The Hotelier @ Gorilla, Manchester, 23 Jan

“We had a day off here in Manchester yesterday, so I headed to the casino.” The Hotelier frontman Christian Holden is regaling the audience with tales of his Sunday afternoon gambling exploits. “I got talking to this older guy, and I told him I was in town because I’m in a band. He said, “Oh, are you anything like Blink-182?” So I told him, “Sorta...””

Holden promised to put his new acquaintance on the guestlist if his cards came in – they did, but he’s nowhere to be seen. There’d have been little issue fitting him in; the room’s maybe half full at best, but a throng of hardcore followers down the front burst into life in response to searing opener An Introduction to the Album, plucked from 2014’s sophomore record Home, Like Noplace Is There.

The conventional wisdom is that this Massachusetts outfit form part of the vanguard of a new wave of emo bands, alongside the likes of Modern Baseball, Foxing and Into It. Over It. That’s probably a little reductive – it feels as if such comparisons strip away a little of each group’s character every time they’re made. Besides, on tonight’s evidence, The Hotelier belong in amongst the post-hardcore fringes of the genre anyway; like a modern day Texas is the Reason, they tear through a 75-minute set that leans most heavily on last year’s Goodness LP. 

Incendiary guitar work, howled vocals and a seldom-remitting pace characterise the older cuts, but the standouts are the melodic moments from the latest record; Two Deliverances and Sun are in among the highlights and, in their own way, feel more intense than their older, rougher counterparts. A snapped bass string late on threatens to derail proceedings, and with main supports Crying being a strictly guitar-and-percussion outfit, it’s left to openers local Grotbags to save the day with a replacement instrument. Just as well, too; closing one-two Dendron and Opening Mail for My Grandmother prove a potent parting shot. This is a band who refuse to be pigeonholed; expect a fiercer struggle for tickets next time out.