Spitting Glass, Harbinger, Shields i.a.
The Deaf Institute (Manchester, UK)The Underworld Camden (London, UK)
Two songs, four shows and a scene in motion
Spitting Glass is one of the most intriguing new forces in deathcore right now. Few bands manage to stir up this much attention with so little officially released music: no album, just two songs – and yet their first club shows were very successful, followed by a debut at Download Festival that had people talking. The fact that they played at 11 a.m. on a Sunday only makes the intense reaction even more impressive.
What makes the band especially interesting is how consciously they tap into the dynamics of gaming and streaming culture: direct contact, teasers, community building and nearly constant visibility are taking the place of old-school band promotion. Before there was even much music to hear, an international audience was already emotionally – and in some cases financially via Twitch – invested in the whole thing.
But did Spitting Glass actually deliver – sonically and on stage – what everyone had been hoping for? And why does this project already feel like more than just another band? I caught them at their first three UK club shows, and honestly, the whole thing was slightly surreal: people had travelled from Australia, the USA, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and beyond to see a band with exactly two songs out in the world. That does make you pause for a second and think: right, something is definitely happening here.
Who or what the hell is Spitting Glass?
Of course, the buzz did not materialize out of thin air. The line-up behind Spitting Glass is anything but lightweight. Everyone involved has already cut their teeth on serious stages and festival bills. Frontman Joe Bad has long since proved with Fit For An Autopsy that he is an outstanding vocalist. Danny Yates on drums and Chris Keepin on guitar are a well-oiled unit from Osiah and Viscera, while bassist Reuben Bescoby has already shown with A Night In The Abyss that he is no rookie either.
And then there is the other guitarist – the person who, to me, feels like the real engine behind the whole thing. Spitting Glass is David Ball’s baby so to say. He put the band together, as he proudly explained in the first interview with podcaster Steve O’G and on his own Twitch streams. He, too, is hardly an unknown quantity in the scene…
For me, though, David Ball is more than the mastermind behind a new band. Through Twitch, he has created his own very particular kind of visibility – one built on an openness that reaches far beyond music and gaming. He talks about mental health without wrapping it in pretty paper, shares personal experiences, recommends bands, celebrates the sacred ritual of manually brewed coffee and weighs in on style and fashion. At the same time, he shows himself as vulnerable, imperfect or simply magnificently uncombed. It is exactly this unfiltered naturalness that makes him such an unusually authentic and inspiring figure in a world obsessed with polished self-promotion and perfection. His eye for aesthetics is not limited to music and clothes either: David Ball discovered the artist moth_ro7 on social media, was instantly taken with the sketches, and they eventually became part of Spitting Glass’s visual identity.
Out of all of this, a genuinely loyal fan community has grown. You can see it in the way people have found new friendships, new music and perhaps even a little more confidence through these streams. Anyone following David Ball’s musical recommendations – from Spite to Excide, Paleface Swiss or Humanity’s Last Breath – quickly gets a sense of the world Spitting Glass inhabits sonically. We are talking about a sound that very politely removes your head from your shoulders.
Club shows with history
London, Manchester, Glasgow – the first shows took place in small, history-soaked clubs holding roughly 300 to 500 people. The very first one, at the sold-out Underworld in London’s Camden, felt particularly special. The Underworld is not just some basement venue in Camden; it is one of those rooms where music history seems to cling to the walls. Foo Fighters, Radiohead and Queens Of The Stone Age have all played that stage – bands that now fill arenas and headline festivals. Seeing a band in that kind of intimate setting is priceless. Across those three club shows, Spitting Glass essentially got to sharpen their teeth before their first major appearance at Download Festival.
A line-up without fillers
Speaking of removing heads from shoulders: the support package alone made sure nobody left the room with their feet dry. What worked especially well at The Underworld was the smart choice of opening bands. This did not feel like a randomly assembled warm-up slot, but like a carefully curated cross-section of modern heaviness. Each band brought its own character, turning the evening into far more than a simple exercise in collectively screaming ourselves unconscious. Tribe Of Ghosts, with Danny Yates also behind the kit, opened with a mix of post-metal, hardcore and electronic darkness. The alternating vocals of Adam Sedgwick and Beccy Blaker gave the set an extra edge. Harbinger surprised me with modern death metal and serious technical force. For me, though, the real highlights among the supports were Beyond Extinction and Shields. Beyond Extinction delivered a performance that was not only brutal, but genuinely gripping. I had already seen them at The Black Heart in March this year, and the whole package immediately hit my internal hype button.
Shields were my personal discovery among the support bands. They did not storm out with the usual zero-to-one-hundred assault, but opened with an spoken introduction, atmospherically underpinned by instruments, giving the start an unexpectedly intense edge. That variety is exactly what made the line-up so strong: every band had its own style, its own energy – and together they built a support bill that did not merely pave the way for Spitting Glass but had the room running at full temperature long before the headliner appeared.
