Dardanelles, E.L.F, Reptiles @The Stepp Inn, Brisbane,26.10.2007

Thu 1st Nov, 2007 in Gig Reviews

Friday night at The Stepp Inn played host to a mixed bag of acts as the Dardanelles stopped over with their friends E.L.F and Reptiles as part of their current Mirror Mirror tour on what was to be a typical humid Spring evening in Brisbane.

First cab off the rank was Melbourne newcomers Reptiles. Showcasing their songs to a mostly empty room they brought an interesting sound of grunge/grime meets garage rock to the table. The only problem being that it wasn’t anything that the other bands in this genre aren’t already doing, with most of them doing it better.

Jumping across into a more electronic sound was E.L.F, who played an energetic set to say the least. This band features the always effervescent Damien Cross from Gerling, whose showmanship and experience (stemming from 14 years of playing the live circuit as part of Gerling) facilitated a solid platform to launch the E.L.F sound. The set consisted of mostly dance sounds, mixed up with a few samples and all compiled through Darren’s enchanted laptop. For the punters that were familiar with some of the E.L.F tracks floating around Myspace Cockroach certainly got the audience taping their toes.

Enter the Dardanelles, sporting a big pedal board to go with their room filling, genre defying sounds, it is virtually impossible to define one clear cut genre for these boys. In fact any attempt to do so would discredit them in one form or another, unless of course you called it IndiePopPunkDarkDanceElectroRock. Bouncing around the stage lead singer Josh gave an impressive vocal performance. The boys got a great response for the singles that are currently gracing the JJJ airwaves like Mirror Mirror and Footsteps , as well as the much loved _Origami Tre_e.

You’ve got to give credit where credit is due, and on this night the boys from Melbourne were definitely looking the part, with these lads taking it to the people of Brisbane with their style – nice jeans guys, but do they make them in men’s?! Dardanelles have come a long way since the last time they graced sunny Queensland, honing in on their strengths in the live arena, perhaps it had something to do with recently sharing the stage with a lot of the top acts floating around at the moment such as Cut Copy, 1990’s, Dappled Cities, Expatriate and The Howling Bells.