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When asked to define the essence of his ‘it’ factor, The FAIM Project’s Mohawk donning rhythm guitarist Jacob Fry thieved my notepad and wrote half a page of jumbled, incoherent babble. Looking back on my notes post-gig, it seems a fitting description of the five-piece punk outfit.

Lead by front man Noah Skape, the band’s live performances are theatrical and spontaneous. You can tell they’re enjoying themselves, particularly Skape, as he walks through the crowd shirtless and yelling lyrics through a megaphone. It’s not anything particularly new or groundbreaking in terms of performance, but it stops short of feeling gimmicky because like Fry’s meditation on the it-ness of the band, the whole thing is treated with the kind of playful folly it deserves.

However, behind the performance antics do stand a serious and genuine musical ability. The FAIM Project play their brand of punk perfectly well, Skape’s vocal ability and range are probably a little better than a lot of Perth’s punk vocalists, and Stefan Caramia’s solos were entertaining, if perhaps a touch quiet.

In spite of this, the music doesn’t yet feel ready to stand on its own legs. The live performance is what really grabs you with this band, and without the antics the music is left sounding a little lacking. It’s definitely enjoyable, but musically there’s little to distinguish The FAIM Project from the matching crowd of punk bands in Perth/ everywhere.

This problem of originality is understandably one which plagues almost every local band on the planet, Project Mayhem included. Like the band that came before them, Project Mayhem wheeled out the standard punk-rock performance checklist. High energy? Check. Theatrics? Check. Front man Benny Mayhem with his shirt off? Check.

It’s not actually a bad thing. People were enjoying themselves, and it beats watching artists shoe-gaze or stare at laptop screens. At the end of the day people aren’t looking for or expecting musical history, just fun. And Project Mayhem deliver it in truckloads. Still, it’d be wrong to place something special beyond them, because the band is incredibly good at what it does.

They’ve built a reputation in Perth as reliable in not only performance but also musical quality, and last Friday was no different. Whilst their collection of songs were mostly repetitive, guitarist Jozef Grech lead them with simple, catchy hooks and melodies, drummer James McKay kept a frantic yet tight pace, and Jes Fitzgerald’s bass rumbled menacingly in the background. They were raw and electric, and accompanied with Mayhem’s showmanship, a very capable band.

Which brings us to The Spitfires. Like Project Mayhem, The Spitfires too have built a reputation on the Perth gig circuit, though their substantial collection of released work separates them from a lot of other well-known Perth bands. In anticipation of their full-length album, last Friday marked the launch of their second EP, titled Dead? Good!

The absence of fear in terms of recording and releasing material has made The Spitfires interesting listening. Standing in front of a substantial body of music helps ground the band. There’s less of a feeling that they have something to prove, and its evident in the way the way they conduct themselves on stage. There’s certainly a stage presence, lead primarily by front man Sean Regan, but unlike a lot of their peers, the band stops short of going over-the-top. The Spitfires are serious about their music, and play in a way that is entertaining but still allows for masterful control.

What results is a sound that steers away from the undisciplined DIY aesthetic of Punk into a more tuneful, pop-infused brand of Garage Rock. Songs like My Disappointment Never Dies and Young Liberals underline Regan’s charismatic guitar and refreshingly prominent vocal lines. Their songs are full of simple, catchy hooks and melodies in raw back-to-basics form. It’s a sound presented in a matter-of-fact style, with songs like Camden Town full of disdain for self-conscious pretensions. All in all, It was the sound of an established and matured band, and full of promise for the upcoming album.

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