MXPX, Houston Calls, Hit TheLights, Drive By @ BillboardThe Venue, Melbourne(02/03/2007)

Sun 11th Mar, 2007 in Gig Reviews

New Jersey lads Drive By began the punk rock night with a persistent fervour. “You guys know about Houston Calls too, right?” asked recent MCR tour band member Todd Price. Drive By’s drummer is erratic and hammers hard; to a distant observer he can be seen as one of the most prominent band members. Along with this, Drive By never failed to engage, ripping up the airwaves with a fantastic dose of guitar work. Alike Mike Herrera – in typical punk fashion – Todd Price turned and spat on stage, sweating it out while drummer and bassist appropriately adorned their heads with sweatbands. Perhaps it was due to the schedule, but Drive By’s set didn’t seem to last long. Before I knew it they were finishing up and preparations began for the next support.



Although it didn’t seem easy to top Drive By on the energy stakes, five piece Hit The Lights proved to be a higher energy band that packed a powerful punch. By the second song in, the band had the crowd reeled in and out of control. Fuzzy-haired guitarist Omar Zehery claimed the part of being most interactive while leading man Colin Ross enthused, wearing a pinkish purple shirt. Hit The Lights’ drummer, however, upped the theatrics as he smashed down on those round boom boxes with maximum effort and effect. Everyone else sang along to such songs as ‘The Call Out (you are the dishes)’, no doubt gaining a lot of the crowd’s familiarity with the lyrics.



Colin later observed and encouraged accordingly: “Shakin’ your ass, boppin your heads and shit, let’s see some crowd surfing and moshing and shit”. ‘Until We Get Caught’ was played with awesome intro riffs and all-round crowd involvement. By comparison, it’s clear that Hit The Lights are a stronger band compared with Drive By, having the qualities of being so rhythmic and involving; altogether winning over the crowd. I can’t imagine MXPX’s Yuri Ruley bearing his torso. But to be fair, a true pop-punk drummer has to have his shirt off. ‘Save Your Breath’ started off as their drummer’s chest sweated under the many stage lights. There was plenty of enthusiasm in the front now, teeming with increasingly intoxicated fans and head-bangers abound.” This song is called ‘Body Bag’, so let’s see how Melbourne moshes!” insists Colin. He then took the opportunity to advertise their CD for ten dollars.



Upping the ante once again is not something one would expect but Houston Calls were extremely engaging and possessed an even greater octane. “Are you guys ready for MXPX?” they asked of us all before letting fly with their own brand of rock. “You guys need to go off right now!” was a statement that was not needed to be said as patrons needed no prompting. Once they detected a rhythm they all dispersed and collected back together in a repeated frenzied moment. A high spirited guy decided to seize his moment and crowd surf shortly before Houston Calls called time. After all the mayhem, en route to the bar for a beer, I noticed three teenage guys of about eighteen years standing around slapping each other, amidst their hysterical laughter. This was the part of the night where you could expect anything.



“What’s up Melbourne, we’re MXPX, alright! Are you guys ready for some punk rock music?” Mike enquires. Everyone instantly broke into a collaborative clap for ‘Tomorrow’s Another Day’. “You guys got it going on, thanks for coming out tonite!”



“Hey, hey, hey, hey,” chanted the crowd. Riffs from the popular ‘My Life Story’ encouraged more moshing as things started to get insane. Mike hyped the crowd up: “I want everybody jumping on this song!”



Next up was the new and wildly catchy single ‘Role Remodelling’ that suitably went off while plenty of heads bopped to the punk pop. This was all part of the image and sound that made for some punk rock spirit. Mike added some more encouraging words like “always a good crowd here!”



Further into the night, after several more songs, requests were taken from the crowd. Mike dedicated a song to the female MXPX followers before slagging on the stage.
“Alright here it is. This one goes out to all the punk rock girls out there tonight! Are you guys ready for this…make some noise, I want to here some enthusiasm!” MXPX thanked all their supports for the night including Drive By as Mike asked fans to “make some noise for Hit The Lights! And last but not least, Houston Calls!”



Another crowd member asked for the song ‘Do Your Feet Hurt’ to which Mike replied “my feet actually do hurt” before the crowd moved their feet. Twenty or so circle dancers and moshers then took full advantage of the joyous occasion. A couple of drunk moshers were dragged out by security as a guy with a Pennywise tattoo followed on from his mate while a very MXPX punk cover of ‘Summer of 69’ played.



MXPX bring out ‘I’m OK, You’re OK’ with a rapid response from fans that were unable to stand still for very long at all. Mike, always very vocal (as expected of a punk rock singer), tried to ensure a similar response for when MXPX return: “If we come back and play live again, are you guys gonna come and see us? Do you promise?” This was answered with an enthusiastically rhetoric reply. “Is everybody getting tired?” Mike asked. The Billboard crowd, fuelled by alcohol and the like, couldn’t be subdued as they were continually thrilled as each song played well into one a.m.



“You choose the song,” was an often repeated phrase for the night. With fifteen years of experience playing shows, MXPX have succumbed to the fact that fans are always keen to get on stage to experience an MXPX show like no other. A blond, curly haired ‘Slotto’ and his mate Alex were helped up on stage to sing songs while Slotto played bass for an entire song. Slotto and his bare-chested friend strutted around the stage like regular members of the band while Mike let us all know that “it’s like karaoke but I’m not playing!”



MXPX retained the hooks of The Proclaimers hit ‘500 Miles’ while putting their punk touch on it with a cool rendition. There were no let downs from MXPX at this punk rock show – no leaving the stage and returning for an encore; just solid song after song of musical mayhem. Right where it fitted, the perfect end to the night had MXPX playing ‘Punk Rock Show’ to end the night on a satisfying note.