LIVE REVIEWS

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    The Kill Devil Hills (The Annandale)

    First Published in Mess+Noise, 2009

    A red dust storm galloped from the Wild West into Sydney last week and riding hot on its bushy tail came Perth band The Kill Devil Hills. My comp tickets are MIA and the door girl is unconcerned. Pondering the bad news over a beer with friends, the bartender tells us The Kill Devil Hills are upstairs and suggests we ask directly for help. There’s ...

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    The Nation Blue / SixFtHick (Spectrum)

    First Published in Mess+Noise, 2009

    Saturday night’s support slot for The Nation Blue is the first time I’ve seen Brisbane rock veterans SixFtHick. A miracle really, considering my reasonable pub-rock pedigree and SixFtHick’s 13-year tenure strutting, spitting, sweating, screaming and slapping themselves across Aussie stages everywhere. “If you’ve never witnessed a SixFtHick show you’ve either been living under a rock or you’re in jail for murder,” states Geoffro Corbett on ...

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    Wolf and Cub (Oxford Art Factory)

    First Published in Mess+Noise, June 24, 2009

    Sometimes, nothing can sum it up better than commentary from the random pissed guy, lurching through the crowd with his schooner. Wolf & Cub are playing their hearts out to a capacity Sydney crowd who all appear to be aged between 18 and 18-and-a-quarter. A casual poll in my immediate vicinity reveals many are primarily here to see tour support act The Scare. From opener ...

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    Grey Daturas (The Ding Dong)

    First Published in Mess+Noise, June 11, 2009

    You know a band’s got volume when you keep your earplugs in for a mid-gig toilet break. It’s the first leg of Grey Daturas’ June/July Australian tour. They’ve recently returned from yet another European tour where – among 20 other dates – they played with Neurosis, Om, Earth and other revered instrumental doom-drone acts. Ding Dong hosts a sparse yet devoted crowd. There’s a good ...

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    Witch Hats (The Metro Theatre)

    First Published in Mess+Noise, May, 2009

    What do you get when you combine an SMS command, a dogged sound dude, and a set played to a sparsely filled Metro Theatre? Echoey, damn echoey, that’s what. Just how Melbourne four-piece Witch Hats like it. Here as support for The Drones, Witch Hats are onstage at 8.30pm. One song in (I don’t recognise it from their debut LP Cellulite Soul) I retreat from ...

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    The Dead Sea (The Hopetoun)

    First Published in Mess+Noise, March, 2009

    Half-way through The Dead Sea’s set at The Hopetoun on Saturday night, distraction begins to creep over me. How, I wonder, am I possibly going to review this band and avoid the words “cinematic”, “soundscape” or “builds into a mesmerising wall of sound”? They’re all apt handles for The Dead Sea’s atmospheric, and frequently ambient, sound. But this is an era when Sigur Ros and ...

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    Eddy Current Suppression Ring (Goodgod Small Club)

    First Published in Mess+Noise, March 18, 2009

    The first time I lost a shoe in a moshpit was in the summer of 2002. Reverend Horton Heat, Great American Music Hall, San Francisco. The second time was at Eddy Current Suppression Ring on Friday night. Losing a shoe to a pit is one of life’s nobler milestones. It’s an act of character. It also generally means the band is really fucking good. On ...