Live music was one of the first (figurative) casualties of coronavirus and the toll that it has taken on the industry over the better part of two years since can’t be understated. Even today, the shadow of the bat still looms darkly over the world like an indie kid selecting their favorite pair of low-cut docs. Over here in Queensland we’ve been luckier than many places but not quite as lucky as other’s. There’s plenty to criticize in how our leaders essentially left the arts industry to die in the wilderness but I’m gonna save that deposition for another day.
What matters here is that live music is finally able to fire on all cylinders in the Sunshine State. Already there’s a haze of doubt over how long that it’ll last before all hell breaks loose again but I knew from the initial announcement of restrictions being rolled back that it was imperative that we all take advantage of the respite as much as humanly possible.
It’s been a very long time since I’ve been able to hit The Valley harder than an Australian highschooler with depression hits the bong in-between classes but last weekend, the perfect opportunity for me to slake my thirst for rockstar excess rolled around once more.
It was like seeing your loveable fuckup of a mate show up on your doorstep after disappearing on you suddenly. All bruised and battered up with no phone, no wallet, and a long list of inferior excuses as to where they’ve been. The music industry has delivered everyone involved in it both exhilarating highs and equally crushing lows over the past few years. And now it stands in front of us once again, stone broke after one hell of a thrashing but ready to take us for another ride.
God knows how long it’ll hold up but those are questions better left for tomorrow. Music has always been about the moment. And the moment that fans, artists, crew, and everyone in-between finally reunited last weekend without reservation was long overdue.
Night 1: COLOSSUS RECORDS PRESENTS: Square, Pale Horsey, Sacred Hearts, and Rick and The Sickos (The Brightside)
Colossus Records are local imprint who have been making some waves recently with a solid roster of signees and a string of successful gigs featuring some of Brisbane’s best emerging artists. Having recently moved to a place only a short walk to The Valley, I knew that it’d be outright rude not to put in an appearance.
I start out my weekend seeing Bargain Bin Records’ newest and crudest act, Rick and The Sickos. As if playing in The Chats, Headlice, and The Unknowns wasn’t enough for Australia’s most recognizable ranga Eamon, he now plays alongside Josh Hardy (also of The Unknowns and The Chats) and Rick (Headlice and formerly of Boing Boing Band) in Brisbane’s “sickest” band.
It’s the same snotty shed punk you’d expect from the Bargain Bin crew but with a level of rawness and vulgarity that exceeds even that of The Chats. While they’re not about to give G.G Allin and The Murder Junkies a run for their money, the band do have plenty of lovely songs about topics such as shitting the bed, hating people indiscriminately, and stabbing people in the back.
Tonight, they’ve all slicked their hair back with more gel than the entire cast of Grease and The Outsiders and they keep combing it in-between songs to the point where I half expect their scalps to start peeling off. The crowd are already very energetic for the first band up on a Thursday. One of their mates puts the strap of her purse around her neck and starts spinning it around in whirling frenzy.
Next up are Sacred Hearts, who provide a complete change of pace from Rick and The Sickos. They’re a three-piece post-punk/gothic rock act with a heavy emphasis on mood and atmosphere in their sound. Their music lulls you into a sort of sinister dream or trance. They don’t have a drummer and instead use a synth with a drum machine that provides a steady metronome to layer their effects-drenched instruments and dreamy vocals over.
Following up are Pale Horsey. Pale Horsey have a hectic, no-bullshit, noise rock and punk sound. Each song is a harsh cacophony, with the band pounding away on their instruments and battering the most noise that they can get out of every note despite the relentless pace of the songs.
Closing out the show are the headliners, Square. Square by far have the most energy out of all the acts tonight. The frontman leaps around stage like a kangaroo on coke while belting out every note of each song with inexorable conviction. Their music is full of raw punk energy, but it has these poppy melodies underlying every track as well. They get the crowd moving and grooving in short order and finish the night on a triumphant high note.
