Friday night, a small venue, a sedate but enthusiastic audience and above all a purely psychedelic line up.

The first band was local Melbourne act Transnational opening with a sound very reminiscent of early shoegaze bands of the late 80’s and early 90’s. Guitarist and lead singer Adam Boal brings echoes of My Bloody Valentine through his use of distortion and loose whammy effects. The dedication to the shoegaze aesthetic isn’t all good though as the band maintains neutral positions throughout the set, avoiding connection or eye contact with the audience. Technical difficulties don’t help things as when keyboardist and tambourine girl Renee Homer (very much in the vain of Zia McAbe of the Dandy Warhols) goes to sing a number. The microphone is lifeless and to cover the Sound guys attempts to fix this, Boal lays down some fuzz distortion. However the sound guy quickly gives up and the band must move on anyway. Slowburn downbeat tunes dominate the set, highlights coming when the tempo is uped a notch, with I Don’t Believe and the closing track Exile on South Beach 2. The latter of which is driven by bassist Anton Dykstra (looking like a more smiley Pete Holmstrom), after which Boal apologises for getting carried away but if anything it’s them getting carried away we want to see more of. Overall a decent if uninvolving set, Transnational have the musical competency they just need to let go a little more in their live performances.

On the polar opposite side of the scale comes Demon Parade, energetic, fast paced and more importantly involving. Demon Parade play the type of songs that even though you’ve never heard before are instantly recognisable. Influences such as The Dandy’s, Brian Johnstown Massacre, Darker My Love and Oasis are obvious but when they chop and change between sounds so rapidly and it sounds this good who cares. On entry to Cherry patrons were given a Demon Parade EP and I can tell you now their live sound does not suffer by comparison. Their music is lush and full without simply overproducing, instead layering instrumental precision. The recent addition of Whill Dempsey on Organ and Synth duties furthers this adding just the right amount of background ambiance and texture to songs such as The Devil in Disguise. Rob Byers resonating basslines hold a steady and even temperedness up to the exuberance of Jared Boath and Michael Badgers guitar licks. The jangly rhythm guitar on All the Cool Kids echoing fellow Australian psych-rockers the Lovetones while the lead is all about playful experimentation. Other highlights are the catchy Evolve, ‘but I know that your not gonna Evolve, not gonna Evolve!’ and equally so Afterworld, ‘You don’t realise it, You don’t realise it!’ Badger specialising in writing infectious refrains. Closing with an extended version of God Said It’s Legal the band finishes by trashing the set, throwing microphone stands, tipping the keyboard over and dropping guitars. Someone throws milk crates at drummer Greg Dempster who puts one on his head and keeps playing, all class.

By the time headliners Black Ryder take the stage it’s clear that both the volume and feedback levels have been increased with each act until it is all but impossible to make out Aimee Nash’s lyrics. Opening with lead single Burn and Fade echoes of Hope Sandoval of Mazy stars guest vocalist duties with Jesus and Mary Chain on Sometimes Always can be made out. Black Ryder sit in somewhat of a middle ground between the first two acts sliding nicely between the slowburn and Rockier numbers such as Grass in which other official member and ex Morning After Girl Scott Von Ryper opens up on vocals. Aimee Nash struggles to get one song right only nailing it on the third attempt, blaming sweaty hands. After this slight falter the rest of the set goes relatively smoothly however the band seem to become more and more disconnected talking and laughing amongst themselves. The audience is informed that it is the drummers first gig and this is impressive as he holds stride well with the rest of the band. They push on through and close the set on a high letting loose on the rocked out jam of Let it Go. I am latter told by Miss Nash that the sound check went horribly and I am not surprised. The album comes out in October and will probably be worth a look as it won’t be produced by The Cherry Sound crew.

Both Black Ryder and Transnational had ups and downs in their sets but Demon Parade are consistently on a high playing well structured songs hard and fast helped them get the better of a bellow par job on the sound mix. However all the bands are worth checking out in the future perhaps just not at Cherry Bar.

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