The “All American Nightmare” known as Hinder hit London for the first time since 2007 at Camden’s intimate Dingwalls club, with their new album When The Smoke Clears and new frontman Marshall Dutton, making sure to leave their mark.
Joining them on their short run of intimate UK dates are classic rockers Rival State. Armed with their critically acclaimed Guttermouth EP and an opening slot on the second stage at Download Festival under their belt, they’re well versed in getting a crowd going and put their skills to good use tonight. It was bound to be an uphill struggle to motivate a small crowd on a Sunday night but within a few songs their raw blend of Nirvana with lowered Thin Lizzy riffs soon get heads bobbing and swiftly wins some new fans.
After Rival State gave the venue a good roasting, Hinder get on stage 9 pm sharp and the previous two dates clearly left a good impression on the band as they eagerly run on stage, ready and raring to go. As they kick off with some instrumental guitar soloing to get everyone bouncing, it’s clear that this is going to be one American swagger-filled show and jam into ‘Use Me’ from their second album before taking the audience on a rollercoaster ride through their five-album catalogue, testament to their almost 15 years of being a band.
Mixing their classics, ‘Homecoming Queen’ and ‘Use Me’ with the more modern likes of the swagger-filled ‘See You In Hell’, which gets the whole floor bouncing. Much to the satisfaction of the band’s new addition Dutton, new tracks such as ‘Hit The Ground’ and ‘Intoxicated’ go down a storm, before they announce that their next video will be for the single ‘Wasted Life’ and will compile fan footage from the tour, handing their Go-Pro camera to a member of the audience to film the performance.
Of course, a Hinder set wouldn’t be the same without a few of their popular ballads like ‘Lips Of An Angel’ and ‘Better Than Me’, prompting the crowd to wave their arms in the air like they just don’t give a fuck. The band are joined onstage by Rival State’s singer Luke Van Hoof to add his Kurt Cobain-like vocals to ‘Get Stoned’, taken from the Oklahoma quintet’s 2005 debut album Extreme Behaviour and as they sign off it’s clear that the change in venue was perfect for them. Come back soon Hinder!