Night 2: The Chats supported by Perve Endings – High Risk Behavior Tour (The Tivoli)
In early 2020, notorious Sunny Coast pub punks The Chats released their long-awaited debut album High Risk Behaviour and were set to play their biggest national headline tour ever in the months following. Almost immediately afterwards, the world went to hell and the entire tour had to be put on ice. About a year and a half later, after six re-scheduling’s and a line-up change, the stars finally aligned long enough for 4573’s finest to take to the stage and play to the first full capacity crowd at The Tivoli since the pandemic started.
The Chats and their manager very graciously provided me a last-minute door spot but most of the attendees had been holding onto their tickets for the better part of a year or more. I could feel the buzz of anticipation from the crowd as I strode through The Tivoli doors. The venue was packed with people before a single note had been played so I knew immediately that this already had the makings of an excellent night.
Taking to the stage first were the rising Brisbane rockers Perve Endings. While good mates with The Chats and signed to Bargain Bin Records, the Perve Endings are entirely unlike any of their labelmates in sound. They fuse the elements of pop, rock, punk, and soul into their music in a way that keeps you guessing what they’ll play next. The also frequently trade lead vocals with each other during verses before exploding into soul-like vocal melodies during the choruses.
They start out their set with the song Peaked in Highschool (which has a regrettably relatable title for me) and within moments, a mosh is already starting to build. The middle of the set has more of their slow burners including their titular EP track Slow Burn appropriately enough. These tracks really let Tess (bass) and Olly (keyboards) show off their vocal chops. They rip back into their more energetic tracks to close off the set. Mikki (guitar) takes the lead on the last track and gives me some serious Amy Taylor vibes in her performance (although it might just be because they both sport mullets I dunno).
After a break in between sets, it’s time for The Chats Hour of Power to rip our eardrums asunder and damn do they deliver. They open up their show with the perennial crowd pleaser Nambored and immediately a mosh pit explodes into existence. It’s like the past two years never happened and August 2020 went ahead as planned for our favourite pub punks.
The Chats played most of their album tracks on their Suburban Excursion tour earlier on this year, so tonight the set is a mix of old, current, and new material. From the EP’s they play songs such as My Mum Stole My Darts, which is the first song they ever wrote as a band, well as their breakout hit Smoko, which of course causes the crowd to absolutely lose it. Off High Risk Behavior are tracks like 4573, Stinker, and Identity Theft. When it comes to new material, they play their latest single ACDC CD as well as currently unreleased tracks like 6 Liter GTR and Struck By Lightning.
Tonight, it’s an all-ages crowd which for The Chats means there’s plenty of young groms and crusty Cosmic Psychos era punks floating around alongside the usual vaguely mid-twenties stoner punk crowd. It’s great to see that their music bridges the gap between generations and that three chords and the truth in music never really goes out of style. The Chats themselves are pouring sweat within only a few songs but set a relentless pace the entire way through the show.
As the set begins to close, Eamon tells us all that while they’d usually go off stage and wait to be called back for an encore, they’re gonna cut the bullshit tonight, stay on stage instead, and play one more song right now if we all agree it’s the last song we get. Unsurprisingly, there are no protests there. The band launch right into the song Pub Feed and I decide that now is my chance. Last year in the middle of lockdown, I had a dream that I was crowd surfing at this very show, which at that point had been postponed to December 2020. I remember waking up feeling very disappointed, but I knew then that I had to try to make it a reality.
I ask Jed my dear podcast co-host to lift me up and he gladly obliges because it gives him an excuse to get away from some older woman who’s trying to hit on him. The Chats are just launching into the first chorus when I go up and I’m belting out the words at the top of my lungs as the crowd make a pretty iffy attempt to keep me up. I get spat out to the front pretty fast and manage to re-join the crowd in the mosh for the last bit of song which was gloriously brutal in the thick of the pit.
Let this be proof that dreams to do come true after all, just as long as you’re willing to be very patient with them. I’m sure The Chats themselves feel the same way about finally being able to play the show after so many postponements. I walk out of The Tivoli feeling like I’ve been hit by a truck but it’s a good sort of feeling when it’s after a gig. It’s a very familiar one as well. One that I haven’t felt in a very long time. The Brisbane scene and The Valley are beginning to feel like home to me once again and goddamn is it glorious.
