Midnight Juggernauts, DamnArms @ Club Capitol, Perth(6/9/2007)

Wed 12th Sep, 2007 in Gig Reviews

Earlier in the year Cut Copy, masters of the indie-electro genre, came to Perth performing to a sellout crowd, now the new masters of indie-electro, Midnight Juggernauts have played Capitol to a sellout show, even putting on an extra show due to such high demand.

Recently scoring Feature Album on Triple J, the Juggernauts have formed a defined fame in new wave Australian electro. They bring the grunge sound with synths and styled vococorder to their arsenal of beautifully crafted songs, most being from their new album release Dystopia, being the drive of the tour, which has been selling out on shelves on a frequent basis.

Hosted by Perth’s new wave events crew, Bourgeois Bogan, Juggers were supported by local acts Electric Limousine, who are frequent performers of the Bourgeois Bogan shows, and Damn Arms. Electric being the more electro less rock genre, appealed to dance/pop fans coming to see the electro sounds of the headline act while Damn Arms were the rock group appealing to those into the heavy side of the Juggers. Attracting such a difference in crowd genres is what makes the sellout shows. Its part rock part dance, Bourgeois Bogan DJs: Petrosex and Future Frog from Electric provided entertainment in between acts.

The Juggernauts kicked off their set just after 10; beforehand the Capitol still had plenty of space but the crowd on the dancefloor started to build up just before their performance. The Capitol’s advanced lighting arrangement always guarantees a professional show, starting the room dark with a purple haze over the stage meanwhile drummer Daniel Stricker (aka Thunderfist) started with a slow beat, his hood concealing his identity as vocalists Andy Juggernaut and Vincent Juggernaut entered the stage for opening track Scorpius. They continued with heir spacey themed songs with Ending of an Era , before the faster tone of Nine Lives had the audience singing “straight on through the sun” during the chorus. The vocals from Vincent sounded quite different to the album’s smooth flowing lyrics opting instead to go with the sharper, less drawn out vocals.

Warming up the packed multi aged audience with their electro tunes, younger ones defying gravity with some crowd surfing tactics, Midnight Juggernauts strummed out the favorites adored and known by many. So Many Frequencies pleased the crowd while the obviously more well known tracks received a spectacular applause such as Tombstone and one of their original dance tracks 45 and Rising , both of these tracks were sung by guitarist Andy performing on the electro Daft Punk robo voice while Vincent riffed away on the guitar.

Rounding off their gig the trio performed Devil Within as well as hit Shadows , and returned to the stage for a well-received encore, much to the packed venue’s delight.