Trash Talk packed in The Toff and it was nothing short of chaos
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Trash Talk packed in The Toff and it was nothing short of chaos

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The Toff was packed tighter than a can of John West sardines before Californian hardcore punks Trash Talk hit the stage. Word of the free show had gone viral and every hardcore kid and his dog had squeezed into the modestly sized venue the instant doors opened. Beers were chugged and beads of sweat rolled down necks as punters grew impatient lingering in the sticky humidity. Trash Talk were scheduled to start at 10, but emerged closer to 10:30 to a roar of applause and fist pumps.

A fashionably late entrance was followed by a blistering start. Heavily tattooed and shaggy haired vocalist Lee Spielman cast a piercing glare into the crowd as he ordered punters to lose their collective shit, which they did, in chaotic unison. Pint glasses smashed as bodies were hurled in all directions in front of the stage. You were instantly covered in sweat – but most likely not your own. “I’m impressed you managed to break the stage barrier within two songs,” quipped Spielman.

Like most hardcore and punk rock shows, this was just as much about the audience as it was about the band. Fans don’t go to gigs like this just to stand back and watch idly – they’re part of the show too. The crazier the crowd became, the more worked up the band became, which fed into this infinite energy loop. Guitarist Garrett Stevenson’s caustic power chords and walls of screaming feedback filled the room as bodies were flung from the stage and walls scaled. There’s a certain danger and uncertainty about a Trash Talk show: like things could quickly escalate into an all-out riot and the police could show up to shut it down at any minute – but that’s also what makes seeing them live so damn exciting.

They may have only played for around half an hour, but Trash Talk easily squeezed over 20 songs into their set. They dropped some new stuff from their recent Tangle EP, but it was older cuts like Sacramento is Dead and Lepers to Feed the Lepers that elicited the strongest reactions from the crowd. The 45-second blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Envy from 2010’s brilliant Eyes & Nines LP was smeared into the weed-bleached drone of Hash Wednesday, with bassist Spencer Pollard’s guttural howl of “Jesus is in me at a premium price” echoed by the crowd.

The set ended as chaotically as it had started: a circle pit filled the belly of the Toff as hooligans hung from the ceiling. It had been a messy, sweaty affair with Trash Talk, but a memorable one nevertheless.

By Jack Pilven

Highlight: Circle pits on a Thursday night.

Lowlight: The stench of BO.

Crowd Favourite: Awake.