Glad to be indoors, the Church Bar in Canberra’s inner city held host to a huge line up of rock tonight. The small downstairs venue holds great potential to become a home for Canberra’s rock. With the bar at the entrance, pool tables at the back, pokies tucked away in a distant corner, (unfortunately a necessary evil for most venues to survive) access to everything is easy. The staff and patrons were all great and up for a long night in. There is no doubt that the acts tonight would be worth the journey down from Sydney.
The stage at the Church Bar in Canberra is not much more than a glorified drum riser, backfold wedges, amps and leads clog the small amount of standing room left around the drum kit, this is a contributing factor to the appeal of the place. The lack of stage space forces the band onto the floor. The petite front woman from The Young and Restless who were first up, was casualty of this, joining her were the bands guitarist and bass player who also take up residence on the floor, front of stage making for a much more intimate show.
Young and Restless moved quickly into their set, immediately catching the attention of the rapidly filling room, think Karen O meets progressive rock, or post rock hardcore with less guitar attack. As the audience crowded around the mics, the unassuming front woman belted out her intense, scratchy lyrics, kicking the air and crawling about the stage. The end of each song brought whistles and cheers from the appreciative punters. For me personally I would have liked it a bit harder, with more guitar, but I will definitely keep an eye out for this fun young band.
With Horsell Common up next I wasn’t about to move lest give up my front row view.
These guys are a three piece from Melbourne, I first saw them at Spectrum just after the release of their awesome second EP Lost a Lot of Blood. The said EP is receiving rave reviews across the country and hell of a lot of radio play, and It’s no wonder why. The drummer tonight, replaced the usual line up of Leigh, but nothing was amiss.
We all moved front and centre squashing around both the mic stands of Luke on bass and Matt on guitar and vocals who took over from Young and Restless and set up down in front of stage, immediately the boys tore into their set.
You would be forgiven for thinking these guys were a five piece with the noise they manage to put out, huge sounds with equally huge bass driven melodies that are held together by pounding drums. Playing tracks, new and a few oldies, they had our undivided attention as they launched into Modern War (a personal favourite of mine) with Matt screaming out intense lyrics, joined by bass player Luke, belting out his shameless version, they showed us why the trip up from Melbourne was worth it. These guys rocked.
Speaking of guys that rock, right from the get-go Grand Fatal owned it, and rode it ‘til it frothed at the bit. Two songs in and Nick Obvious on bass was in the drum kit up to his knees, lack of stage space had vocalists and guitarists, Jimmy Meek and Graeme clearing a space amongst us down front. “Come down here with us…right up close, I want you so close, you could spit on us” Graeme taunted, the crowd obliged (minus the spitting) and packed in tightly around them as they lit the fuse with their opener Solarise.
A wall of guitars, melodic riffs and more hooks than a curtain rod is all I can think of to explain the sound, backed up by the riotous and frantic drumming of Ross Jarratt, it is more than obvious Grand Fatal love what they do and are so damn good at it you wanna pack up and leave.
Homeless a track from their first EP with a fast paced punk feel got the blood flowing followed by the title track from their second EP Chaser/Eraser, an obvious favourite with the crowd who by now were all over the place with guitarist Graeme right amongst them.
In the dissonance that is Bayonets the Fatal boys wound it all up with their energetic front man launching himself over the backfold disappearing in a tangle of leads and drums.
Grand Fatal tore a hole in it tonight, an amazing live set from a band that have a unique sound that sits somewhere between punk rock and hardcore where few too many dare to go. It was superb to see these guys in action. I would suffer the all the consequences of driving to Canberra on a school night, having three hours sleep with seven hours of work to go, just to do it all again.
With the stage and floor fully broken in, Brisk were up next.
Once again guitarists were off the stage and down amongst us. These guys have been working an album for a few months, and this was their first show since locking themselves in a recording studio, so the Canberra Brisk fans were eager to catch up.
If you are a fan of Blood Brothers, Stockholm Syndrome and Dillinger Escape Plan, than you won’t be disappointed with the night of screaming disorder that Brisk have to offer. An awesome set of grinding guitars and screeching vocals, finished us off for the evening leaving us to contemplate our ringing ears and the freezing introduction to a Canberra winter evening.
