From a North American and European perspective, Australia is about as far away as one can get. Bands do the make the non-trivial effort to get there and play gigs, but it generally involves plane travel to get from one major city to the next, as there are vast expanses of relative emptiness between them. I think that’s played a part in making Australia such a pressure cooker for great bands; you gotta do it yourself.
I had the good fortune to return to Melbourne for my day job, and it happened to lineup with the one day event that Anti Fade Records spearheaded. Held in Geelong, about a hour drive west of Melbourne, the Barwon Hotel was ground zero. The main stage was housed in the back of the venue, and the second stage was just outside a few steps away. There were plenty of places to grab a seat either in the main bar area, or out in the terraces between the stages or the second stage and front bar. Overall, a very easy layout to navigate as you made your way through the day.
I knew I wasn’t gonna be able to see all the bands but the two that I was really excited for were Constant Mongrel and Possible Humans. There was very little chance I’d ever see them play in the US never mind Boston, and they haven’t exactly been super active in their home country either. If I can trust setlist.fm stats, Constant Mongrel hadn’t played in four years, and adding The UV Race into the mix was another bonus. And aside from Guitar Wolf and The Green Child pretty much every other band on the bill was unknown to me. Sounded like a prime opportunity to get some new favorite bands!
I got there in time to catch a bit of Dom Sensitive’s set at the second stage, a bit too crowded to get any photos but their Fall-ish clatter was welcome. PP Rebel Band employed a Shruti box for a unique sound but the higher energy output of Itchy and the Nits was more what I was looking for. Unfortunately there was a technical issue and they swapped places with underground synth legend David Chesworth and I missed his set with Bill McDonald.
Station Model Violence is a new quintet containing members of UV Race (drummer DX would be fronting this band), Al Monfort of Dick Diver, East Link, Terry and a few others, bringing a decidedly post-punk flair to the proceedings. From the video of their first gig a few months ago, they’ve added a sax player, swapped drummers and bass players; seems like a fluid situation with little info on the band as they haven’t released any recordings as of yet. Keep an eye and/or ear out!
I missed Mikey Young’s first time on stage today with Kissland but caught their set last November with Poison Ruin; there was no way I was missing The Green Child. Turns out that I’d seen the singer/bassist Raven Mahon years ago when she was in Grass Widow and opened for Sonic Youth at Prospect Park. I can’t recall what Grass Widow sounded like, but The Green Child was a delight, a gentle grip that tugs on your heart. Splendid stuff, check out their latest record out on Upset The Rhythm and Hobbies Galore (label head Alex Macfarlane plays guitar with the band as well).
Back at the outdoor stage, E Bobby G took the peculiar position of playing with his back to the audience, but I guess with the smallish size of the stage there might not have been many options on how to situate the organ and effects pedals to his right, and he definitely got the crowd super engaged despite the lack of eye contact. Bananagun brought a similar dancey vibe but veered more towards Fela Kuti territory. Never a bad thing!
Primo! played an excellent set of brittle post-punk, the all-female quartet economical in its delivery and landing in my wheelhouse with particular accuracy. Fans of Look Blue Go Purple should seek them out. Amy Hill would stay on stage for Constant Mongrel’s set, and it was clear from the crowd that anticipation was running at fever pitch. I first learned of this band when Tom Lax issued their second record Heavy Breathing in 2013 via his excellent Siltbreeze label and their jagged, acid post-punk sound instantly connected with me. They didn’t play anything from that record, instead leaning heavily on 2018’s Living In Excellence which was fine with me, and throngs of energetic kids at the front who acted like March 22nd had been circled on their calendars for quite some time.
The lyric snippets of “Because the right is on the rise” and “It’s a bad time to be a Muslim/And it’s a bad time to be a Jew” from set opener “600 Pounds” were written in 2018 and sadly still very much relevant today. The band came out swinging and never let up. As the crowd got rowdier I put my camera away for safekeeping and in the process missed out on an epic photo. One guy jumped onto the short stage, jumped up and grabbed the pipe that was directly above the stage edge, wrapped his legs around it, and hanging horizontally above it all, gave the devil horns sign to the band before jumping back down below. It was that kind of energy, infectious and fun. Luckily, someone captured it
The other band that made me rearrange prior weekend plans to attend Jerkfest instead was Possible Humans, whose record Everybody Split has seen a lot of rotation on my stereo, and I was especially thrilled to find a copy of the initial pressing of 200 copies on Hobbies Galore in the racks at Rowdy’s. I had a chance to talk with singer Adam Hewitt before they played and the good news is that the band’s got most of a new record ready to roll, and they played a big chunk of it for us tonight. Sadly my request of “Aspiring To Be A Bloke” couldn’t be met (seriously, one of the greatest songs from the last decade, tell me I’m wrong) but the new stuff sounded great, the guitars right up in the mix where you want them, and I did get an itch scratched with “Lungs Of The City” and “Absent Swimmer.” Will be awaiting the new record drop with bated breath.
I wasn’t planning on writing a thousand word recap but there were a lot of great bands on offer, and I can’t just close it down without mentioning the last few, so who’s still with me? I had some poor time management with respect to The Frowning Clouds as by the time I got into the main room, I could barely advance from the very back. Another amalgamation of various Jerkfest vets, the ’60s-steeped pop sounds was one of the very first bands that Jake Robertson (Ausmuteants, Alien Nose Job, etc) and when I ran into him earlier in the day, he told me the band barely had a chance to practice and hoped it would all hold together. No worrying necessary, they sounded great.
By the time I pulled myself away from the Possible Humans show and headed over before The UV Race started, I managed to worm my way to a decent spot on the stage right wing, and got to see the ramshackle band play their third gig since 2016. Apparently a lot of other people had the same idea. There were bare torsos and many guitars and what looked to be plastic nun chucks too. In other words, a proper gig.
LA’s Marbled Eye were the only US band to play, and they sandwiched it around gigs at The Tote and The Old Bar, making use of their time in Melbourne. They tread the same pool that so many Aussie bands do well; brandishing post-punk, skeletal rhythms and a stripped down sound and fit well on the bill. Lost Animal were a trio, leader Jarrod Quarrell striking a very magnetic stage persona as he cycled between guitar and keyboards, danceable but not dance music. Closing out the second stage was Sydney’s Optic Nerve, bringing a frantic, nervy edge via singer Gigi’s physical and emotional delivery. Side note – where the hell do Australians find these weird electric guitars?
Closing out the night was Guitar Wolf, a trio that blend raw garage and punk tropes wrapped up in a biker gang outer casing. Seiji and Gotz guzzled their cans of Melbourne Bitter, tossed them aside, and got straight to work. A pretty fitting way to end a most remarkable day, thank you Antifade and all the bands, as well as the crew at the Barwon. Well done, an experience I never saw coming.
