Plastic Palace Alice, You HangUp No You Hang Up, The Trivs -Gangbusters @ Bar 32(08/05/08)

Sun 11th May, 2008 in Gig Reviews

Who knew you could get such a diverse mix of indie music all in one night? Thursday night at Bar 32’s Gangbusters had a three band indie shake up which would knock the socks off any indie lover that was present – and all it cost was a whoppin’ $5.

Headlining the night was Triple J’s Unearthed Band of 2007, Plastic Palace Alice. This year, the Melbourne sextet are making their name as they tour nationally launching their debut album The Great Depression.

Opening the night was Canberra’s own, You Hang Up, No You Hang Up. A trio of strings, which instantly had its crowd in a reverb frenzy. The bar’s crazy green lasers and soft disco lighting definitely added to their sound making the whole bar seem like it was like some place in intergalactic space. Their short set, left the crowd wanting more. Their psychadelic tunes could have gone on just a little bit longer.

Plastic Palace Alice were next on the bill. They presented the crowd with a lush and colourful performance. The mixture of keys, bass, percussion and their male cross female vocals was very pleasing to the ears. Musically you could say sometimes their sound was a bit loud, maybe even a bit obnoxious, but there were also times when it seemed quiet and reflective. The change between songs is definately one to look out for. The lyrics definitely unified these sounds. The mixture of male and female vocals some might say are vaguely similar to that of Canadian band, Stars.

Plastic Palace Alice concluded their set with a fantastic rendition of Jefferson Airplane’s Somebody To Love. This version was a great tribute to the original.

Before the band left the stage, they pushed on selling CDs and shirts. “You all have to buy something, or we’ll be walking to Brisbane.” said front man, Rob McDowell. The band joked a bit about being financially unstable if their merch stock demands weren’t met. There audience were unsure to giggle at the fact the band may have to resort to the pavement to sleep, and to gypsies for food.

Before the next act, Plastic Palace Alice had a quick word to Faster Louder about Canberra, describing it as a “nice break between Melbourne and Sydney.” Rob also mentioned the excitement of touring, and he can’t wait for it to be a full-time thing.

Closing the show was another local four piece The Trivs. This group of strappin’ young lads seemed to have brought in quite a crowd. It was about 11:45pm, and if you were zoning out, The Trivs were definitely like a kick in the pants to give you that 12am wake up call. The band members urging the sound tech to make their sound “louder!”. For those who were into the more heavy grunge, then the Trivs’ would have made your indie night complete.

For the rest who prefered the softer stuff, it was time to have one last beer, and head home to pop their new Plastic Palace Alice album on, and drift into slumber. All in all it was a tasteful night of indie at its best.