The Explosion, The Disables &Taking Sides @ AnnandaleHotel, 13/08/2005

Wed 17th Aug, 2005 in Gig Reviews

The Saturday night show at The Annandale started off with one of Resist Records favourites’, Taking Sides. During this particular show Wade’s sixteen-year-old brother, Harry, stood in as a replacement as second guitarist for Joel who has left the band. The pseudo line up made the crowd warm to them more, by dancing and singing along.

After Taking Sides were Brisbane punkers The Disables. They were a sure fire hit with the crowd, with their catchy songs such as Dirty Old Town, leaving the crowd singing along.

The venue was made up of a combination of hardcore Explosion fans, and punk kids, keen to check them out. The newest member of the band was Chris Gonzales who replaced guitarist, Sam Cave in January, who judging by his performance, has already assimilated right into the band. This is their maiden tour of Australia, and after listening to their first major label debut, Black Tape and seeing them live, it is safe to conclude that The Explosion are indeed, ”the next big thing”.

They opened with Deliver Us – the first song from Black Tape, which paved the way for vocalist Matt Hock to introduce the band to the crowd. Filthy Insane was next, followed by I Know, which got everybody clapping their hands.

They dedicated the politically conscious song, Atrocity to John Howard, and Mother’s Cry went out to Graham Nixon from Resist Records for bringing them out. They gave it all they had on every single song.

The star of the show was definitely drummer Andrew Black. You wouldn’t know it, but Andrew sustained an injury tearing ligaments in his ankle one week prior to the tour, and was walking around in a brace. Nevertheless, he has continued to play every single show on the tour and despite his injury his drumming parts were impressively flawless - bringing true meaning to the saying, “the show must go on”. The band dedicated the very appropriate song, Grace (“Cause you’ve got grace on a bad day ”) to Andrew for being such a trooper.

If that wasn’t enough to overcome, the band had another casualty with vocalist Matt Hock, who had started losing his voice, at the Melbourne show. There was an obvious strain on his voice but it was evident by his enthusiasm that nothing was going to stop him.

Much to the crowd’s delight, they also did a cover of a Minor Threat song, I See Red as well as a few songs from their previous albums. When they played their single, Here I Am, the entire audience started dancing and singing along, and then they closed the show with No Revolution, leaving us feeling that they certainly exceeded expectations.

Despite their injuries and substitutions, this is a band that deserves some serious TLC. Their album has had very little promotion, and this tour definitely deserved more attention than they actually received.

After the show Andrew was resting behind his drum kit, in such pain that he couldn’t move and stated that he wanted tonight to be his last show. A couple of minutes later, Chris asked him if he wanted to play the All Ages show tomorrow, as they were expecting about a hundred or so kids. “A hundred kids?” Andrew asks. He takes a deep breath before answering, “Okay, let’s do it”.

This was one of the best shows of 2005 so far – not only because they had so much to work for, but because they not only met, but exceeded expectations. It is clear that this band is definitely under-rated. The Explosion are not only a quintessentially old school east-coast punk band, they are hard-working, passionate and earnest – the epitome of everything good and true in a real punk rock band.