Ultimate Setlist: Poison the Well
Poison the Well is, always has been, and always will be one of my favorite bands. I distinctly remember buying their EP 'Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder' as a freshman in high school, telling my friends about it while walking the halls of said high school, and eagerly awaiting their newest album 'The Opposite of December' to come out1. Then, when it did finally come out, everything changed. Like, everything.
There was no other album like that up to that point (although there have been many, MANY since). Opposite quite literally changed the entire direction of the hardcore and metal scene, along with everything it knew about what a good record was supposed to sound like. It's as if you were traveling at 60 miles an hour, and you ran right into a fist that immediately sent you back in the other direction at 120 miles an hour.
The tour for Opposite was one for the ages. I know at one point they toured with Every Time I Die, not sure if it was that one, but they also had shows with Eighteen Visions, NORA (of course), Killswitch, and all the who's who at the time. Their show at Club Krome will go down as one of the most insane shows I've ever seen. They closed with Nerdy, and literally the ENTIRE stage was covered with people. You couldn't see the band anymore except for drummer Chris Hornbrook's2 head and some cymbals. Complete and total mayhem.3
After Opposite they put out Tear from the Red. A transition record, to be sure, but I love everything about that album. First, it signified that at least they were growing, and not a one trick pony. They did it right though, a slow move towards writing actual rock songs and not just chugging breakdown after chugging breakdown. Sure, they were there, but it was done in a way only Poison the Well could do it. Sophisticated brutality, if you will. Their popularity kept growing and growing. So they left Trustkill and graduated to Atlantic Records the same year I graduated high school. They were with me for 4 years of high school, but once college came around, You Come Before You was not for me.
What a dummy I was (am), because now that I'm older and have re-visited their albums after Tear, I realize how unbelievable this band turned out to be. You Come Before You, Versions, and The Tropic Rot are all incredible albums in their own unique ways. Vocalist Jeff Moreira's voice really took a turn for the better with his cleans, and it seems like Ryan Primack could write 5 more albums full of riffs and still not run out of ideas. The grown up version of that 15-year old freshman appreciates their later songs in a way the younger me never could have. They still have it because they never lost it to begin with.
Their hiatus in 2010 left a huge hole in the heavy music scene. The band that altered the path of an entire genre had decided enough was enough. With 5 years to sit on all these albums, it has finally sunken in exactly how much of an impact PTW had on music and lives. It is with this nostalgia and admiration that I created this set list. With the announcement of a reunion 15 minutes from my house, what better way to kill 2 months of anticipation until they play their first show in 5 years than by beating their music into my brain and praying they read this/mimic it's content.
ULTIMATE POISON THE WELL SETLIST
Letter Thing
Artists Rendering of Me
The Notches That Create Your Headboard
Turn Down Elliot
Prematurito El Baby
Sticks and Stones Never Made Sense
Ghostchant
The View From Here Is A Brick Wall
12/23/93
Cinema
Exist Underground
Run Desire Gone Clean
Zombies are Good for Your Health
Nerdy
Torn
ENCORE
Botchla
Crystal Lake
Honorable Mentions: My Mirror No Longer Reflects, Riverside (doubt they'll have horns on stage), Rings from Corona
All 5 of those songs are amazing.
Hornbrook is one insane drummer. INSANE.
They played Grain of Salt at this show, which was amazing. It was on the first EP that Jeff didn't sing on, so that was cool.
