My mother used to make me walk ten metres behind her when we went out in public. Not because she was ashamed of me, or was trying to do the runner by ducking into a K-Mart unnoticed while I tootled along in the rear. No. She made me walk ten metres behind her because I was sporting a “At least we know that Russell Crowe’s band’s a Fucking Pile of Shit” jumper. Being in Coffs Harbour at the time I thought it very applicable. My mum thought differently.

She never understood how, or why even, I could listen to Sans Souci every single day, on repeat, at full-bore. Why I insisted on putting the entire Frenzal discography into the car’s ten-CD changer for a simple trip to the shops. What I found compelling about the flat lyrics and crashing drums. She listened to Tony Joe White, so she had no say.

Frenzal Rhomb is my youth. A Man Is Not a Camel came out at a time when all I wanted to do was act on every impulse and fuck the rules. Sans Souci was the soundtrack of my last year at school and Forever Malcolm Young made me forget about the shitty café job I was walking into. Judging by the Metro on Friday night, a couple of thousand people felt the same.

Kicking around between 1993 and 2001, Nancy Vandal reformed in late 2008 and jumped on board as support for the Boys Are Back In Brown tour. The band Jay Whalley once wielded a bass for, Nancy Vandal combine elements of ska and rancid punk with influence from the Oi! bands of the – œ80s and a mismatched line up.

The crowd seemed divided by the band. You could spot the old school fans smiling their faces off, but they seemed few and far between. Nancy Vandal just seemed outdated. Though their brass section was fun, their music lacked conviction, their members lacked charisma and their stage presence lacked well…presence.

With Crazy In Love intro music, stabs at the Sutherland shire, Urban Hip fringes and the obligatory sister sex jokes before their opening chords, the massively packed-out Metro knew Frenzal were back and swinging. Opening with Genius, the boys hurtled through Genitals are Funny, Russell Crowe’s Band and Going Out Tonight without really pausing for breath.

Jay, in all his three quarter pant glory, spent a minute or two entertaining the front row in the pit while Gordy Foreman punched out the beats in his CUNT shirt (or is the correct term – œC-Bomb’ these days?). Some riff interpretation by Lindsay of AC/DC and the Beach Boys melded into Ship of Beers, the aged love classic 60, Beautiful & Mine, All Your Friends and Ball Chef.

At this point, it’s important to mention the crowd, who were going absolutely mental. The entire floor space of the Metro to the first step was covered in death circles and moshing 20-somethings. Literally the craziest, most excited, happy-to-be-there crowd I have ever seen. And then Jay kicked two of them out – for spitting at long-haired, recreation life-loving bassist Tom Crease. They deserved it. This resulted in the crowd pointing and screaming “Fuckwit” in unison at the offenders. A very pretty sight from any angle.

Crowd (extra) pleasers Bucket Bong and Mum Changed The Locks had Mr McDougal playing his SG behind his head, before the punk band that owned the – œ90s dove into their anthem Never Had So Much Fun. Mass crowd sing-along ensued. Their version of the theme song from Home and Away and Punch in the Face saw fans going ridiculously mental. Some incredibly classy lady even got on stage in just a bra and poured water all over herself. Must have been one of those crazy shire gals.

The encore had the band pimping their Fritzle Rhomb shirts (is it too soon?) and melting our faces with Racist. Frenzal came and they conquered. Two minute songs have never sounded (or smelt) so good. Mum, that was so much better than Tony Joe White.