British India, The Bloodpoets,DZ @ The Zoo, Brisbane(20/02/09)

Sun 22nd Feb, 2009 in Gig Reviews

Check out all of the pics from this show here on Fasterlouder.

Garage kids, DZ provided a set that was very loud and very repetitive, although in a trance-ish rather than boring kinda way. The two-piece kicked off with a bowel-clearing frequency on the electric guitar. The rest of the half hour included lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth from guitarist/singer, Z, while D is a relentless and unforgiving drummer. The early crowd responded eagerly to the dance punk fare, warming up quite nicely in the sweaty environs of The Zoo.

The Bloodpoets sounded much like they have always done, a filtered version of 90’s LA powerpop groups such as Tonic and Goo Goo Dolls. The six-piece got some tasty sounds happening and their excitement spilled over the stage, although they could tone down the incessant banter and inaudible stage chatter in between every single song. There was lots of older material in tonight’s set, with some new stuff from the forthcoming record. The best track by far was definitely Borderline, which has been getting some love via Triple J’s Unearthed.

British India kicked straight into a rocking version of This Dance Is Loaded, followed by their current single and tour name, God Is Dead, Meet The Kids. Despite the heat and sweat, there was no way that these guys were going to take a breath, powering straight through a set of non-stop dance-punk. Drummer, Matt O’Gorman must be a machine, because he didn’t slow down or take a drink or even look slightly perturbed by the intensity of the capacity crowd’s sweaty enthusiasm.

Singer, Declan Melia declared, – œThis one’s from before your time’, obviously directed at the flock of teenage girls in the front row, before ripping into Tie Up My Hands from their 2007 Guillotine EP. A few courageous crowd surfers braved certain death or expulsion, while the rest of the crowd jumped, danced and waved appendages. You Will Die And I Will Take Over got a particularly energetic response.

It nearly all went pear-shaped when Declan went to take a drink, stopped and then proclaimed, – œSomething fell off the roof into my drink. It’s fucking disgusting!’, although this was soon sorted with a fresh drink. Taking a swill, he yelled – œThere’s murder on the dancefloor!’ as the band tore into Red Light.

A highlight of the evening was when Declan explained – œThis next song is about sex. They’re all about sex really, but this is about sex in a really fucked up way.’ It puts I Said I’m Sorry in a whole new light after that revelation. The band wound up the hour or so sweat-set with Russian Roulette and Black And White Radio before leaving the stage sans-encore.