Gazoonga Attack, The Follow,The Cyclones, Kingpin 440 @Pony Bar, 6/11/04

Thu 11th Nov, 2004 in Gig Reviews

It’s Spring Racing Carnival time in Melbourne, and the runners are heading to the barrier for the Pony Bar Saturday Night Stakes.  Abhorrent weather conditions have contribued to a small attendance, and the track has been downgraded to slow.

Starting in barrier no. 4 tonight is Melbourne psychobilly stallions, Kingpin 440.  The band consists of the standard rockabilly line-up of guitar, drums, double bass, and flash haircuts.  Many of their songs are of the emo-tinged punk variety, with rockabilly and metal sounds also being dabbled into heavily. It would have been nice to have the double bass up a bit louder in the mix during the dompa-dompa-dompa bass parts. The singer took a stroll around the pub during the last song as a nice touch to finish on. Look for these blokes to figure largely in All-Ages class races in the future.

In barrier no. 3 tonight is Melbourne three-piece The Cyclones. Their singer reminded me of a Craig Nicholls type who doesn’t do drugs. Their music was a kind of garage rock with indie-pop sensibilities. Bassist Jules spent a lot of time on stage bopping around in front of the drum-kit, adding vocal harmonies in all the right places. During songs like Batteries and Electric Chair the band were at their rocking finest. Could go well with some JJJ backing – one to watch on a dry track. 

Coming into line in barrier no. 2 is Sydney newcomers, The Follow. It is clear the band enjoy playing with each other, breaking into a few jams before the set had started. During the first few bars of the opening song I thought I was in for a Marilyn Manson tribute type thing, but was thankfully very wrong. Their singer is a star in the making – simply a fantastic frontman with a style somewhere in between Jon Spencer and the Placebo bloke. Their music is impossible to pigeonhole, but think elements of post rock, experimental, and goth borrowing from Sonic Youth and Pixies. The bassist seemed to have been taking her Kim Deal pills, and the lead guitarist would fit nicely into a reformed Joy Division line-up. Watch out for this band featuring in Group 1 races in next year’s Spring Carnival.  See them now before it costs over $30!

Jumping from barrier no. 1 is crowd favourites, top-weight Brisbane fillies - Gazoonga Attack. The number of punters at the Pony track has quadrupled for this 2am starting time.  Looks like the ladies have dragged over many an admirer from their earlier show at the Greyhound. The punters have had many a champagne by this stage of Stakes Day - good spirits, and an air of anticipation abound. One of the amps is emblazoned with the words Sex Nerd, reminding punters that the ladies are here to promote their latest EP of the same name. 

Bassist Elea announces that she’ll have to be carried onto their plane tomorrow. Looking a tad on the blind side, the band somehow manage to play through a set of racous pub rock, dripping of sweat and sex. Elea shares vocal duties equally with Tamara and Serinda keeping things interesting. It all gets a bit hazy for this reviewer around about now, but I remember thinking that Brisbane bands are creating their own hybrid sound.  Will we see NME harping on about the Corbett-vegas rock sound in a year’s time?

The crowd were extremely receptive to the attack of the gazoongas, and the band seemed also to be having an absolute ball on stage. On a crowd participation level, Gazoonga Attack won the Pony Bar Saturday Night Stakes by an easy 6 lengths. I sure hope the girls made their flight back to Brissie the next day – I for one couldn’t get out of bed before midday…