LIVE FROM THE PIT: Dead Posey, The Cruel Knives and Brielle

Almost one year ago today, LA-based goth-rock band DEAD POSEY released their debut album Are You in a Cult? to great praise and acclaim. Since then, they have been relentlessly spreading their darkness across the world, with tours in their homeland of America, numerous festival appearances, and support slots. It feels right that on the anniversary month of their first full-length release, this rapidly-rising duo would return to the UK for their biggest ever headline tour - and especially fitting that it should fall on the spookiest month of all. The Damned and the Dead tour brings us to iconic Glasgow venue King Tut's on a cold October night, where fans in black eagerly await their fix of dark-driven alt-rock. The night begins with a slightly rocky start - twenty minutes past the advertised door time, and we're still in the queue with the double doors firmly shut. To their credit, venue staff speed things up by checking tickets and giving wristbands in the queue, so when the doors eventually open, it’s a speedy entry process. Up the lengthy stairs we head.

Waiting at the top are hometown rockers BRIELLE. Lead singer BETH SIMPSON is wrapped up in a dozen glittery belts, and is a sight to behold as she works magic on the keys. Spread out evenly across the stage are their drummer, bassist, and all the way on the opposite side is their guitarist - a strong force leading the band into an electric live performance of Without Me, a track that has crowd members nodding their heads to the rhythm even this early in the night. Following is recently-released single BREAK, the heaviest song of their set, and one that has the crowd synchronised in a rhythmic clap echoing throughout the small room as the drums pound on. Wrapping up their performance is the first cover of the night - a mesmerising rendition of ALANIS MORRISETTE's You Oughta Know, a staple of the band's setlists. It's a reimagining that carries shredding riffs and powerhouse vocals, and as BRIELLE leave the stage, we're left wondering why they haven't headlined this very stage yet.

Second up is a fittingly-spooky band hailing from further south in the UK, THE CRUEL KNIVES. Fans wait by the barricade for them to take the stage, but instead an ominous, foreboding instrumental intro - the theme from Kubrick's The Shining - creeps through the speakers and fills the air. It's theatrical, dramatic, and we know exactly what we're in for when the band finally makes their appearance. Up against a stack of amps almost as tall as him, guitarist SID GLOVER kickstarts the set with The Life That We Made. Fiery riffs compete for attention with TOM HARRIS' striking vocals, and relentless drumwork leads us into Overdose. As the song ramps up in intensity, an extended instrumental duel takes centre-stage and fans are enraptured by the sight. Between banter about blackberry Jack Daniels and interactions with long-time fans, the band treat us to several other bangers like Itchy Trigger Finger in all its high-speed intensity, and finisher Crawl, which has the crowd truly alive and singing along through the frenzied chorus.

It's only a short wait for the main event, and before we know it, the makeshift fabric screen draped across the back of the stage flickers to life with a projection. A countdown appears, one of those old-school greyscale ones you'd see at the start of film reels. Down and down it goes, until it fades into a montage; a compilation of clips from horror films - some classics, other ones lesser-known - takes the main focus. Soon gracing the stage are dark-rock duo, clad in leather and lace, DEAD POSEY. DANYELL SOUZA takes the microphone, and TONY NOVA steps into the fray armed with his electric guitar. Both are illuminated in a bright crimson. The stage of King Tut's may be small, but this production already makes it feel massive.

They kickstart the night with crowd-pleaser sorry i'm not dead, a strong, darkwave-infused teaser for the night they have in store for us. The stage presence on show with DANYELL is hypnotising, and she moves to the rhythm as if possessed by the music itself. Following that up is Zombies, the track the tour takes its namesake from - "I'm only down with the damned and the dead," we hear over TONY's shredding on the guitar. Heavy rock shakes the room, and DANYELL interacts with each and every fan in the crowd as she graces the barrier, grasping hands, locking eyes, even beckoning those at the back to come forward so she can reach them too. Before long we're led into the second cover of the night - the band's heavier, goth-rock reinvention of classic Blue Monday. A track that already goes hard in its original form, and yet when DEAD POSEY blast their way through the chords, they manage to take it to another level.

The riffs are electric, and the atmosphere is on fire tonight. The command DANYELL has over the crowd is immense, and that's further put on show when she introduces the next track with the words "we're going to have a seance." She asks for the house lights to be brought down, and phone torches to be held up. Everyone complies. As TONY leads into Darkside, the entire room is lit up only by the miniature lights in the crowd's waving hands. When the stage lights slowly come back to life, Russian Roulette blasts through the amps with its tight yet heavy tones, before leading into another fan-favourite, Holy Roller. Hands are back in the air now - with the absence of phone torches - swaying side to side in time with the beat. The band begin to rip into, fittingly, Can't Take Me Down, as a younger fan is chosen from the barrier and summoned to the stage to crowd surf. Taller audience members flock to the front to catch her, and soon, to guide DANYELL herself across the room on a sea of hands.

The crowd interaction continues with She Went Bad, as numerous other fans are beckoned forth to stand onstage - much to the annoyance of venue security. With a crazed look in her eyes, DANYELL resembles, in both appearance and sheer presence, an eerier JOAN JETT. As she announces their last song, she speaks a few words about the political climate in America, and proceeds to unite the crowd in saying that "we the people are stronger together." A chorus of "Fuck yeah!" fills the air, and the band tears into their final track Welcome to the Nightmare. With the heavy turnout for this incredible show, DEAD POSEY have proven themselves as a promising act in the alternative rock sphere, and we can only hope to see them continue to grow as time goes on - in a few years, we could be seeing them on an arena stage, and they'd feel right at home.

Words: Naomi Colliar Duff

Photos: Nicola Small