23 January 2026 – Crowbar, Brisbane – words by Lucas Bell – pictures by Clea-marie Thorne
I remember exactly where I was, the moment Better Lovers was announced. I was lying in bed, scrolling my phone, when I scrolled across the Instagram feed for Jordan Buckley, the former guitar player for Every Time I Die (ETID), where the announcement had gone live, mere minutes before I found it. ETID were a band I loved, and still do, for 20 years. And their break up, broke my heart. But to see that not only was Jordan teaming back up with Steve Micciche and Clayton “Goose” Holyoak from ETID, but also, Will Putney from Fit For an Autopsy AND Greg Puciato from The Dillinger Escape Plan (TDEP), I thought I had died. How does a group like this even exist?
When Greg came out for his 2024 solo tour, I asked him then, when can we expect a Better Lovers tour? I’d see all of his projects at least once. TDEP, Killer Be Killed, The Black Queen, and now solo. Better Lovers was the last thing to cross off that list. Plus, having seen ETID and FFAA multiple times, I needed this tour like I needed air. Greg promised they would get out here as soon as they can, and just over two years later, that promise was fulfilled. And the tour was stacked with talent, including Split Chain, and Blind Girls doing the entire country with them.
The night started off with Gold Coast locals, Glitter Strip. I make it a point to not pre-listen to bands I’ve not seen live before, and I gotta say, Glitter Strip were great. They were only on stage for about 20 minutes, but made full use of the time, with fast, frenetic aggression that gave itself moments to breathe. I didn’t know any of the songs to highlight, but the last two songs were super fun, and I hope to see a lot more of them in the future.
Glitter Strip – Crowbar – photos by Clea-marie Thorne
Out next were Blind Girls. Another hardcore band from the Gold Coast, this crew will be doing the entire tour of Australia with Better Lovers, and I can see why they were picked for that slot. Out of the gate, the energy was wild. Lead vocalist Sharni Brouwer at times had vocals not far off a demon, and had the instrumentation to back her up. Another fast, fun, energetic band that the crowd loved, and even got some hectic stage dives during.
Blind Girls – Crowbar – photos by Clea-marie Thorne
Rolling off the energy of Blind Girls, were English nu-metallers Split Chain. Before this tour, I didn’t know a lot about them, but the band’s history seems super incredible. Forming from the ashes of other bands in their local scene, the members joined together to form Split Chain in 2023, and immediately captured all facets of social media, to help make their band big. And for a band to be so young in its development, and be touring places like Australia before they are even three years in, feels like there is definitely momentum behind them.
And that showed in the live show. Vocalist Bert Martínez-Cowles spoke before a note was played, about how excited they were to be here, and they wanted to see what Brisbane has got for them, as they demanded for the crowd to pack in closer for 40 minutes of unbridled chaos. The vibes were definitely different from the last two bands, and what i expected from Better Lovers, but Split Chain had the crowd in their palm, as they played their unique nu-metal/shoegaze mix that feels so far apart from the Deftones vibe you might expect with the genres. Truly a band who’s sound in that space stands alone, and with bangers like ‘Future’, ‘Extinct’, and ‘I’m Not Dying to Be Here’ all part of the set, I hope they make it back soon for bigger shows. Utterly incredible.
Split Chain – Crowbar – photos by Clea-marie Thorne
As the time approached to 9:50pm, the lights dimmed, as a mix of 80s love songs played over the speakers, as if tuning to find a radio station. We got Queen, Whitney Houston, and everything in between. But as the final dial switch happened, Goose, Will, Steve, Jordan and Greg all walked out on stage to a massive ovation, as they opened straight into ‘A White Horse Covered in Blood’, which is probably my favorite song from their debut record. The set was heavy on songs from Highly Irresponsible, as is to be expected. But we also got a great mix of songs from the God Made Me an Animal EP as well, which came later in the set.
Better Lovers – Crowbar – photos by Clea-marie Thorne
After ‘Superman Died Paralyzed’, which is another favorite from Highly Irresponsible, we got ‘Two Alive Amongst the Dead’, which I totally didn’t expect. That was a song released independently to the EP, that sort of exists on its own outside of any official release I think. Great song live though. The set for the most part didn’t involve much speaking from the band. But at times, would have Jordan’s chaotic energy of him just screaming gibberish into a microphone to amp the crowd even more than they were already amped. I can’t remember which song it was before, but Jordan just screaming the words Circle Pit louder every time, until it was just noise, was the funniest thing all night.
Better Lovers – Crowbar – photos by Clea-marie Thorne
Other set highlights included ‘Don’t Forget to Say Please’, ‘Sacrificial Participant’, and the EP title track, ‘God Made Me an Animal’. The final three songs though, were the best part of the night. Starting with ‘At All Times’, the beginning of the end was soft, and lovely, and proceeded to get more chaotic, when ‘Love as an Act of Rebellion’ kicked off. Pits went crazy, and the crowd was going nutty. It was awesome. The set closer did not disappoint either, with the band’s debut single, ’30 Under 13′, sending us home with the energy we expected from Greg, as during the end of the song, he dropped his microphone, jumped and grabbed the crossbeams in the roof, and climbed out to the middle of the pit, before dropping himself onto the waiting crowd, and surfed back to the stage to close out the show.
Better Lovers – Crowbar – photos by Clea-marie Thorne
Dillinger and ETID are two bands of three that I will hold in my heart forever. They are fundamental building blocks for me discovering myself musically, and to see Goose, Jordan, and Steve, tear it up with Greg, and have Will along for the ride, feels like a fever dream I never want to wake up from. And I get to say, I was at their first Australian show ever, until the day I die. Something truly special.
