Dananananaykroyd, DZ Deathrays@ The East Brunswick Club,(02/08/2011)

Wed 3rd Aug, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Dananananaykroyd. Go on, say it. It’s fun! Dana-nana-naykroyd. There, didn’t that feel good?

Other than their great, awful name, Dananananaykroyd are notable for the ferocity of their live shows, and for inventing a genre (‘Fight Pop’) that previously did not exist. If Monday night’s audience at the East Brunswick Club were ignorant of these facts, they soon had them brought to their attention.

DZ Deathrays do guitar-and-drums punk rock. They do it pretty damn well, too. Shane Parsons spat bile, whilst churning out riffs that sounded like Black Sabbath at 78rpm, through a Geiger Counter. Obviously, this is a good thing. Whilst Parsons’ guitar writhed, squealed, and threatened to blow out his amp (there were genuine concerns at one point), Simon Ridley did his level best to plaster the audience to the back wall with the ferocity of his drumming. He came close to succeeding, too; definitely an honourable mention.

With the still-modest crowd thoroughly warmed up by DZ Deathrays and WA garage-dirge enthusiasts The Growl, it was time for the main event.

From the outset, the sextet was a force to be reckoned with. Their opening songs had the band laying out tight, driving riffs whilst dual lead singers Callum Gunn and John Baillie Jr. pitched and thrusted all over the stage. An infuriating series of problems with Baillie’s mic, rather than affect the show, provided numerous opportunities for the band’s surreal, tangential humour to come to the fore, getting the crowd even further onside.

Completely undeterred by a modest turnout – you get the feeling they’d be able to cause chaos at a church raffle – Gunn and Baillie tore through the crowd at selected intervals, adding to the loved-up vibe that stood in contrast to their chosen genre.

As the newly audible Baillie Jr. and the band really hit their stride, the mystery of ‘fight pop’ started to reveal itself. It’s basically upbeat, danceable garage rock, riff-heavy and with a debt to both Los Campesinos’ indie pop and Fugazi-brand hardcore. Topped off, of course, with a twin assault of hyperactive, pogoing Scotsmen, screaming and yelping away.

Gunn was the high-pitched Run to Baillie Jr.’s raspier DMC; bouncing lines and torsos off each other, maintaining a ludicrous pace throughout. Seemingly aware that it would be unfair to expect the audience to keep up, the band broke up their set with lengthy interludes, ranging from a lengthy dissection of guitarist Duncan Robertson’s taste in Brunswick variety store fashion – a ‘Top Fighter’ Kung-Fu pastiche, featuring Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li – to an enforced mass sit-down. The highlight though, was a carefully choreographed ‘Wall of Hugs’, that involved splitting up the audience and having them batter each other with love and (platonic) tenderness.

Just in case you thought it was all about the antics, it’s worth noting that Dananananaykroyd dropped anthems with precision throughout the night, with recent single Muscle Memory prompting a fevered response, matched only by the sing-a-long kicked off by Baillie and Gunn as they waded into the audience during early single Some Dresses. The fact that the crowd kept up with them is proof of the impact that Dananananaykroyd had on the night.

It was a sweaty, smiley bunch that drifted out into the East Brunswick night. Fight Pop just gained a few more disciples.