The Scare, Regular John, Veya@ The Troubadour, 24/11/2007

Wed 28th Nov, 2007 in Gig Reviews

Even with a relatively bare crowd inside the Troubadour, a sense of urgency filled the air as Brisbane band Veya gathered on stage to begin their set. With a sound somewhere in between The Gallant and Stature::Statue, the loud and furious quartet began the night on the right note, lathering the mob of outlandish-haired punters in a maelstrom of noisy punk-glam rock, or something to that effect. The appreciative crowd lined the ottomans and couches around the edges of the venue, but none ever set foot on the dance floor area. This was unfortunate, as the band provided ample opportunity to shake and shout with their engaging, driving tunes. Once their set had ended, the five-piece had definitely made a fan of this reviewer, and hopefully many others in the audience.

As Regular John finished their sound check, many in the crowd had made their way to the front, ready to flaunt their moves to the rock assault that was to follow. Blasting out numbers from their Devil’s Melody/Easy Rider EP and other songs, the Sydney four-piece got the throng moving quickly with their straight-edged garage rock. While blasting through their half-hour set, the lads lifted the intensity and managed to keep the crowd happy and dancing, ultimately setting the mood for The Scare, whom the band have supported across the whole tour. With a similar tour-wide support slot for The Hard-Ons next month, it seems these regular Johns will be kept busy entertaining audiences for a while yet.

With the two supports having set the pace for the night, The Scare were definitely out to show that they could turn it up a notch or two. With singer Kiss Reid cutting an imposing shape in front of his band mates, the Sunshine Coast-born, Birmingham-based goth-punk outfit kicked off proceedings in true malevolent fashion, opening with Bats! Bats! Bats!. On back of their recent debut album, Chivalry, the horror-loving punks dished out track after glorious track from their magnificent long-player, including Vixen, Vixens, Cry Junkie, Copycat Victims, and their “whoa-oh-oh, wah-wah-ow” chant-infused single Eighty Eight. With Kiss using almost anything as a kicking block or missile, and providing the crowd with dark humour veiled within wild outbursts, this was a true rock onslaught from beginning to end. With the crowd all but rocking out like a group possessed, the headliners managed to overwhelm each and every person in attendance for every second, until the set came to a close, but not before a dark rendition of Bill Withers’ Ain’t No Sunshine got the crowd in a unanimous singalong. With their departure off stage, the band happily mingled with members of the crowd, and no doubt left the rest gloomily jovial.