30 people! 30 people! That’s about how many were in attendance at the Northcote Social Club tonight. There were more people in the outside bar than there were inside watching The Scare with the assistance of Mr. Jack Ladder. Fortunately the acts on the night performed as if they did not care whether there were 3 people or 3 million people in the room, treating those in attendance to a perfect Friday night of dark and dirty rock n roll.
Having listened to his Love is Gone album, with its slick and at times up beat, bluesy, gospel vibe the last thing I was expecting from Jack Ladder was a six song, 40 minute-long set of distorted guitars and early Kasabian like electronic drum beats. Further adding to the confusion was that providing backing for Mr. Ladder was a gentlemen in a tasselled cowboy shirt, leotard, stockings and John Lennon sunglasses, who would gallop on the spot whilst playing his guitar.
Whilst initially distracting, this change of style by no means detracted from the performance, in fact if anything, the performance was far more suitable for a band opening for The Scare. Barber’s Son, which in its recorded form consists of a slick bass line and minimalist guitar, is transformed into a dark and moody wall of sound which would be the perfect backing track to for driving down a Texas highway at dusk. The set ends with Ladder performing You Won’t Be Forgotten to nothing but some electronic distortion, provided by Mr. Tassle Shirt, Ladder’s tall, slender frame almost collapsing to the ground each time he sings the title lyrics.
The Scare are an odd beast indeed. With their own brand of dirty, sleazy and slightly cheeky rock n roll they are very much a unique Australian rock act, which is becoming somewhat of a rarity these days.
There may have been less people than you would find on a footy field in attendance, but this certainly did not dampen the energy nor execution of the five gents who now call Sydney home. With a heavy dose of post-punk attitude and just the right amount of pop sensibilities so that songs stay in your head days afterwards, they played a tight, hour long set that drew primarily from the recently released Oozevoodoo as well as a few choice selections from debut album, Chivalry.
Bats! Bats! Bats! which sounded like a more aggressive, less gothic version of an early Horrors track, got the show off to the perfect start and from that point on the show only got better.What makes Scare songs so memorable is that halfway through the concentrated chaos of tracks like She Can’t Say No, No Money and in particular Surgeon is the almost theatrical and musical style chants that the crowd can’t help but sing along too, which adds an extra level of atmosphere. Throw in songs like the spaghetti-western cheesy but good fun of As He Walks and you have a continuously diverse and enjoyable show.
The band themselves performed with an amazing amount of focused energy. Sam Pearton keeps those in attendance jumping around to constantly changing beats, Brock Fitzgerald’s fuzz driven guitar was embellished with the slinky stabs from Liam O’Brien while Wade Keighran’s thick, dirty almost mclusky-esque bass lines set the tones for most of songs.
Finally, we have Mr. Kiss Reid up front on vocal duties, who based on tonight’s performance wouldn’t care if no one showed up. He constantly hurled himself into the audience and bounced around stage like a man possessed. It did not matter that the crowd had the population density of a deserted island, he still managed to crowd surf multiple times thanks to the help of a few dedicated fans up the front.
Finishing their set with Cry, which saw Kiss laughing along like an evil comic book villain, the band exited the stage, with no need for an encore, a wise decision considering that it would be almost impossible to regain the momentum and furious energy they had built up throughout their set.
to listen to their music now on 
