Local Shows

Two great (albeit heavier) local shows coming up this month!

Milestones/Little Shadow at Fat Louies, May 12. (free!)
The Mercy Beat/The Quickening at Basement 243, April 28. ($10)

Both some of my favourite places in Brisbane and both full of great local music. Follow the links for the Facebook event details, as well as listening to the bands!

Spoonfest!

This is my ringtone on the few occassions my phone is off silent:


Unfortunately, Spoonfest has nothing at all to do with the Tick. Fortuately, it's a show case of some great Brisbane and Australian bands.

On May 21, at the Step Inn stage, you can see everything from Metal (The Quickening), pop-punk (Headaches), old school punk (Flangipanis) to female-led hardcore punk (Friends With the Enemy). There's some great local bands in that list, many I've ranted on before.

So head on out, it'll be a great time.

Being the Step Inn, I'm going to assume it's 18+.

Review: Star Fucking Hipsters/AC4/The Quickening/The Mercy Beat, the Zoo, April 7 2011

With the punk royalty (and washed-up sell-outs, as Dennis called them) the Dead Kennedys playing a few suburbs away, it was a smallish crowd that trickled into the Zoo for a Thursday night punk show. A show that had an eerie vibe that made me think of many a 4ZZZ Punkfest show.

First up, playing to no more than a handful of punters standing way back in the shadows, were one of my favourite local bands, the Mercy Beat. They started playing only a few minutes after doors opened, which is a rarity at the Zoo. By their own accounts, they started poorly, but it was loud and hard enough that I didn’t really notice. After profusely apologising to the few in attendance, they ripped through a tight set off of their album How to Shampoo a Yak. At this point a few people came out to dance around and heckle the band, I’m guessing they were mates.

Following the hard rock/punk stylings of the Mercy Beat, things took a rather dramatic turn into metal, with local boys the Quickening taking to the stage. The band seemed pieced together with characitures: a Garth from Wayne’s World on guitar, Willie Nelson on guitar/vocals and the bass player seemed a bit like Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother. Despite their 80’s all-stars look, they were very tight, even if they were the self-proclaimed “token-metal band of the evening.”

Metal Willie Nelson.

Metal Garth.



The crowd was building at this point, and during their last song they got a little circle pit happening. But I was starting to fan-girl, as I saw Dennis Lyxzen in the background getting ready for his band, AC4, who were coming up next.



When theses Swedes, comprised of three-quarters of the legendary hardcore band Refused did take the stage, I was just blown away. Despite having flown the 35+ hours from Sweden and only landing that morning, they did not relent. Dennis showed why he’s one of the best performers in music, spending the better part of 40 minutes not stopping: dancing, doing the worm, running, jumping, screaming, swinging off the roof, skanking, all while singing their short and fast hardcore punk songs. The band were also quite talkative. They gave us how they write their new songs “we start slow, then we follow it with fast, then faster, then much faster” and how everything is downhill from 28, mocking a girl next to me who was about to turn 28.





AC4 played a great selection of songs from their short history together, and I found myself putting down the camera and singing along with fist pumps most of the time. That’s exactly what their music is about. At the end of the set they trooped off stage for all of 3 seconds before coming and doing an encore for us, which was the Motorhead cover that I posted a few days earlier. For a band that started playing together in Umea 20+ years ago, who formed one of the most influential hardcore bands before breaking up under very inauspicious circumstances, to put aside their differences and come together to make great hardcore music again and still put on a great kickass show while forgetting the past... I forgot where I’m going with this spiel. It was just bloody good.




The crowd dwindled slightly after AC4, but all of the Mohawk and denim-jacket clad punks moved up to the front for Star Fucking Hipsters. And when they started, the whole floor just became a sea of skanking and moshing. On stage, the female lead singer seemed to be struggling, and even had a sheet of lyrics in hand. But after a few songs, we found out why. She had been bought into the band less than a week before with the departure of the previous female singer. She struggled through some songs, singing off queue, but getting friendly reminders from the male lead. In her hands she had a handy cheat sheet of lyrics. But apart from a few slip ups with timing and forgotten words, she did okay. The Hipsters played a variety of music, at times sounding like ska, sometimes grindcore, sometimes punk, a dash of metal and then just some random hardcore. The punks in the audience loved it, and despite not knowing much myself, I enjoyed the old-school-punk vibe and music they gave off.






The last song was when everything finally seemed to click though. The lyrics sheet was gone, the music was all in time and the band really came together for a solid song. Earlier in the night, Phil and I had been talking about which end of a tour is better to be on, and we both agreed that you the last show on the tour is the best. This show however was the very first of the tour, with bands jet lagged and still learning to play with new members. If the Star Fucking Hipsters can click like in their last song of the set though, I’ll be jealous of the punters who get to see the last few shows of the tour.

Slow news month

The blog, she's been a bit quiet of late. After the glut of concert announcements of February (and the glut of concerts) things have slowed down as we await the April/May insanity of touring. This weekend alone I've got at least 3 gigs to attend, and more that I just can't. To say I'm a little excited is on understatement.

So in my normal fashion, here's a listing of news and things I should've blogged about but just never got around to doing.

AC4/Star Fucking Hipsters
I've been ranting about this for a while, but on Thursday I finally get to see Dennis Lyxzen perform (in non-techno format). He's back in hardcore mode with AC4 and he's pretty much invented most dance moves singers perform these days.

The local bands for this gig at the Zoo are the Mercy Beat and the Quickening, two of the better heavy bands around. I'm especially in love with the Mercy Beat since seeing them at the Bronx and getting my hands on their album. Get there early for a great night of punk. An amazing night of punk.

Phantoms/Friends With the Enemy
More Australian bands that I love. Phantoms are awesome hardcore punk from Sydney that I've been following since a small basement show last year and Friends with Enemy are like A Wilhelm Scream with a female singer.

They're coming together for an awesome punk night at Girls and Boys (X & Y). April 14th, with special 2 for 1 entry if you're a student. And of course cheaper if you know the password.

The Beards
They are a band that sing songs about beards. While having massive beards. With a folk/humour angle. Basically, they're awesome. And the Beards are playing Rics on April 10th.

You can get some of their stuff from Triple J Unearthed. And after listening, you know you want to see this with a few beers. And beards.

Segression
When I was younger, and just moved to the USA, I got all nostalgic for Australian music. And at the same time I was obsessed with metal. All that together lead to me being obsessed with Segression. 15 years on and I had forgotten about them. They still sit their on my CD case though and once a year I pop it back in.

Turns out they are still going strong, and are about to hit the road again. Playing Rosies on May 20th.

MySpace

All these gigs mentioned are 18+.