Strike Anywhere, Stolen Youth,God So Loved the World, RexBanner @ Gaelic Theatre,Sydney (3/3/2007)

Sun 4th Mar, 2007 in Gig Reviews

Eight o’clock and the line outside the venue was already steadily growing. The enthusiastic bunch of mohawk-sporting, baggy short-wearing punks were here to take in the sights and sounds of Virginian five-piece Strike Anywhere, along with some of Australia’s fastest rising hardcore acts.

New Sydney band The Chunks were set to make their debut live appearance tonight, but as unfortunate fate would have it their singer was involved in an accident earlier in the week, forcing their cancellation. Filling the void were locals Rex Banner, who delivered a set of rough and gritty punk rock. Their songs were lacking in hooks and their singer appeared very awkward, almost uneasy with his role. Despite this, a dedicated (or possibly inebriated) and eager crowd gathered down the front to jump around and have a good time for the sake of it.

Following Rex Banner were a bunch of South Australians going by the name God So Loved the World. These guys have been doing their thing for a bit over a year now and by the looks of things they know a thing or two about writing a hardcore song; surprising, considering some of the members’ history extends to more pop-punk based outfits. Think less macho bullshit hardcore and more along the lines of old-school punk, three-minute balls to the wall type songs and you’re on the money. Bands such as these guys are what this genre is seriously lacking.

Stolen Youth, another SA band rounded off the local lineup for the night, with a set of songs that were an interesting hybrid of styles, at points they would range from heavy and rough to punchy and raw. At one point they even incorporated hip hop style raps into the breakdown/bridge of one of their numbers. The crowd lapped it up and were now well and truly warmed up for what was to follow.

Strike Anywhere returned for their third tour Down Under, this time in support of 2006’s Dead FM. With a scheduled time of around 11pm, they walked on stage close to 15 minutes early, and ripped into an unusually hyper-energetic set, even for a band such as these guys (if you have seen them before you would already know the energy they create). Chalkline, Infrared and We Amplify were all played fairly early, and most of the songs in the first half of the set were played at what seemed like double speed. As always Sunset on 32nd went down a real treat, and the ban whipped the crowd into a frenzy on many occasions.

As is expected from these guys, a lot of political comment was made, especially in reference to the Mardi Gras that was going on just a couple short kilometers away. Less than an hour after the chaos started and it was all over. No encore, but I have a feeling most punters still walked away feeling they had received their money’s worth.