by Lauren Rosier

One of the few music venues in York, The Depot, played host to national Philadelphia act, mewithoutYou, Lancaster natives, Bells, and Baltimore’s Vinny Vegas.

The Depot is a small, little dive bar in a small, corner of southern York County. There really is nothing fancy to the venue. They are about the music and the beer. Actually, it seems since the last time I was there (a mewithoutYou show nonetheless) it was smaller, so they must have expanded a bit.

The crowd ranged from your indie rock fanatic to your hardcore fan dressed in black with ear gauges. People were mostly over 21 year old, as prior to the start of the show majority of people were spending their time hovering near the bar with adult beverages in hand. Of course, there were a few younger attendees, 18 and younger, but it mostly consisted of an older crowd.

The opener, five piece rock band, Vinny Vegas, from Baltimore were actually pretty amazing. They are a progressive, experimental rock band comparable to national post-hardcore outfit The Receiving End of Sirens and former favorite Central Pennsylvania local bands, Western Jesus and A Utopian Skyline.

Vinny Vegas’ frontman had incredible stage presence and energy to his performance. Apparently the band’s bassist, Aaron, was filling in, and played through the songs after a rehearsal, and he was one of best bassists I’ve seen in a very long time. The band played around a thirty-minute set with very last song being super epic. It is definitely so refreshing to hear new opening bands that have true talent.

The middle set was taken by mostly-instrumental band Bells, which formed through friends from August Burns Red member Jon Hershey and former This or the Apocalypse member Sean Henessey. This was my second time seeing them play live and they were even better this time than they were the first time around.

Bells’ music is a combination of heavy instrumentals reminiscent of bands like Pelican, but softer and also more visual. The band incorporated wild screensaver during their set which completely added to the experience. Since Bells is a local, Central PA — most of its members are from wildly popular metalcore bands — the crowd was pretty into the Jon Hershey-led show.

For anyone who is not familiar with mewithoutYou, they are not a band that you are going to go see without listening to them multiple times upon arrival to the show. They are an acquired taste. Once you have become attached, there is no becoming unattached.

Aaron Weiss and company opened their set with “My Exit, Unfair” off their sophomore record, Catch For Us The Foxes. Starting with an older track to open the show was a wise idea on the band’s as the crowd roared with excitement. I swear from that point on, as a result of being at the front of the stage, I gladly suffered some of the battle wounds that accompanied with all the pushing and shoving that occurred with the crowd’s excitement.

The band played a brand new song titled “Blue Hen” from their upcoming sixth LP due in May/June. As stated in my interview with Mike Weiss, the track was back to the band’s roots of Aaron’s signature shouting and heavy guitars, so naturally all the fans loved it.

Another track, “Four Word Letter, Pt. 2” from Catch For Us The Foxes was superb — the energy in the room was out of this world. The band’s set concluded with their latest single, “All Circles,” off their most recent album, Ten Stories. Of course, they came out for a two-song encore, which consisted of “The Fox, The Crow, and The Cookie” and then lastly “O, Porcupine.”

I strongly recommend listening to all three of these bands and go out and support them.