Firstly, as a 24-year-old female, It’s important to note, I’m not exactly the predominant demographic for a band such as This Silent Divide. However, that’s the great thing about music, especially rock music, it’s not exclusive. I like to think that it meant I watched This Silent Divide through a different lens with a different perspective. I wish I could say I've been a long-time fan but I went into this gig with only a tiny bit of background knowledge of the band and a hand-held love of classic rock music. Walking through the doors of the Meow venue, I can say I had a gratified feeling and the reward of having a new band to listen to.

New Zealand has a myriad amount of great rock bands and This Silent Divide, who are Wellington based, are a respective part of that. We first had the supporting acts Secrets of the Sun (pictured) and Dave and the Dirty Humans starting us off with their own heavy rock sound to galvanize us into what was to come. Then next on the stage, we had Shaun Jones on vocals and guitar, Kieran Williams adding in background vocals and guitar, Jonatan Jaworski on bass and Sunil Jolly on drums.

A few days before, on the 26th of May, This Silent Divide had released their new single Beautiful Creature and the crowd and I were there to embrace the new song. Seeing the song played live showed how effortless it looked for each of the band members to play their respective instruments. All their songs are fast-paced, and they each could clearly keep up the rhythm with no one left behind. In other words, They were not only well-rehearsed but on stage they knew how to work together with a rippling glide. There was one moment I particularly liked that was towards the very end of their performance of In My Life where Sunil was especially strong on the drums and it left a great echo of intensity.

I did feel like the band may have slightly been constricted to the rock genre. Each song was well constructed lyrically and instrumentally however they sounded familiar to the next. They definitely showed their ability as a rock band but I couldn’t help but wonder if it would make the band even more accessible with some more variation in their sound. With that said, their performance of Eyes reflected something a little different from the rest and it was a personal favourite performance for me. Eyes is from the EP they released back in 2021 called Tall Stories which also features the single Lucinda.

From what I have seen, there are a lot of bands that fall into the trap of being stagnant on stage and I’m glad this was not the case for This Silent Divide. There was movement from each of the members that showed there was an alliance and vitality amongst them. Now and then you could see Shaun and Kieran turn to each other with some nods in rhythm while playing their guitars and at one point I could see Shaun turn to Sunil while headbanging with enjoyment and agreement to the drums. This is only one of the many reasons we as an audience clapped after each song, and with that, we received a kind ‘Thank you’ from Shaun.

When the set had finished, my plus-one and I could honestly say that it was a fun gig to attend and we definitely weren’t the only ones having a great time. Just before the final song Shaun leans into the mic and said, “Thanks for coming out tonight” and a voice from the crowd replied enthusiastically “No, thank you! For coming out!” I’m sure there will be more to come from this band and so it’ll be worth keeping an eye out for what more they have to offer.

Photo Credit: Nicholas E. Clark
This Silent Divide Gallery
Secrets of the Sun Gallery
Dave and the Dirty Humans Gallery

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