Ben Bruce of Asking Alexandria, The Regency Ballroom, 11/30/2014
Photo by Jared Stossel
SAN FRANCISCO - I’ve always worried about the members of Asking Alexandria. Particularly, I’ve always worried about Danny Worsnop, the lead vocalist of the British metalcore quintet. Failed stints in rehab, cocaine binges during the recording session for the band’s most recent album, From Death To Destiny, and frequent abuse of other drugs and alcohol have run rampant throughout his career. I have often worried that he would follow in the footsteps of Cobain, Joplin, and Noel, all deceased by age 27. I write this with the utmost care, because the guy has serious talent. Hell, the whole band has serious talent. I met Worsnop once before, and he seems like a good guy. Someone who doesn’t deserve the fate of the three names I mentioned above.
After seeing the show they recently put on in San Francisco at The Regency Ballroom, I’m not as worried anymore. Worsnop seems to have it together. The band doesn’t seem like they’re out of it. The first few times I ever saw Asking Alexandria, I learned that they were playing all of their instruments from muscle memory because they were so blazingly drunk. I could tell. Now, they seem to have themselves together, in the best way possible. AA powered through an hour and a half headlining set, on the aptly named From Death To Destiny Tour. Two giant letter A’s lined the stage, and the band were armed with a lighting rig that sucked up so much power that all of the opening bands (four in total) had to use minimalistic lighting in their sets.
The set list traversed a great deal of material from the band’s career thus far, spanning all the way back to their breakthrough debut, Stand Up and Scream. The group is tightly knit as ever. As much crap as they receive from previous sets, they deserve your attention. While From Death To Destiny wasn’t their very best album, their upcoming fourth could be the one that changes the game for them, in an amazing way. If they keep putting on shows like the one I recently witnessed, they’ve got a fantastic career ahead of themselves.
Asking Alexandria has been around since 2008. That’s seven years. Here’s to at least seven more, guys.