Night 3: Best Night Ever featuring Violent Soho, Teenage Joans, The Grogans, The Semantics, and Blussh (Night Quarter)
After not nearly enough sleep the next day, me and a few mates make the trip up the Night Quarter up on the Sunshine Coast to go to Best Night Ever. The 2018 and 2019 Best Night Ever’s down at the Gold Coast hold particularly fond memories for me and I was gutted but not particularly surprised when it didn’t go ahead in 2020. Even the announcement for it this year was made rather late, but I knew immediately once I saw who the headliners would be that this was going to be a gig to remember.
Violent Soho are a band who need absolutely no introduction. They’ve played less gigs than can be counted on one hand since the pandemic hit, so it was only fitting for them to be one of the first major homegrown acts to play a show just as restrictions were rolled back. After what feels like an eternity on the drive up, I arrive at Night Quarter just in time for the first band to kick off and the drugs to kick in.
Opening up the day’s festivities are Blussh, who I’ve seen play around Brisbane many times before. They’re an all-girl power trio who write songs about very important topics such as mental health and big dongs. They introduce themselves jokingly as Avril Lavigne and immediately launch into an onslaught of 90’s influenced buzzsaw punk.
It’s not far into their set that security tell those of us up against the crowd barrier to take a step back and I find out that we’re not being allowed to stand against it during this gig, presumably in an attempt to stave off a mosh. Already I can see the immediate problems because the crowd are going to surge ahead during Violent Soho whether they like it or not, social distancing be damned.
West Thebarton were originally booked to play Best Night Ever but were forced to pullout due to coronavirus related complications. Stepping up to the plate in their stead are the Semantics, a Brisbane alt-rock four-piece whose music blends elements of emo, indie rock, and folk punk very much in the vein of The Smith Street Band. This was a very last-minute call-up for them, and they do amazingly well considering they had absolutely no prep for it. They’re exceedingly energetic on stage as always and their bassist Madeline is playing while rolling around on the floor in short order. She swears to us that this doesn’t usually happen until later on in the night and that she’s only had one beer so far ha-ha-ha.
Up next are the Grogans, who hail from the most locked down place on the planet; Melbourne. With everything that’s happened down there, I reckon it’s a miracle they were able to make it up without any incident. While rooted in high energy surf rock, their music also has elements of punk, indie, psychedelic rock, and even a bit of reggae. The Grogans don’t have a bassist, it’s just drums and two guitars with an extensive array of effects pedals that provide some excellent tones.
Their set has a good mix of high energy thrashers and slow burners that draw them quite a crowd despite the relatively early hour of the festival. They rip through most of their songs in record time and end up having a bit of time to spare to play stuff that’s not on their set list. Most bands I’ve seen struggle to get through their planned set without going over time ha-ha-ha.
The Grogans aren’t the only band on the line-up who don’t have bassist tonight. Taking to the stage next are Adelaide indie punk duo Teenage Joans composed of Cahli Blakers (guitar and vocals) and Tahlia Borg (drums). The band have gone from strength to strength over the past three or so years with a strong string of singles and the recent release of their debut EP Taste Of Me. They use catchy choruses and ripper riffs to explore themes of coming of age, growing up, and trying to find your place in the world.
It’s at this point that I feel I should mention that the behaviour of security and crowd at this gig was a bit fucking crook at times. Someone throws a cup full of liquor at the band while they’re on stage and they also had heckler have a go at them before they’d even started playing who was thankfully evicted by security. That was probably the only good move that security made all day.
People were being told off or evicted for doing things that have literally never been restricted behaviour at a stand-up gig all fucking year. At one point in the Teenage Joans set, a fan hands Tahlia her sunglasses to wear on stage. Tahlia puts them on and exclaims excitedly “I’m a hypebeast!” and the band pose for a photo and it looks like all fun and games and then security start trying to evict said fan. Thankfully Teenage Joans intervened but other people who were also just messing around earlier on weren’t so lucky.
