7 bands, 20 minutes to impress and an audience teeming with judges, critics and the closest family and friends. The Rosemount Hotel was set for Heat 4 of The Next Big Thing.

Opening the entertainment MC Justin hyped the competition and the array of original acts to perform throughout the heats.

Homebrewe took the challenging position, first on the night’s play list. Bringing along a few raucous friends it was a respectable start to the rock showcase. Pub rock with soaring high screams and instrumental build ups throughout, their efforts were commendable, though middle of the road teetering between inoffensive and uninteresting. Singing out “live how I want to live, cause it’s my life” and other simply put lyrics it was apparent that the band could have been fans of Bon Jovi during the 90s revival days. Perhaps a better musical structure without so many loose ends and a greater developed writing style could see Homebrewe gain more of that pub rock audience and a few of the house band slots going begging in venues across Perth.

With the conclusion of the first act MC Justin hopped onstage, as he would continue to do at every break. With his non-stop rabble it could be presumed that he was paid per word of the necessary yet exhaustive sponsorship announcements delivered.

Act two, Rachel and Henry Climb a Hill. A cute name and a cute female vocalist to boot. Wearing war paint and shrouded in pink lighting front woman Rachel Gorman had a quirky lilt to her voice and played guitar, ukulele and shaker with a powerfully vigorous wrist. Contrary to their name neither male in the band is named Henry, Brett Crabtree and Vim Leaf (who just have to be names out of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale) made up the final two parts of the trio that performed a set of pop splashed with reggae and a quick flick of the tongue.

Following a rather sedate set the audience required a wake up and State Of Order were prepared to deliver. Playing it up for the various cameras State Of Order were a hard rock band with a grunge influence. The sound was heavy with smooth guitars supporting the aching vocals an onstage performance that showed they were no pretenders. With a great command of their material developed through their two years of existence they stood out as early contenders.

Discovered through the clarity of State Of Order’s set the Rosemount has finally got their sound mix back in check with globe-trotting Kelvin returning to man both the desk and laptop.

Another change of pace was administered by the forth act Mister and Sunbird. Harking back to a 1930s New Orleans bluegrass/swing style the 5 stage bound members (who exist as a rotating line-up) played an assortment of instruments with finesse. Dressed up for the occasion in jackets and a variety of hats the band drew the attention of the spaced out audience and the crowd swelled in front of the stage. The rich sound of the baritone saxophone, hard carnie vocals and peculiarity of a washboard stimulated bayou fever deep in the ear canals of all watching as this was an instance when 20 minutes was just too short and the performance could have gone on all night with no complaint.

However, the competition had only passed half way and other bands required their chance to shine, or sink. The introduction of the next band Elleker Hall was delivered so unconvincingly that when the following was mumbled “who loves Elleker Hall?” it came out more like “who loves Elekrhol?” The audience mistakenly interpreted this, responding with gusto “I love Alcohol” creating a humorous conflict with the government “rethink drink” message. The band themselves were far from cohesive sounding too much like the cover band at Mustang Bar. The lead singer’s feminine wiles came off as cheap rather than seductive although in a moment of recovery the final track of their set with a much slower intro allowed her voice to blossom. The singer was regularly overshadowed by ‘learn to play guitar’ performance and the band overall were trying to go in four directions at once.

Black Board Minds gave alt country with elements of psychedelic rock a good working over and sounded somewhere between demos of The Presidents of The United States of America and Gomez. With an interesting back story, Black Board Minds have an album available from which part proceeds from the debut album are to go towards purchasing instruments for people in psychiatric care facilities. Sharing mics and the prime positions onstage one energetic tambourine playing man captured a lot of attention and was an inclusion the threatened the stability of band members on stage but coincidently gave them a point of difference and an intriguing spectacle to watch.

The brisk air conditioning might have been to blame for the audience cooling off between the sixth and seventh but Driveby Summer didn’t let that deter them. Heavy metal with energetic, agressive guitars and drums that were a bit off at times lifted the mood. Front man Brad Swansen took to drinking water from a jug and appeased a staggering interloper by screaming in his face. Unfortunately the shine was taken off the performance by the last song as Swansen’s vocal chords seemed to be suffering and the track’s verses weren’t getting as much grunt as earlier efforts.

Awaiting the judges’ results, this reviewers’ verdict positioned Mister and Sunbird, State of Order and Driveby Summer as the likely competitors to move on to the next round.

The official result –
Winner: Mister and Sunbird
Runner-up: Rachel and Henry Climb a Hill