FAST, technical and belligerent, melodic skate punk is a genre people usually have an opinion on, good or bad.

Described as sounding like Rise Against, The Fear (formally named Death Defying Life) have emerged from the heart of Yorkshire with an absolute love for the punk/hardcore scene.

The five York/Leeds lads took off on a two-week tour of the USA in 2004, after having been formed for eight months. Since then the band has embarked on their first European tour and their first European headline tour and signed with Lockjaw records.

The Fear performed a selection of songs from their first album Here Goes Nothing, released in June of this year.

Aggressive yet enigmatic, their performance included The Bitter Taste, a song the band managed to “sneak on” BBC Radio 1 earlier this year. Lead vocalist Rob Pittman said: “Don’t ask us how we did it, but it was this song.”

The Fear was one of four bands on the bill, alongside Eager Teeth, Mixtapes and American pop punk band Set Your Goals, who were performing their latest album, Burning at Both Ends.

While not being a fan of this genre of music, the evening stirred memories of old punk rock days for me. With an alcoholic beverage in tow, the night was not what I expected; crowd players The Fear gave it their all; as they would say, “destroying” the Duchess, and showing what Yorkshire can do.

Review by Rebecca Fielding