…she walked in and was greeted by a tune that would have made a saloon proud. The door person smiled a friendly smile and acknowledged her presence whilst the beams of the disco ball radiated onto her skin. The silhouette of a young gentleman leaned against the bar signalling the bar staff for another round…

Check out Stuo’s gallery for the pictures…

Cue the sound of the sudden halt of vinyl. No, this is not the beginning of a novel but the scene at the Rosemount Hotel early on in the night. WOOs and YEWs could be heard coming from the groups of twenty-somethings gathered on the tables and high stools, no doubt spurred on by the blues and roots music playing overhead and the flowing alcohol and you could swear a hoedown showdown would soon break out.

First on stage is the affable and charismatic local Steve Parkin and his sidekick also called Steve Parkin? Not literally the Steve Parkin Duo, Parkin jokingly introduces sometimes partner and fellow sometimes Bob Evans backing band member, Hugh Jennings. With Parkin’s ability to string together an easy-to-swallow, acoustic, pop song and Jennings’ ability to play every instrument under the sun, they played a quaint set fuelled on by in-between drinks and swine flu jokes. Standout songs were Starlight and You Win When You Lose. They ended their set with an updated cover of Fruit Bats’ When You Love Somebody which went down well with people who were familiar with the American folk band, which was only two or three people and even then they were probably just having a laugh. Parkin was a great way to kick off the night, with his disarming banter and believable balladry. It’s too bad that the thin crowd of people weren’t as involved as they could have been as some had their backs to the front.

Young Revelry are new to the Perth music scene but, if you look closely you’ll see that the members aren’t. Formed last year this three piece comprises of fallen members of Perth’s bands pegged as up and comers and a well established band. Singer and lead guitarist, Seb Astone belonged in Harlequin League, bassist and backing vocalist Tom King was a part of chart toppers End of Fashion and drummer Alex Board was in The Silents. Young Revelry drew a slightly larger crowd that were willing to get up close to the band and bop a little to the heavy, indie, rock reminiscent of some of Harlequin League’s work. Bringing out the whiny guitars and rolling drum beats they played great garage sounding numbers such as You and I and Money on the Wall that had Astone tearing up the stage emanating a young indie rock god. To be quite honest there is nothing different about the band which sets them apart from other indie rock bands. You can pick out little bits here and there that each member brings into the songs which they have brought into their previous bands therefore they risk sounding like their former bands. Apart from the apparent similarities they actually do write catchy songs that could rival bands of the same genre and maybe even make them the next big thing in the indie scene.

Headlining act Dash and Will are one of many indie pop acts to come out of Melbourne. Spilling onto the stage one by one and armed with a pair of tights each were Josie De Sousa-Reay (Will) and a less-emaciated, Mischa Barton-looking and probably more talented, Charlotte Thorpe (Dash). Starting off with debut single Pick You Up the girls warmed their crowd up with their enthusiastic and cheerful personas, getting their fans at the front to dance around and even managing to get some of the now larger crowd to dance and clap their hands. The connection between performers and audience didn’t stop as they launched into Error Error which was picked up by Grey’s Anatomy. It was easy to see how this song could slot into a comedic moment in the comedy/drama as it screams upbeat with its hooky chorus of, “Error, error. Can you repeat, repeat?” Giving each other smiles and eye contact all through their set De Sousa-Reay and Thorpe were clearly enjoying themselves, jumping around the stage, bumping into each other and messing around with the backing band. It’s nice to see people enjoying themselves instead of playing their songs and being done with it. They even managed to coax their drummer into removing his shirt after pointing out that he had first removed his pants. What a classy guy!

Capping off their set they played two more songs, firstly taking a leaf out of Steve Parkin’s book and playing a cover of The Easybeats’ Somethin’ Wrong which had the now tired looking crowd in an all-in dance circle and then they finished off with the tamer, Fighting Over Nothing that used up the last ounce of their crowd’s strength. Spirits high and energy low the crowd dispersed into the beer garden.

Check out Stuo’s gallery for the pictures…