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The majority of punters weren’t there to see Young Revelry or even vaguely interested, which was a shame. The boys ply the trade of garage psychedelia with aplomb, coming across like Nirvana spiked with the Dandy’s. Money on the Wall built an awesome druggy wall of sound. The haze persisted through Sanitize Your Thoughts, a slow burner punctuated by a crushing noise lead.

The urgent dissonance of All the Same was a highlight, propelled by waves of ride, cascading bass and seriously infectious chorus. The pure rotten punk of Smell Eat Gnaw closed the set, the band showing their teeth to fantastic effect with jarring rhythm section and evil riffing.

It would be fair to say that the husband and wife duo of Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry, aka the Handsome Furs, are more Sid and Nancy than Paul and Linda. It would also be fair to say that these masters of the mutant garage disco may have put on the show of the year (just putting it out there), and if you weren’t there you probably need to take a long hard look at yourself.

A shocked throng of punters bolted inside Amplifier’s main room when the electro handclaps of Legal Tender pierced the night. Many had no idea of what to expect from the duo and were greeted with a display of rock n’ roll gymnastics, electro-doof, fervent spitting vocals and some of the loudest and most caustic guitar Perth has ever seen. Perry was every bit the embodiment of the multitasking woman, managing to attend to her vocal, drum machine and synth duties, whilst balancing on one leg with the other cocked in the horizontal.

Apparently, all the duo knew of Australia prior to their visit was what they had seen in a documentary featuring Mel Gibson, Tina Turner and a Monaro. So, with Thunderdome in mind, came All We Want, Baby, Is Everything a vicious techno throb balanced with hooky guitar and soaring synths. It was almost more enjoyable to watch the tattooed Energizer bunnies pogo and cavort, their infectious energy gradually inducing the crowd into the same behaviour. The band were genuinely overawed by the crowds reaction to each song, Dan suggesting they were “fully sick” in his faux bogan drawl.

Evangeline induced the most excited crowd response of the night, the dissonant guitar being punctuated by power chord exclamations and topped off with the coolest glam stomp time change ever. I’m Confused was dedicated to the memory of Kung Fu master David Carradine and his self-gratifying mode of death. Synchronized head banging was the order of the song, inducing Canadian-disco madness.

Nyet Spasiba, a song, apparently, about fighting off prostitutes with bread sticks and being sad, was pretty bloody cool. Live, the song was transformed into a beast of noise and anguished vocals in dispersed with buzz saw guitar leads. The as yet unreleased Agony was a fitting closer, giving the lucky punters a window into a very cool future and Dan and Alexei expressed their love physically and exclaimed that Perth is “fully sick”. True, we are, and they were, FULLY SICK!

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