Goons of Doom @ Club 77(12/08/06)

Tue 15th Aug, 2006 in Gig Reviews

Without dragging you kicking and screaming into a drab diary-like recount of my saturday night, I’ll mention that walking through Hyde park before the show provided a significant prequel to the gig. Ominous shadows and lurking figures beside a sense of mystery and adventure. Ah, such trepidation. A conflict of apprehension and interest.

Every Sydney hipster has tales of long nights spent lurking in Club 77 (or the batcave as it’s known to them) and getting wasted. Every week, come Saturday night “Starfuckers” draws the new-age bohemians of Sydney city to Club 77’s den. Dingy, dark, disturbing, smokey, sweaty and stinky.  It was sort of like walking into the basement of an abandoned house, a dilapidated chandelier cast an eerie red light and I knew The Goons Of Doom would be right at home.

Ozzie Wrong The Wizard of Death (an artist and professional surfer), Vaughn Dead, Killer Whale, Cutthroat Cowboy and the alluring Bang Bang Bunny Fang make up the Northern Beaches surf band. Seemingly obsessed with elements of fantastical horror; Ozzie’s art depicting zombies, bats, skeletons and other ghastly entities hung about the venue. They took their places on stage (or lack there of, as they stood no more than a foot infront of eclectic mix of onlookers) and embraced the crowd. With tears of blood painted on and salt encrusted hair the band resembled a farcical remake of a 1930’s horror film. Bunny Fang remained looking very mysterious under a dark hood for a portion of the show. The audience was smaller than expected but it suited the Goons, considering their reception supporting Pennywise recently – but that’s another story. 

Smoke whirled into the air as they shouted their theatrical alias’s and launched into their first song, She Wore Ratskin Boots, off their Bikey Zomby EP. Ozzie grabbed the low hanging rafter and hung like a gorrilla on acid and kicked on with the tune. Considering their debut album, The Story Of Dead Barbie and Ghost only dropped on August 5, the songs were accesible and entertaining. Oz wrenched and wreathed as he fronted the band like a possessed body, screaming and sweating – trying to rouse the small handful of people that were receiving him. The vocals swung between Cuthroat Cowboy, Bunny Fang, Killer Whale and Oz, all pitching in having a go. The single ‘Fingered’ included a sing-along section that got every drunk soul chanting “Burn alive, burn alive, every motherf##ker gonna burn alive”. Intimate and crude, The Goons were hysterical.

Lasting impressions – Bunny Fang shedding the grim-reaperesque hood and taking charge, singing “this is my song, lets get it going on” whilst the rest of us bounced along.

They will be playing a series of dates in the future, check out http://www.goonsofdoom.com for details.