#5 The Bendigo Hotel 09.01.2014

Trench Sisters

Fucking great grind band, though live is kinda weird in a way. The vocalist spends most of the time between songs talking shit about the band and members, particularly himself. Lots of in-jokes which appear to be much funnier for the band. From his tone of voice (not to mention what he is saying) you get the impression he can't be bothered being there and would rather be elsewhere. You might think this was because it is their last ever gig, though he seems like this every time I've seen them. Soon as the song starts though it's just awesome.

Debacle

This band never disappoints. Crusty hardcorepunkgrindystuff and pretty damn tight. Vocalist doesn't seem to be quite as animated as he used to, but still entertaining to watch. Drummer is great to watch too.

Rort

Pretty tight band and always fantastic to watch. Vocalist produces some truly evil and angry sounding vocals loaded with reverb, yet he's such a nice and timid person. The crowd for Rort always amuses me. Not their best sounding gig tonight but thoroughly enjoyable.

Teargas

Slightly disappointed - I like their 7" and it's got that kind of sound that makes you think "this band is going to be amazing live", thought it didn't seem to be true. Having said that definitely a good live band but seemed to be lacking something, just don't know what.

Forward

Great fun band. Music is pretty cool hardcore, and definitely have a bit of that famous Japanese live band energy (mainly the vocalist). All looked exhausted (I think they had just arrived in Australia that day) but were still going hard. Vocalist started off by saying "I am from Japan. I don't speak much English. So Fuck You" which was prety funny at the time. After he did that for around 5 song gaps in a row it wore thin. But fuck it who cares they were great live, vocalist was on the floor for 90% of the set, making sure everyone was involves (bumping into people who weren't looking, snatching phones of out the hands of those who were using them). Chugging a few drinks given to him later in the set just added to a bit of chaos, though end of the set looked absolutely fucked and possibly about to chuck. Fun band.

Check all the bands out here:
http://trenchsisters.blogspot.com.au/ http://trenchsisters.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/debacle.crust http://debacle.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/RORT/309153119121094 http://rort.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/thehammerneverstops http://teargas.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/FORWARD/316767819814 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B06_aS46JN8

#4 The Hi Fi Bar 05.01.2014

Bad Vision

Only caught the end of their set. Enjoyable garage/punk band.

White Walls

Once again very tight, much more fitting on the lineup than last time I saw them! Would maybe prefer if they put a little more energy/stage prescense but still enjoyed.

Eternal Elysium

Pretty cool psychedelic doom. Tight and interesting to listen too, just lacked the ultra-high energy that I associate with Japanese bands.

The Shrine

Really cool fuzz-ridden punky rock. Great on stage energy, very tight and catchy songs. Another band I think would be even better on a smaller stage.

Earthless

Great psychedelic stoner rock. Band was incredibly tight, very funky and just good to watch and listen to. Having said that I was a little over it towards the end - no vocals meant my interest wasn't held too long. Good musicians though for sure.

Check all the bands out here:
https://www.facebook.com/badvisionbeats http://badvision.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/whitexwallsx http://whitexwallsx.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eternal-Elysium-official/160089987381948 http://www.eternalelysium.com/
https://www.facebook.com/theshrinefuzz http://theshrine.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/earthlessrips

#2 The Public Bar & #3 The Brunswick Hotel 04.01.2014

Yachtburner

Kind of sludgy punk, not a favourite band by any stretch but definitely enjoyable. Vocals almost sound too intense/harsh/angry for the music, but it still kinda works. Pretty reasonable energy considering they were added last minute and were opening the night.

Watchtower

Great doom band, I'd wanted to see them since I first listened to them online. Live was good, they had a really full sound, vocalist kind of goes into an alter-ego while singing - so nice and innocent sounding while talking between songs. Crushingly heavy the way doom should be.

Von Stitch

Just straight up rocking goodness from out in the sticks. Good but not amazing musically, but just awesome as a live band, full of energy and not afraid to take the piss out of themselves. Thoroughly enjoyable Iron Maiden cover finished off the set nicely

Motherslug

Smokey stoner Doom. Very heavy, gets kinda spacey at times. Pretty tight unit, though between guitarists at this time so there was a changover mid-set, both seemed to be doing a good job though. Vocals aren't a typical doom style but it works. Drummer is always good but seemed to be even better tonight though I can't put my finger on what exactly was different.

180 Proof

A fairly ballsy rock band. Nothing too original or unique but definitely tight. All members were thoroughly enjoying themselves and it was infectious, you couldn't help but share their pleasure.

Check all the bands out here:
https://www.facebook.com/yachtburner http://cancereyes.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/watchtoweroz http://watchtowerwatchtower.bandcamp.com/
Von Stitch (anyone know of any links?)
https://www.facebook.com/Motherslugband http://motherslug.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/180proof http://www.dirty-rock.com/audio.html

#1 The Tote Hotel 03.01.2014

Terrorstrike

A fairly new grind band and pretty damn decent. Excellent energy from vocalist and guitarist. Another of the seemingly increasing non-bass playing bands. These guys are often seen right up the front of nearly every frind/extreme gig in Melbourne, which is always good to see. Tonight's show was probably the best I'd seen them.

Pregnancy

Another relatively new band, they've played a few shows but right from day one they sound pretty tight, very thick low-end goregrind. Yet another awesome band that involves Christoph on drums, the dual vocals are both very pitch-shifted, Darcy's almoust sounding incredibly distorted, almost mechanical and Az's being more gutteral.

Internal Rot

The energy of Internal Rot is great, particularly from their vocalist Max. It seemed kind of weird to see them on The Tote main stage - seemed too big, but they pulled it off. Flat out grind done really well. Love the extra "FFUUUUUUUCCCCKKKK"s from Christoph (understandable as this was 2 bands in a row he is playing for)

White Walls

I love mixed bills, don't get me wrong. But White Walls was a really strange addition to the lineup, their main relation to grind is the band members attending many grind gigs! Actually a pretty cool band and quite tight, just felt weird after 3 amazing grind bands.

Agents of Abhorrence

IT has been far too long since I last saw Agents of Abhorrence. Like Internal Rot it was quite strange to see them on a stage this size, though they didn't seem too bothered. New album was great, though it had a far more polished sound compared to earlier releases, and almost a more modern sound, so I didn't enjoy it quite as much. Same with the live show, the new vocalist definitely has a good set of lungs, though he wasn't particualrly animated. This obviously isn't everything, and the rest of the band make up for it with their energy. I was wrapped to see their old vocalist take stage for the last part of their set though, reminded me how much I wished I'd seen them more when they were playing regularly.


Check all the bands out here:
https://www.facebook.com/TerrorStrikeGrind http://terrorstrike.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pregnancygoregrind http://pregnancy.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/internalrotters http://internalrotters.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/whitexwallsx http://whitexwallsx.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Agents-of-Abhorrence/118171554904000 https://soundcloud.com/agents-of-abhorrence