I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: September 14, 2021] The Haunt

I was pretty delighted to see that Mongolia’s The HU were coming back to Philly.  I really enjoyed their set last time and figured they’d be just as fun this time.

This year’s opening band was The Haunt, who I’d never heard of (and it’s VERY hard to find them online because there’s all kinds of Haunt-named bands).

And here’s a fascinating bit of history

The Haunt, formerly known as AnastasiaMax are from South Florida. The band consists of siblings, Anastasia Grace Haunt (lead vocals), and Maxamillion Haunt (vocals, guitar and production), alongside Nat Smallish on bass guitar (formally Beach Day), and Nick Lewert on drums (formally Ethan Bortnick).

I can’t guarantee that those last two were the rhythm section.  he mentioned their names, but all I remember is that the drummer was nicknamed “waffles.”

I arrived in the middle of the first song (I hate the parking around TLA) and managed to get past the clustered people after a song or two.  But right from the start I was impressed with the sound of the song “Constant.”

Anastasia has an amazing voice–really power and diversity.  Max sang lead and harmony vocals and their voices sounded fantastic together.  Like in the intense “Why Are You So Cold?”

There were a bunch of tall dudes around me so I couldn’t see them all that clearly although I had a great view of the bassist and drummer (like in “Brag About“.  And thier low end was outstanding.  They had a few moments where they went from a silent sound to an immense crushing chord.  And there were a number iof drum fills that were just brutal–in both speed and sharpness of the crack sound.

Anastasia was a fun front woman.  She bounced around a lot–climbing up on the speakers and jumping off at one point.  Although she never addressed the crowd–that was all done by Max.

Max had a great guitar sound.  I especially enjoyed the distorted chords he bashed out.  There was one point where he soloed (briefly) and the bass and drums fleshed out the song really nicely.  In one of the final songs, the new single “Make Me King” I am pretty sure there were sampled guitars that played while he paused briefly.  I wondered how they were triggered.

The set was great and I felt like they really won over the audience.

I’ve listened to a few songs online and they definitely sounded bigger live.  I wonder if their new album (coming out soon) will reflect that bigger sound or not.

I’m not sure if I could piece together a full setlist, but I know they played these songs