An interview with Osaiah you will find here and you can read more about Beyond Extinction here.
The pictures – Harbinger, Shields, Tribe of Ghosts, Beyond Extinction (Jon Sugden)
All pictures from Jon Sugden
When the long-awaited headliner finally takes over
What became obvious immediately: there was no warm-up phase. No cautious feeling-out process. Spitting Glass walked on stage and opened with the recently released song “Full Send” – and seconds later, the room was on fire. The song offered no foreplay; it hit you straight in the face at full force. That one landed.
Either way, the whole performance felt pretty raw and unpolished. Sonically, it delivered exactly what had been expected: no unnecessary gimmicks, just an “all killer, no filler” deathcore/metalcore slab.
Frontman Joe Bad was not on stage to politely ask whether anyone might possibly be ready now. He arrived, opened the room and tore the door off its hinges. His vocals were brutal but never generic; his presence carried serious pressure. Joe Bad has a fundamentally charismatic aura, and it does not take long to understand why his name alone already creates expectations.
It was also particularly interesting to observe what Spitting Glass could mean for the development of the scene. In an environment such as deathcore and metalcore, which live has traditionally been heavily male dominated, these shows stood out because there were a striking number of women in the audience. I would estimate around 70%, which is rather unusual. For now, much of this new energy still seemed to watch in amazement from the edge of the mosh pit, but that did nothing to diminish the exuberant atmosphere. If that enthusiasm soon arrives not only loudly in front of the stage but also physically in the pit, Spitting Glass could genuinely help make the scene a little broader and more female. As a woman, I have fought my way through plenty of mosh pits, and I have to say: without that controlled chaos, something is missing from concerts for me these days.
At the end of the performance, the already released song “1HP” once again made it very clear that Spitting Glass does not draw their intensity only from sound and stage energy. “1HP” tackles major personal health experiences and translates them into images that, for me, almost become physically tangible: loss of control, pain, exhaustion and a constant state of emergency. This is not performative heaviness, but a very direct way of showing vulnerability.
Summary – Spitting Glass
Spitting Glass are still at the very beginning, and that is exactly what makes this so exciting. The project feels raw, hungry, fascinating and is carried by a community that is definitely more than digital background noise. Musically, the first songs and shows deliver pretty much exactly what it says on the tin: a direct, crushing deathcore slab without decorative doilies. Even more interesting, however, is what is happening around it. This is not simply the next deathcore band crawling out of the fog; this is already a small cultural knot made up of Twitch streams, friendship, vulnerability, punk attitude and a great deal of heart. If Spitting Glass can sustain this energy across a full album, then we are not talking about a short-lived internet hype with a built-in expiry date, but about something that could still give the scene’s head a proper recalibration.
The setlist – Spitting Glass
- Full Send
- Planting
- Monitor Me
- Kick Punch
- Off The Edge
- Saved
- 1HP
The crowd speaks
Toby (UK): I showed up with a busted foot, wearing a brace after all. I snapped it at a gig about a week before in a pit. At the Manchester show, my shoe even ended up on stage and somehow made its way back to me mid-chaos (yeah, that one was mine). Spitting Glass is “straight up just quality” – raw, heavy deathcore that hits you instantly. Brutal riffs, crushing breakdowns, no mercy. And honestly, if I can start a pit like that with a broken foot, you know it went off.
Mia Rebel (USA): It was definitely a bit risky to travel all the way from the United States when, at that point, I had only heard two of their songs. But I trusted Joe and David’s process – and besides, a holiday in my favourite countries, England and Scotland, was long overdue anyway. In the end, everything fit perfectly. Spitting Glass definitely did not disappoint, and I cannot wait to hear their full album – especially because I know how personal and important this project is to them.
Manu (Germany): I flew in from Germany specially to see Spitting Glass, and they did not disappoint me. Quite the opposite: they absolutely blew me away. The energy of every single band member on stage was insane. I cannot wait for them to come to Germany.
Rhiannon Paige (UK): I attended the first ever Spitting Glass show at The Underworld in Camden, UK. They were unbelievably refreshing to watch, with a sound that is new but also feels similar to each of their musical backgrounds with each member bringing their own talent and skills to the stage and putting on a show that was compelling to the audience from the first drum hit and guitar riff. Spitting Glass means a lot to me as a band because with enough inspiration, hard work and passion you could really make something for yourself. I find comfort in their lyrics as it creates a lot of understanding between the artist and the audience, and you can relate in a way.
Support
If you want to support the guys and are curious to see where the band goes next, subscribe to their channels on Twitch:
- David Ball: tedious_dave
- Joe Bad: JoeBad
- Danny Yates: dannyyatesdrums
- Chris Keepin: Chris_Keepin
- Reuben Bescoby: not on Twitch yet
The pictures – Spitting Glass (Jake Owens)
All pictures from Jake Owens