Blood, Sweat and Beers @ The Annandale 29/1/11
February 10th 2011 08:25
The Annandale’s famed punk rock festival Blood, Sweat & Beers comes hot off the heels of the Big Day Out where skins were still burnt and ears still ringing, so what better way then to spend 10 hours in a sweaty room listening to even louder bands play!!!!
The Ramshackle Army were impressive. Playing celtic inspired punk rock along the same veins of The Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly. They had violins and banjos, swagger and cool. Not to bad for a band in it’s early stages. Fans of that style should check them out. Corey Price from Like...Alaska was outside under the tent for an acoustic set. He had a good sound and the mellow tunes suited the afternoon sun where the BBQ was cooking up a storm.
Back inside Chris Duke & The Royals were tearing it up with their infectious punk rock. It was bouncy, it was fun. The crowd dug the band who have the catchiness of Less Than Jake. Their album launch is on March 25 at The Annandale, come down to check these guys and girls out. Real good fun punk rock.
I don’t know how to describe Totally Unicorn from Wollongong. They’re a brutal hardcore punk band with a singer who is quite possible insane. Announcing that he had to cut his holiday short to play this gig, he then spent the next 40 minutes screaming, thrashing, crawling, moshing, climbing and sweating across the Annandale. He spent a lot of time face down on the sticky floor and running along the bar. I think the crowd watched more to see what he was going to do next and kind of forgot about the music. Although I think the drummer might of done himself injury, he looked in pain towards the end of the set.
The Currency brought it back down a thousand notches with Irish folk inspired, politically tinged punk songs. This band reminded me of Billy Bragg and Midnight Oil with songs that harked back to early days of Australia when we had bushrangers and famed criminals. I’m also surprised the heavily pregnant Violinist didn’t give birth on stage! Grenadiers from Adelaide are a solid three piece put in a good set. Not outstanding, their sound was a little too run of the mill to stand up above anyone on else on the bill, and so far a number of acts had really stepped it up to win fans over. Grenadiers feel short for my mind.
No Trigger from Boston were the one of the two overseas acts. The band ripped through their set so touring mates Such Gold could get a quick set in besides their acoustic set outside. The songs were fast paced, intense and brutal. Such Gold sounded much better as a band then a solo acoustic set and two bands got the crowd whipped into a frenzy as the room started to fill.
I left Coerce to their math rock sound to get some dinner and came back for the folk laced punk rock of Defiance, Ohio. These guys were really good and the well liquored crowd lapped it up. The band even tried to get the room into doing the running man dance. The Nation Blue had a bombastic sound that reverberated around the walls of the Annandale. Their sound was heavy and melodic for a three piece. The now ever increasingly drunk crowd really got into their set and was a nice lead in to the return of Unpaid Debt.
After a three year hiatus (or as they keep pointing out, that they had broken up and in fact still are not band) the band kicked back into it as if they had never left. The crowd sang along to every song of their furious pop punk. Everyone was having a good time from the band to the crowd. Allowed back on for an encore, no one really wanted to see them leave. Maybe they might become a band again?
For me the highlight of the night was Old Music For Old People. Proving that you can have a punk rock covers band, the guys took us down memory lane with songs by NOFX, Unwritten Law, Pennywise, Strung Out, Propagandhi and more from that glorious period of punk rock....the 90’s! With help from various bands on the bill at one point they lost power completely and confusion reigned on whether they keep playing or not. Ending their set with two Australian classics Bodyjar’s ‘You’ve Changed’ and frenzal Rhombs ‘Never Had So Much Fun’ complete with Lindsay on guitar. Old Music certainly out a lot of smiles on old (and young) faces.
The Ramshackle Army were impressive. Playing celtic inspired punk rock along the same veins of The Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly. They had violins and banjos, swagger and cool. Not to bad for a band in it’s early stages. Fans of that style should check them out. Corey Price from Like...Alaska was outside under the tent for an acoustic set. He had a good sound and the mellow tunes suited the afternoon sun where the BBQ was cooking up a storm.
Back inside Chris Duke & The Royals were tearing it up with their infectious punk rock. It was bouncy, it was fun. The crowd dug the band who have the catchiness of Less Than Jake. Their album launch is on March 25 at The Annandale, come down to check these guys and girls out. Real good fun punk rock.
I don’t know how to describe Totally Unicorn from Wollongong. They’re a brutal hardcore punk band with a singer who is quite possible insane. Announcing that he had to cut his holiday short to play this gig, he then spent the next 40 minutes screaming, thrashing, crawling, moshing, climbing and sweating across the Annandale. He spent a lot of time face down on the sticky floor and running along the bar. I think the crowd watched more to see what he was going to do next and kind of forgot about the music. Although I think the drummer might of done himself injury, he looked in pain towards the end of the set.
The Currency brought it back down a thousand notches with Irish folk inspired, politically tinged punk songs. This band reminded me of Billy Bragg and Midnight Oil with songs that harked back to early days of Australia when we had bushrangers and famed criminals. I’m also surprised the heavily pregnant Violinist didn’t give birth on stage! Grenadiers from Adelaide are a solid three piece put in a good set. Not outstanding, their sound was a little too run of the mill to stand up above anyone on else on the bill, and so far a number of acts had really stepped it up to win fans over. Grenadiers feel short for my mind.
No Trigger from Boston were the one of the two overseas acts. The band ripped through their set so touring mates Such Gold could get a quick set in besides their acoustic set outside. The songs were fast paced, intense and brutal. Such Gold sounded much better as a band then a solo acoustic set and two bands got the crowd whipped into a frenzy as the room started to fill.
I left Coerce to their math rock sound to get some dinner and came back for the folk laced punk rock of Defiance, Ohio. These guys were really good and the well liquored crowd lapped it up. The band even tried to get the room into doing the running man dance. The Nation Blue had a bombastic sound that reverberated around the walls of the Annandale. Their sound was heavy and melodic for a three piece. The now ever increasingly drunk crowd really got into their set and was a nice lead in to the return of Unpaid Debt.
After a three year hiatus (or as they keep pointing out, that they had broken up and in fact still are not band) the band kicked back into it as if they had never left. The crowd sang along to every song of their furious pop punk. Everyone was having a good time from the band to the crowd. Allowed back on for an encore, no one really wanted to see them leave. Maybe they might become a band again?
For me the highlight of the night was Old Music For Old People. Proving that you can have a punk rock covers band, the guys took us down memory lane with songs by NOFX, Unwritten Law, Pennywise, Strung Out, Propagandhi and more from that glorious period of punk rock....the 90’s! With help from various bands on the bill at one point they lost power completely and confusion reigned on whether they keep playing or not. Ending their set with two Australian classics Bodyjar’s ‘You’ve Changed’ and frenzal Rhombs ‘Never Had So Much Fun’ complete with Lindsay on guitar. Old Music certainly out a lot of smiles on old (and young) faces.
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