Venue: Hailey's
Time: 11:30 p.m.
On Thursday night at NX35, This Will Destroy You tried its best to live up to its name.
As the crowd at Hailey's slowly grew with semi-drunk, bearded fans, so did the anticipation for the San Marcos quartet's set. And it continued to grow, and grow, and grow....
For over an hour, the members of TWDY slowly sauntered back and forth on the stage while taking swigs from a huge bottle of Jameson and greeting what seemed to be long lost friends in the audience before showing any signs that they would soon be starting.
After a few choice expletives into the microphone from guitar player, Jeremy Galindo, the band began a slow descent into what would be an extremely heavy and dark set. This band has mastered the art of using silence to build the music in tandem with the shock value of oppressively loud guitars.
A handful of songs in, and bass player Donovan Jones' fingers were bleeding. So, too, were most of the ears in the crowd.
As the bottle of whiskey emptied onstage, Galindo's banter grew more offensive. But despite the tomfoolery, the purity and angst in the music was impossible to deny.
And judging by the full house, few had many problems with being destroyed.
