Yashin Headline Plymouth Venue!

Yashin are a post-hardcore band from Glasgow, Scotland who formed in ‘06. The band consists of 6 members; Kevin Miles (lead vocals-screamer), Harry Radford (lead vocals-singer), Lewis Millen (rhythm guitar), Andrew McShane (bass), Paul Travers (lead guitar) and David Beaton (drums). Yashin was founded by Paul and Andrew while in school with former vocalist Michael Rice. After the band released 2 EPs ‘Pay to Play’ and ‘Miles Away But Getting Closer’ in ‘08, Rice left Yashin but was quickly replaced by Kevin and Harry. After a year of the new lie up, April ‘09 saw the Glaswegian band go on a 9 date UK tour supporting Madina Lake and The Audition. In February ‘10 Yashin released their debut album ‘Put Your Hands Where I Can See Them’ and September that year they went out on their very first headline tour, which included visiting Plymouth. In early ‘11 Yashin had the opportunity to perform a set opening for American band A Day To Remember at the O₂ Academy in their hometown; Glasgow, which they quickly accepted and got a great response by critics and the audience. A couple of months later Yashin went on tour again but this time supported Florida-based band The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus during their full UK tour; sadly I missed seeing the Plymouth show due to financial reasons and tickets selling out however a friend of mine went to this and said it was absolutely amazing. June and July ‘11 were busy months for Yashin due to supporting KORN at Glasgow’s O₂ Academy, playing Slam Dunk Festival (north and south), Download Festival, a few days later playing Nova Rock Festival in Austria then to top it all off supporting the brilliant band Papa Roach on 2 of their only UK tour dates in London and Sheffield. Along with My Passion, Yashin will be supporting the awesome Black Veil Brides on their first European headline tour during the months of October and November ’11, which I’m ecstatic to announce I will be attending the Lemon Grove show in Exeter.

Embarking on their first ever UK headline tour in ‘10, I was able to catch Yashin play at the White Rabbit, Plymouth on 15/09 with support from Dead Poets (Plymouth), Seize The Day (Plymouth) and Don Broco (Bedford). Due to this show being my first time at White Rabbit, I was slightly nervous about it and I didn’t really know what to expect because I pictured it to be a dark and skanky place where everyone wore stretchers and had sleeve tattoos. I also thought the vast majority of the music played here was pure heavy metal and screaming but it really wasn’t like how I imagined it to be which surprised me a lot. At the beginning of the night I helped on Seize The Day’s merch stall-where at the time, they only had green wristbands and 1 version of stickers, with my sister and one of the guitarist’s fiancé Leona. I was pleased with the level of energy in White Rabbit because I find the more energy somewhere has the more exciting the experience becomes. So my first occurrence at White Rabbit was amazing compared to my sisters’ who nearly started a fight with someone (shame I wasn’t there to witness this) because I was going mostly to support Seize The Day but I’d heard of Don Broco and Yashin a couple of months prior to the 15/09 gig so I was eager to see them in action.

Even though White Rabbit is just a small unit building beside Bretonside bus station and under a busy road, when you’re inside the venue you cannot tell where you really are until you go outside and realise that you’re still in Plymouth because the atmosphere everyone provides is great and you feel that White Rabbit is in a completely different place, which for me makes it special.  When the first support act; Dead Poets, were starting I had a quick look at what was going by standing at the back but there was no need to do this because they hardly had any support on this particular night but I continued watching them. Due to the small crowd gather there wasn’t a good reaction from them and in all honesty I didn’t like them therefore I kind of switched off when they were playing their set. Next up was Seize The Day. I was really excited about this because I know them and I know they’re good but I’ve never seen them live before so I ran to the side of the stage (I didn’t want to be trampled on) just before their intro played; JLS-everybody in love then into the breakdown. The reaction from the crowd was great which you could tell by looking at the bands’ faces and it was great to see them live and doing what they love together as friends. Seize The Day’s set really impressed me. The third support act comes from Bedford, yes it’s Don Broco and again it was the first time I saw them too but I listened to loads of their songs e.g. Thug Workout, on YouTube prior to the gig. This band is full of energy and could have easily been bouncing off the stage at some point. I downloaded all their pre-Big Fat Smile songs and listened to them repeatedly. Don Broco had an amazing reaction from the Plymouth crowd, which was amazing for them to see.

It was time for the headliners. Yashin entered the stage to their official intro then blasted out their first song ‘The First Rule Of Fight Club’ which everyone went mental for. The setlist for Yashin’s gig is as follows:

1. The First Rule Of Fight Club
2. Get Loose
3. Heroes (Alive In Us Yet)
4. Down, But Homeward Bound
5. My Hyde
6. So We’re Named After Saints
7. Friends In High Places
8. Dirty Slut
9. Everytime

I was supporting Yashin from the side of the stage which was actually a pretty good view in all fairness and I was actually enjoying myself even though the venue was so stuffy due to the door near the stage not being open throughout the whole night of Yashin, Don Broco, Seize The Day and Dead Poets. The mosh pit was full of red-faced fans who were trying to get the best view of the Glaswegian band and they were all screaming their names and singing out their hearts along with Kevin and Harry during every single song. At points, Harry went into the mosh pit and nobody could see him surrounded by all Yashin’s fans but everyone knew he was fine because he was still singing solidly. During the penultimate song; ‘Dirty Slut’, Harry ordered everyone to crouch down then as soon as Kevin started screaming near the end of the song, they all had to jump up and start moshing with each other. The finale of the gig was their cover of Britney Spears’ song ‘Everytime’ which in my opinion is incredible and so much better then the original. It was full of energy and from the looks of it Yashin must have thought that Plymouth is great city to play in. Once the gig was over, I was thrilled that I came because it was at the time one of my best nights so far and I wanted to meet Yashin personally and tell them they where great, unfortunately they were really busy with packing up etc that they didn’t come out and see their fans which in my opinion they should have but they needed to leave straight away but I can’t not say I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to say hello, but oh well life goes. However, I did meet Rob Damiani from Don Broco, which made my night to be honest.

Overall, the night was fantastic and totally made me want to come back to White Rabbit. Seize The Day were very good so much better than Dead Poets, Don Broco were brilliant but funny at the same time and Yashin, well I don’t know what to say they were awesome and now I really cant wait until the BVB gig to see them again at The Lemon Grove on 07/10/11!

Visit Yashin's Facebook page for details of any upcoming gigs and songs: http://www.facebook.com/theyashin