as they’ll be able to go this evening.
Understanding disappointment fills the room but a throwaway comment changes the whole dynamic of the show. Cresswell teases that if anyone in attendance knows the lyrics then they would be more than welcome to step up. Armed with an iPhone and quick access to AZLyrics.com, our hero Scott makes for the stage and this potentially curtailed show is back on course. He may not have the rasping vocals, he may not really know the proper cues to ‘Birds of England’, but he does make this one hell of a unique show.
In a hugely life imitating art moment, The Flatliners transport us into their own music video for latest single ‘Indoors’ and we’ve got our very own karaoke evening in a social club. Songs are played on request, just as soon as Scott can look up the lyrics, fans invade the stage, support bands Prawn and Shit Present duet for ‘Monumental’ and even a slightly uncomfortable tour manager is roped in for closer ‘Caskets Full’.
If the raucous ovation that signals The Flatliners’ departure for the evening is anything to go by, the Canadians created something truly special in the most adverse of situations. It is almost befitting that such a show of community should take place in a venue like Brudenell Social Club – a cornerstone of a city’s music scene built on the hard work of members and volunteers. In their moment of need, The Flatliners offered their hand and the punk scene grasped it to create a lasting moment and one that neither band nor audience will forget in a hurry.