Yet during the Violent Soho set when I saw multiple potential fights brewing in the pit, the seccos were nowhere to be seen aside from futilely trying to keep people back from the front. In fact, overall, the crowd was a bit sedate for most of the acts aside from Violent Soho because you had to do was breathe and have some meathead secco start marking you for eviction. I do understand that Night Quarter want to play it safe after the Spacey Jane incident but fuck me it was definitely a bit of a mood killer.
Alright, back to the music.
You could see a wave of fervour wash over the crowd as Violent Soho readied themselves to take to the stage. Just before 8:45pm that night, the backdrop lit up suddenly with footage of that quiet unassuming Mansfield house on the cover of Everything is A-OK and the band strode on stage like they’d never left in the first place. Although there was one immediately noticeable difference in their line-up tonight. Filling in for James Tisdwell on guitar was Tired Lion frontwoman Sophie Hopes. While James’ presence was missed, Sophie swiftly showed that she was right at home onstage alongside the rest of the band.
As the band ripped right into Pick It Up Again, the crowd around me immediately exploded into absolute hysterics. We all knew that we were witnessing a long-awaited reunion of people, hearts, hopes, and minds all at the same time. And there was no better act to help make all of that happen than the one we were seeing with our own eyes. The band played a fair mix of the crowd favourites from Hungry Ghost, WACO, and Everything Is A-OK throughout the set and threw in Jesus Stole My Girlfriend from self-titled and the non-album single Neighbour Neighbour for good measure.
If there’s
one thing that I’ve come to realise looking back on the events of that night,
it’s the secret to Violent Soho’s longevity in the music scene. Their
songs matter to people in a way that’s hard to match or
replicate. The lyrics are very open to interpretation, but they manage to
capture a sense of yearning and angst that’s inherent to the human condition.
The choruses may not seem like the catchiest ones in the world to begin with,
but they swiftly burn themselves into your brain. Everyone in the crowd knows
every single word to every single song and it’s glorious to witness.
The band are clearly loving being back to playing shows as much as we are seeing them, and they haven’t changed a bit since their last outing. Luke proudly proclaims that while Sophie (who he’s currently dating) is beautiful, 4122 (as in Mansfield where he grew up) is even more beautiful but he stutters in the middle of it and ends up tailing off into silence. Yep, the boys are definitely back in town.
The crowd steadily gets rowdier over the course of the set with circle pits opening up everywhere I go. It’s not quite as packed as I was expecting in hindsight, but I did appreciate that I had some room to breathe for once. The band close off the set with Covered In Chrome which of course causes the last vestiges of civility around me to completely disappear as the crowd rages harder than a meth addict when their Centrelink doesn’t come through.
Violent Soho are already running a bit over time by the end of their set so they’re quick to make a swift exit from the stage, defying our calls for an encore. Getting the memo, I decide to follow their example as well and head back to Brisbane quick smart, the last few notes of the concert still ringing in my ears.
Aftermath
Yeah, I ain’t gonna lie, the aftermath of this weekend was a bit fucked. I was so hungover that I couldn’t sleep right for the better part of three days afterwards and I got so restless in the daytime that I was almost bouncing off the walls despite being absolutely exhausted at the same time.
As I tie this article up, the coronavirus situation is already beginning to become a bit fucked again so a cloud of uncertainty hangs over our heads once more. But hey, if there’s one thing that last weekend proved to me, it’s that no matter how long we’re apart, there’ll always be the music to reunite us again time after time.
The industry does need more support and we’re getting a sweet lot of fuck all from the government as usual. Which is exactly why we all need to continue believing in it so it will continue to persevere as the great uniting force that it’s always been. For as long as it’s safe to do so, make sure to go out and support local acts as much as you can. The people you’ll meet and the experiences you’ll have through doing that will last you a lifetime.
A huge shout out to Ben Hudson of Distorted Youth and Will Johnstone for all the sick shots in this article!