Chris Duke and The Royals @The Swan Basement, Perth(17/04/2011)

Wed 20th Apr, 2011 in Gig Reviews

The Swan Basement isn’t the typical venue for a Sunday afternoon of music, but then again this wasn’t the typical Sunday session kind of gig and this certainly isn’t the usual rule abiding well groomed crowd. This was the last show on the WA tour for Sydney Ska-punk band Chris Duke and the Royals.

Punters poured into the dimly lit, sticky floored venue to see the first act on the bill, Ants in a Picnic. This was the debut revealing of the underground supergroup as all the members have played live numerous times before and the usual awkward first time show jitters were replaced with laughter and on stage banter. Ants in a Picnic consists of Ben Elliot from Montage of Jesus on guitar and Pat Dolin from The Decline on Bass, who shared lead vocal duties. Between them stood and impressive horn section consisting of Lauren Dixon and Dom Rae on trumpet, Claire Gibbard on Alto Sax and Nick Visic on Tonar Sax. Add an experienced drummer Jay Swensen from the F.A.I.M. Project and you have one hell of a ska cover band. They casually tore through a set of upbeat 90’s covers, remodelling Vengaboys, S-Club 7 and Aqua in their ska style, laughing between every song, somewhat surprised they could pull it of so well. The highlight being the Vengaboys song Boom Boom Boom Boom remodelled with Missy Higgins, Scar thrown into the middle of the song. “can you leave me with a Ska”.

Varial took to the stage next keeping the punk afternoon fast and loud. They are the WA equivalent to early Brand New or Mxpx. Like the previous act they joked around between songs and genuinely seem thrilled to be playing, happily offering beer away to anyone willing. Scott (guitar) and Nick (bass) have an awkward Blink 182 punk rock charm. They amuse/abuse each other on stage and change lyrics mid song, “Nick wants to have sex with guys”. The three-piece is well rehearsed and despite Scott’s fractured wrist their set went smoothly.

The Scene and Herd followed Varial, swapping funny stage banter for tight jeans and fashionable haircuts. The Scene and Head are the younger generation of punk on the bill and the only band today with a female front person. They play well constructed pop-punk songs with the adequate amount of distortion. Ashby Ranson is a great vocalist and her melodies are impressive. Sadly they come across far too much like Paramore, showing many similarities, despite mid set playing “relatively new song” declaring “We’re not Paramore”.

It wouldn’t be a punk show without The Decline on the bill. They are WA’s premium underground pop-punk band. They have had the opportunity to play with some of the biggest punk acts in the world and their recent recording in America is slowly moving them out of the WA underground scene. Harry (drummer), Pat Decline (guitar) and Dan Decline (bass) take to the stage without their lead guitarist Nathan Cooper (or Nate Dog), who seems to be running late. This doesn’t stop The Decline from playing. They recruit an audience member and a couple of members from Chris Duke and The Royals to stumble through whatever song they know. Four songs and a speeding fine later, The Decline guitarist Nate Dog arrives. Their set continues on with their loyal fan base singing along to every word. Towards the end of their performance Pat and Dan invited Ashley Wilderink from Chris Duke and The Royals onto the stage for an acoustic number. One clever audience member asks why they didn’t play the acoustic song, while they were waiting for Nate Dog to arrive.

Chris Duke and the Royals took to the stage in Ska-punk glory. They are a faster messier punk version of The Cat Empire. Lead vocalist Peg Duker bounds around the stage, joining the audience on more than one occasion. Josh Gumley keeps the standard Ska-punk tempo while John Neville on bass and Chris Duker smash out their party punk tunes. Ashley Wilderink (trumpet) and Andy Macdougall (saxophone) are the final piece to the puzzle. They turn ordinary punk into Ska and their backing vocal duties are outstanding. The crowd are fans and song requests are made, many of the audience members admittedly followed the band to every show. Chris Duke and the Royals finish their tour in splendid fashion. I’m sure they will be back to the WA shoreline soon enough.

The small close knit underground punk scene of WA is growing. It’s sweaty, hairy and welcoming. Make an effort to check it out!