Only The Sea Slugs started off very quietly. So quietly that the tiny crowd at Public Bar thought they were still doing sound check, especially since they didn’t even mention their name during the entire set. Just before they were about to start playing their third song, singer Sasha quietly mentioned that they would be playing their single but failed to say which track he was referring to and what it was called. The combination of this forgetfulness, and the fact that they were so charmingly laid back and scruffy, it was almost as if Shaggy from Scooby Doo decided to move to Australia and start a band, and a pretty good band at that. Their sound oscillated between chilled out verses and cruisey vocals, and frenetic guitars and frantic vocals during choruses.

Halfway through the set, Sasha coughed but diverted any swine flu accusations by saying, “My throat is kinda sore from this weird Nando’s sauce,” to which a drunk girl in the crowd yelled out, “PERI PERI!” “Yeah that. It’s fucked, don’t get it. Try the mild stuff, better for the throat.” Sasha was either completely lying, or the Nando’s hot sauce helped his singing voice. His vocals were strong and bold, bordering on theatrical (but unfortunately never quite reaching Serj Tankian madness). Call For Surrender was one particular song that really showed off his voice, but all his band mates had their time to shine. Eighties-esque track Colour Me In featured excellent keys by Zoran. The most impressive song of their set was We The Odd One, an eerie track with some guitar trickery from guitarist Dean. The Sydneysiders also played Dreamstate, Lost Little Loser, Big Sky, You’re The Reason Drugs Are Useless and The Worst Night.

Now, Drawn From Bees. All I can say is ‘wow’. I have never been rendered speechless after a set. Frontman Dan James quite possibly had the coolest haircut since Bowie in Labyrinth: an extremely short platinum blonde bob with a fringe. Andy Warhol would certainly approve. And it wasn’t just looks, Dan’s incredible voice was like listening to a soulful Siren (the Greek mythological creature, not what you hear when you drive too fast down the Monash Freeway). Raven Jones, on keys and guitar, looked like a Nick Cave impersonator who’d accidentally left his moustache at home. The rest of the band consisted of drummer Matt Wedmaier and bassist Stew Riddle. Apart from these four musicians, they seemed to have another random band member called ‘Owen’ that the band called up onstage and just sat crouched in the corner of the stage playing tambourine the entire time with a happy grin on his face.

Their current single Long Tooth Setting Sun sounded even better live, and featured an a capella canon that proved that Raven, Matt and Stew had just as much singing chops as Dan (and possibly braver, with Stew literally singing his heart out unaccompanied for a bar before the rest of the band joined him). But as much as Long Tooth Setting Sun was a perfect choice for a single, the absolute highlight of their set was These Philistines. The track was a musical masterpiece starting off with a melancholic intro, breaking into rolling Mexican-flavoured guitars, then falling back into more somberness with heavy keys. Other songs that they played were They Close The Door, Picture Show (featuring Dan whistling) and English Line. The only bad thing about their show was that there was only 22 people in the room, meaning that the other 3 892 397 Melburnians (according to Wikipedia) were missing out on Drawn From Bees’ awe-inspiring music.

Any band that played after such a ridiculously flawless set would have a hard time, but The Hovercrafts definitely held their own. The Melbourne band were down a guitarist and their singer was incredibly drunk (as evidenced by their bassist pleading with me to not write this gig review), but nevertheless the modified three-piece set the stage on fire. The three members present all looked like models from a Karen Walker ad, with singer Dave McGann looking like a hot version of Dwight from the American The Office.

Before they broke out into Better Party, Dave was frantically looking at his guitar, his cow bell and his tambourine, then at his two arms, trying to figure out how he was going to compensate for the loss of their second guitarist. A normal band would probably not have included such an instrument-heavy song in their set with an integral band member missing, but Dan from Drawn From Bees kindly clambered onstage to help fill for the missing member. They also played Fall Stand Run, Too Fast For Love, Work Around It, Texas High, No Better Off, Giving It All Mine.

The Hovercrafts’ influences include Weezer, The Hives, The Strokes and Franz Ferdinand. But when I write ‘influences’, I really mean ‘sound quite a lot like’. The band obviously realises this, with Dave quipping, “That’s stupid mid-2000s popular music for you. Now we get to our stupid late 2000s song!” Although the Hovercrafts aren’t the most original songwriters around, they do craft together infectiously catchy and energetic tunes. So energetic in fact, that after playing Come On, Alright, Dave insisted on a slower song so that he could catch his breath.

Despite good sets from Only The Sea Slugs and The Hovercrafts, Drawn From Bees definitely stole the limelight with their cool haircuts and art rock.