It has been a long time since we’ve heard any new material from Perth’s alternative-rock threesome, End of Fashion. Having just released their sophomore album, Book of Lies they have once again hit the road to play old favourites and new material to their legions of fans.

Up first in the opening slot were Perth’s own Harlequin League. Their indie sound mixed with synths from keyboardist Ben Pooley would appeal to angsty teenagers and has a dirtiness about it that makes you want to take a shower. They began with an instrumental introduction of thrashing guitars and hard hitting drums that drew their fans, which mainly consisted of young females to the front of the stage. During Again and Again nothing was more hilarious than watching lead singer and bassist James Rogers side sliding in between riffs and doing what could be described as “the bobble head”. He may not be the next big thing in music but he has the potential to be the next big thing on So You Think You Can Dance. Leaving the stage, they thanked the headliners and went on their way. Gyroscope’s Breed Obsession album played over the PA and this received more of a response than anything Harlequin League threw at the crowd.

Garage2V 2007 competition winners The Seabellies were a surprise on the night. The band consists of six members, with each playing a minimum of three instruments and the most being five. It was during A Trans-Ending that we saw lead singer Trent Grenell carefully transitioned onto the drums and metallophonist Stephanie Setz pick up the sax while the rest of the band exchanged guitars and basses or picked up the trumpet. Next was the better known, Heart Heart Heart Out which had the audience screaming the title and singing along to the soaring chorus. Onstage their presence is like being with a couple of friends chatting or having a jam which probably makes them so easy to relate to. This, along with their penchant for writing indie anthems that you could happily listen to on a cold spring evening makes it easy to see why they won Garage2V.

Thanking the crowd for their applause, the band left the stage leaving the roadies with the job of disassembling the epic arrangement of instruments. After some time and the rest of Gyroscope’s album, the music died down and the lights went out.

As the lights slowly toned up there were yells of elation when out of the darkness strolled Rodney Aravena, Tom King and Justin Burford all looking like Jesus with their long dishevelled hair and unshaven faces. Playing two newies including Kamikaze and then the title track She’s Love off 2005’s self titled album the band received a chilly reception involving nothing but a half-hearted sing along. Unsatisfied with the level of participation, the band pleaded with the audience to make some movement. Looking around it was like everyone was afraid to move or couldn’t be bothered to move and it would continue like this for the rest of their set.

It was after Too Careful that Burford claimed that the hometown crowd were, “The greatest view” and then stated that, “This is going to be in the review.” Damn straight it is! All mocking remarks aside they continued on with the show playing the darker new track Fussy, bringing out the trumpet for the backing instrumentals. In further Jesusness, Burford, raised his hands to the ceiling in a Jesus-Christ pose, letting the guitars and trumpet ring out whilst King and Aravena left the stage and then he joined them.

For the encore, Burford returned to cheers of, “encore” to start the introduction of Rough Diamonds with the rest of the members joining him after the introduction. For the first time that night, the audience thawed and started singing and waving to the music. Jumping straight into the night’s closing track The Game we saw the crowd further defrost. This was perhaps the most lively the crowd had been all night with their moshing and singing. After three years it is good to see End of Fashion hasn’t lost their touch and that they can still make 18 to 40 year old women scream.