The Wrecks Aren't Wasting Their Youth

The Wrecks w/ Brick and Mortar & lovelytheband
The Vera Project, Seattle, WA
12.16.17

You could call The Wrecks a pop-rock band, you could call them an indie band, you could call them a pop-punk band—but really, they’re just a band with one of the most entertaining performances around. After opening in Seattle on a few tours with British group Nothing But Thieves, The Wrecks were finally ready to branch out and headline for themselves, armed with just three officially released songs.

First up for the night was lovelytheband, another synth heavy indie band with a light, summery sound. Having their track, “Broken,” played on 107.7 pretty frequently now, the band had a little traction with the crowd, and their sound and energy proved to be more than enough to keep everyone well engaged and joyful.

Next up was Brick and Mortar, a band that came out of nowhere and no one could really figure out, but in absolutely the best way. The performance started out pretty normal, nothing too crazy, just good music. While the good music ran throughout the set, the calm nature certainly did not. The next song was met by giant (probably at least 4 feet from fingertip to wrist) blue foam hands worn by one of the band members, then after a brief costume change, the crowd watched a performance by “the pope” and what looked like a Super Mario World pipe who handed out pill stickers. And to finish things off with a bang, one of them took his shirt off to reveal glittery red pasties with black tassels, ready to be shaken around as he shimmied across the stage.

With a sound that leans pretty pop, The Wrecks were never a perfect fit opening for Nothing But Thieves, but no one was complaining after they would finish their early sets. A young band just looking to have fun, they do exactly that, packing their shows with energy and love, creating an environment that feeds off the energy of the crowd.

While they have released a little EP of three of the songs they’d been playing, The Wrecks packed this live set with mostly unreleased material. After creating such a loyal fan base from those prior opening sets, the unreleased songs sounded like something that had been out forever as loads of the fans sang along with every word of tracks like “James Dean” and “Wasted Youth.” To really get everyone involved, the night finished lovingly as fans packed on stage with the band to dance and sing along.

Even headlining such a small venue, The Wrecks were anything but a small band. Packing the room full with fans and excitement, these guys had enough people singing along to easily fill a larger venue. And banger after banger, the night never died down, even well after the show ended and they greeted, signed, and took photos with their fans.

Review and photos by Lulu Dawson

The Wrecks