Space Race, El Cid, 100000Fireflies @Hyde Park Hotel22/05/08

Fri 23rd May, 2008 in Gig Reviews

It’s a Thursday night at the Hyde Park Hotel. Pop-bots, Rockinauts and Bliptronix is the name of the game. The crowd is scattered all over the Hydey because the band area has been sectioned off to allow just enough room for the band, maybe two or three fans and the local madwoman who hangs out at the pub every other night. The night starts off with the punk-rock cum space-cowboyish sounds of Space Race. Their Myspace site reads…

.”This is the SPACE RACE station. Are you receiving guitar transmissions that we’re beaming to you?”

Considering the band name had been well and truly branded on nearly every piece of equipment they owned, if we didn’t receive the transmissions we certainly received the subliminal messaging. Thank you very much. They kicked off their set with the anthemic Race 4 the Sun and by the time they were into their third song, the crowd had even moved away from the awful vacuum of space that is the Pool Table Room. Bopping their heads in time to the music, the audience was definitely enjoying these Psychedelic Punks.

Next on the agenda was self-styled Iberian psychedelic rock band el Cid. Iberian? Maybe…Transylvanian Rock Opera? Definitely. In short, they were awesome. The audience that had dispersed between sets for refreshment was shortly called back by the incredible apocalyptic sounds of el Cid. The two lead singers interacted with each other and the crowd so well that the aforementioned mad woman was allowed to have a few minutes of glory on the microphone. A monumental mistake on their part, some might have said, but when asked about it later, drummer Chris Carlile happily stated, “The more, the merrier.” and that was the exact feel that they gave out.

There is something to be said for a band whose sound check involves pushing a button and leaving the stage for a couple of minutes. The standout song, Pique came about half way into the set, It had all the right grooves, great timing, awesome lyrics and poetic singing to boot. It’s a shame that this signifies the second last gig for this talented band before they go on Hiatus for 8 months. The all ages crowd at HQ on the 1st of June may be a little surprised when el Cid starts to play.

The third set of the night was a band called The Hundred Thousand Fireflies. The large crowd that had gathered for el Cid had pretty much dispersed by the time the monotonous bleeping of the flies got into full swing. They’re one part Joy Division, one part grade-5 school-band and one part WTF?? It isn’t enough that the drummer sang well. He could sing like fucking Frank Sinatra…it still doesn’t give you back the last hour of your Thursday night, now does it?

However, there was still some amusement to be had when the local madwoman yet again decided to stand right next to the lead guitarist and singer and wave her hands in the air as if she just didn’t care.

One of el Cid’s front-men made all the ladies in the crowd swoon whilst displaying some heroism by taking said madwoman for a bit of a dance to distract her from swanning about on stage. It was a perfect example of the camaraderie between bands that is so prevalent in the Perth music scene today.