Deep Sea Arcade, Shady Lane @The Front, Canberra (20/02/10)

Mon 22nd Feb, 2010 in Gig Reviews

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The crowd at The Front was glad to welcome the indie chic boys of Deep Sea Arcade and although the gig wasn’t in the lightning simulator at Questacon like they’d hoped (terrible acoustics, apparently) Deep Sea Arcade was very happy to play their debut show in Canberra.

Deep Sea Arcade’s support for two legs of their nation wide tour is Sydney based four-piece Shady Lane, led by barefoot frontman Jordy Lane. Shady Lane is a very welcome change from many of the pop bands out there today, as they’re not afraid to mix it up. A lilting ballad would be followed by dance/electronica, then the next song would be dirty rock. It’s refreshing to see a band willing to step outside the box, to combine sounds and be so passionate about what they’re playing. By the end of the set Jordy Lane and bassist Conrad Richters were playing their instruments on the ground (keyboardist Sarah Jullienne and drummer Pete Avard are thinking of joining in somehow next time).

All copies of their album Here We Go Down The Black Hole available on the night sold out, which is unsurprising as it’s a great listen. Shady Lane was a good choice for opening act, as they warmed up the crowd and whet their appetites for more quality music.

Sure enough, the headlining act did not disappoint. It’s a challenge to describe Deep Sea Arcade – they’re a little bit pop, but with a dash of psychadelic. Very indie, but with some killer surfer riffs thrown in for good measure. Their set was lively and fun, each song hitting the mark. It’s also hard to link Deep Sea Arcade to any other recording artists out there today, purely because they’ve hit on something original- and the fans clearly love it. Some people were cheering before the vocals kicked in on several tracks – this was an audience who knew what they wanted to hear, sometimes to the surprise of lead singer Nic McKenzie ...that was a new one of ours…You sing it like you like it’! A particular highlight was Don’t Be Sorry, the title song from their EP, feeling like a good ol’ throwback to The Beatles, but really all the songs were killer, and it’d be interesting to see what they could do on a whole album.

Their newest single, Lonely In Your Arms has been getting a lot of airplay on Triple J as well as being iTunes single of the week, and it’s not hard to see why. It was the finale, and from the strong opening riff, reminiscent of a good 1960’s beach party, to the final wailing lyric, everyone was up on their feet. It was a great turnout and therefore pretty cramped- everyone had paid for their little space of Front floor and were going to dance in every inch of it. All in all it was a really satisfying night, and everyone could sense they were in the presence of some refreshing new Aussie talent with Deep Sea Arcade and Shady Lane.

CHECK OUT THE FAB PICS HERE!