Only one word is needed to describe the experience at Megafauna this year – intense. Unfortunately this review needs to be at least 400 words long, so I’ll keep typing. The festival ploughed through 10 bands in six hours, all on two stages buried in the underground world that is The Basement. Other than a short sausage sizzle break in the middle, the wall of sound continued relentlessly until after midnight. All for the fight against cancer.
Kicking off the evening was the Leisure Suit Lenny experience. Thrashing drums, drop-D chords and powerful lyrics could be heard from across the street. You could be forgiven for thinking the sound was produced by a three piece band working overtime. In reality, Leisure Suit Lenny is not a band, but one man, Lenny Preston. With right arm on drums, and left arm on guitar Leisure Suit Lenny was not only an amazing sight to behold, he also still managed to sound good.
Next up where the Chuffs, formally known as Yob, before a dispute with the Doom metal band of the same title. The Chuffs are named after Corcorax melanorhamphos, those freaky, red-eyed birds that rove in packs through Canberra. Actually the bird’s name is spelt Chough, but if you’ve ever seen the movie That Thing You Do you’ll appreciate why they spelt it the easy way. The biggest highlight of this band was the schmick guitar work by lead guitar Danny Roberts which was supported well by the talented band, Roberts also had a knack for posing like a rock god for the camera.
The biggest highlight of the evening were the up and coming Super Best Friends. Their performance seemed like a warm up for their hard won slot in Stonefest this year. The energy from these guys was contagious, and the area around the stage was soon packed with slightly drunk dancing punters. Punk rock sounds merged well with just a bit of MicroKORG Synth accompaniment it’s 37 keys sometimes played by two band members at once. A fantastic live experience. If you’re lucky enough to have a ticket to this years Stonefest they’ll be starting their set bright and early at 10:45am. It’s worth catching these guys live.
As the super best friends were wrapping up, the Radical Surf Ninjas From Hell... on Fire where beginning their set. With two drummers and an instrumental surf rock styling, the band had a unique and slightly trippy sound which left me wondering if someone had spiked my drink.
Buttnugget where up next, still producing quality punk rock after hanging around the Canberra music scene for 16 years. Matt ‘Buzz’ Busuttil has upgraded from his old-school 90’s Flying V, although still plays his guitar while it hangs around his ankles.
As always Megafauna threw a few interstate acts into the mix. This year Hytest returned for another one night stand with an enthusiastic Canberra audience. Hytest is one of a handful of bands helping to bring back the Australian pub-rock and punk-rock of the 70’s and 80’s although they bring their own unique flavor to the old-school. Maybe the style that bands like Hytest bring to the stage will be the next big thing, maybe not, either way it makes for a good show.
The second interstate visitor was Kimbo. The band brings together the growling vocals from Jules Rozenbergs (guitar) sweet tones from Anna Leinhop (guitar), Mykel Gillard (Drums) and the amazing beer skulling skills of Josh Grant (bass). After a reckless set the band finished with the words “fuck cancer”.
Cancer is the cause of death of one in every 10 people worldwide. One in three will experience the disease first hand. It could be you or it might be someone close to you. Organisations like the Australian Cancer Research Foundation have already found and are continuing to work on cures for the many forms that this disease takes. If you want to help, there’s two options, spend a decade or two in research, or donate an hour or two of wages or spare time to raise money. Support the laboratory geeks in their noble cause.
You can give to the Australian Cancer Research Foundation by going to the donation section of their website.
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