Perth’s The Dirty Secrets rolled into the Capital on Thursday night on the second night of thier national tour amply supported by Skybombers and Canberra favourites The Trivs at ANU Bar. $10 for three bands, that’s a pretty good deal.
Quickly becoming a household name in Canberra, The Trivs kicked off the night and warmed up the modest but eager crowd. These guys are becoming renown around town for their high energy and high-fun shows. Tonight was no different.
Next up Melbourne rockers Skybombers took to the stage. You’d know their tracks If You Want To Be The One and radio hit, Always Complaining. While their influences are obvious (You Am I, Blur, Oasis and the like) lead singer Hugh Gurney has a lovely voice, the band play very well together and somehow you want more. During their 40 minute set the boys got the crowd wound up and surely won over some new fans, with at least one punter commenting “these guys should be headlining”, expect to see more of this young Melbourne outfit.
After a break that went for a little too long given the still small crowd (and the fact Grey’s Anatomy was on the TV…), The Dirty Secrets turn had come to take to the stage. It must have been with some relief that the crowd had now built to an acceptable level and all those that had been playing pool or hanging around at the back had grabbed a beer and moved up front to see the headliners.
The Dirty Secrets are a somewhat underrated band in my opinion and seem to live in the shadows of 2008 peers Sparkadia and Grafton Primary. In fact the Perth four-piece were in direct competition with Grafton Primary playing down the road at Transit Bar – for free. But on just the second night of their national tour, Heat the Beat, Dirty Secrets showed us what they’ve got, strong indie-synth-rock tracks reminiscent of Bloc Party that got almost everyone dancing.
The band kicked off the set with spanking brand new track Transmission which went down well, if you like The Rapture you will love this new track. But it was tracks from their 2008 self titled album that the crowd really loved, Light House, My Heart Is On Fire and finishing the set with hit Five Feet of Snow. Frontman Jarrah McCleary is oozing style and talent and he effortlessly slides between the keys and lead vocals, with band mates and fellow denim squeezers, Chedder, Waz and Mike equally as cool.
Perhaps 2009 will be the year The Dirty Secrets are recognised for the super-cool band they are. I suspect we’ll be hearing a lot of their new stuff across the radio waves soon!
to listen to their music now on 
