See Ali’s photo gallery here
Hand it to RTR FM, they know how to throw a good party. Find an excuse to dress up; line up a pile of bands of different genres in venues with a nominal cover charge and free access between those venues; Use your radio station, university and all original music supporting venues to let people know about it, and you have a Friday 13th that attracts superstars like Jeff Martin to join in the fun.
An interstate audience member with an autograph book would have been over the moon at the Perth-band contingent in attendance, but for the most part, they were left alone to enjoy the music by their fellow artists. Perth is such a village, that everyone knows-someone-who-knows-someone who is ‘Big in Japan’, so to speak.
Eleventh He Reaches London had some people sit up and take notice after their support spot for Dillinger Escape Plan, and their performance at the Winter Festival will only help their cause along. Intense and aggressive, EHRL put everything they had into their performance, and it paid off, the early-ish crowd who were considering the walk across Fremantle, ostensibly to get to the Norfolk, but truly for the purpose of costume parade, reconsidered, and stayed ‘for just a couple more minutes’ -until the set was over.
Next on the bill was Schvendes, and it is possible that this band will evermore refuse to perform on Black Friday. Last year, during a Friday 13th performance, the Hydey caught fire, and had to be evacuated mid-song. This year, the sound wouldn’t check, the fold-backs were being erratic, the keyboard stand collapsed; twice, and Rachel Dease’s voice and a glass matched frequencies exactly. Thankfully, it was the glass that shattered. Ok, so sound checks often go wrong, and a voice as powerful and beautiful as Dease’s should shatter glasses far more often that it does, and who goes on stage using a nana table to hold their instrument? Honestly, the band should all chip in and get Tara John a real keyboard stand if her budget doesn’t stretch past the trailer rental! Seriously though, this band is awesome, dark, and truthful. Incredibly talented and an absolute joy to watch, they should be earning enough cash from their music that she can have a diamond keyboard stand if she wants one. (Their album is released next month, buy two and give one to your closest 17 year old)
After a short break, Sugar Army arrived on stage, looking like recently exhumed corpses, and the set they played was enough to wake the dead. There are some bands that work better recorded, and whilst Sugar Army’s debut EP Where Do You Hide Your Toys is a recorded masterpiece, seeing them live (or undead as was the case on Friday 13th) is an experience to bear frequent repetition. Happily, frequent repetition is possible because Sugar Army are Perth’s hardest working band right now. Their next gig sees them supporting the aforementioned label mates at their album launch, and then they tour regional WA with the Something in the Water doco, before spending the better part of three months touring the nation with Gyroscope and Shihad. Sugar Army played most of their EP songs, all of which are good enough to be number one singles, as well as new tracks, named (from the setlist) Acute and Parallels which only step up the dance rock intensity and had even the most inebriated stumbler jumping in perfect time. The only thing this band lacks is people who have seen them live. The next tour will be likely be their last as a support act, because their new fans will be clamouring for a Sugar Army headline tour, and there will be yet another Perth act knocking them dead in the east.
Just when we thought it was all over, they locked the doors of the Fly by Night and announced that a surprise act would be performing a few songs. It has already been noted that this was a meet and greet opportunity for Perth music scenesters, so when Jeff Martin strode across to the mic, no one was surprised, most people having already said hello to him on their way to or from the bar. It has been a few months since Martin’s last gig at the Fly, and it is so easy to forget what a fantastic voice the man possesses. The selection of Zeppelin covers he played were exactly what was needed to round up an excellent night’s entertainment.
