I rock on into the Burnside Tavern at Yatala just before 5pm. If you’re wondering where Yatala is, it’s about halfway between the Gold Coast and Brisbane and the venue is located directly across the highway from the brewery, which I’m sure you all know where that is.
After doing a lap of the venue, I finally find this cool as fuck looking industrial room stashed in beside the entry to the pissers. It looks like it was possibly previously used as some kind of doof-doof venue, or strip club, or at least it gives off those vibes. And in a freaky kinda way, it looks like the inside of a spaceship out of some kind of weird alien kink porn movie. Or one of those queueing areas at a theme park like Movie World. Strange comparisons, I know. Oh, and there’s a couple of skeletons in the stripper cage.
Yeah, there’s a stripper cage!
Anyway, I walk into the room and Vomit Bomb are already ripping up the stage, which I found weird since doors were advertised at 4:30. It’s very rare that the first band kicks off exactly at doors, but not today. Luckily, I caught these guys just a few weeks back at the Brewhouse End of Year Party/Piss-Up, so I know what these guys are all about. There are about a bogan of a good time, which is summed up by their last 3 songs starting with We Are Speed Dealers, rocking into a cover of the Cosmic Psychos pub rock anthem Nice Day to Go to the Pub and then finishing up with some song that lasted all of 70 seconds which I didn’t quite catch the name of.
It is a nice day to go to the pub, though, with the sweltering heat and humidity outside. You know, that kinda day where you just need to get into the pub and enjoy the aircon. Yeah, it’s one of those days. It’s just a shame that the aircon isn’t working.
Next up is Defiant Ground, but to be honest, it’s too fucking hot in here for me to even care.
Apparently, the venue won’t turn the AC on unless the doors to the smoking area and the load-in door stay closed, but then the security guard and staff they have onboard do nothing to close them or keep them closed. After I have a whinge to them, which you all know very well that I did, they did manage to bring a small pedestal fan in to cool the crowd which was great for the 3 people who stood right in front of it.
Word of advice, if you want a venue to succeed, maybe try to make the venue as comfortable as you can for the patrons. And also, no one really cares for the second-hand smoke entering the venue from the smoking area either.
Anyway, Defiant Ground are some kind of hardcore, maybe, but it’s still pretty fucking metal, but I seriously can’t concentrate with my arms sticking to the table and my glasses fogging up and slipping off my sweaty nose. I actually really couldn’t deal at this point in time I so went and got a parmy in the air-conditioned part of the pub, which still felt subtropical. I missed the majority of the set, but it sounded good from out in the restaurant, and the crowd was making a hell of a lot of noise.
Note to self: Hot parmy, bad idea.
I finally re-climatize and head back in for the next band to see how long I can last and fortunately due to the temperate and humidity dropping a little outside, it was a little more bearable for Ancient Remains.
And I must have stirred the staff up because I had one of the lovely barmaids running around for me trying to fix the aircon situation, which still didn’t appear to be on until I found one spot upstairs which was blowing some cold as fuck AC right on me. I couldn’t see the stage, but this would do for the moment to keep this hot-headed reviewer a little more comfortable, and possibly less of a khunt.
Even though I can’t see the stage, I can hear a heavy thrashing good time. When the band stops between tracks the vocalist announces that they have a 4 track EP coming out shortly which we may or may not be providing some coverage for at the moment in our digi-mag. The riffs keep coming thick and fast, as do the shredding guitar solos, but it’s not all hard out thrash riffing. It does pull back for some heavy driving rhythms and the odd touch of groove pokes through every now and again, which is right up my alley or groove, or however ya wanna play that, or play with it. I’ll stop now …
Magnertron are another band that I reviewed at the Brewhouse End of Year Piss-Up, and they are always a good time. In a strange twist of fate, though, the 2nd percussionist gets positioned on the mezzanine over the stage where she hovers over the rest of the band. It’s an interesting touch, but what else is interesting is that the sound guy is now behind the kit, and it’s still managing to sound ok in here. A few more shows and a bit of tweaking of the PA system should get everything dialled in a little more down the track. The band announces a new album coming out on Monday, which is as I write this review, so you may or may not have just got the scoop depending on when this review is published.
308 take the stage next and immediately launch into some pretty damn serious thrash with relentless double kicks. Show host, sound guy and drummer Kristian Rousell is pulling double duties after supplying the drums for Magnertron 20 or so minutes ago, which is a massive flex to say the least because these guys are fucking intense with riff after riff of shredding goodness and a brutal double kick assault. Krispy and I also met the singer Pete earlier, who said something about possibly not being the normal singer.
Being the ignorant khunts that we are, we didn’t take much notice. It was a cool story though, and if it’s true he’s doing pretty damn well.
A song called Wolves has some tricky triplet gallops in the intro, which is a nice touch that you don’t hear too often these days. It also had a nice little melodic lead section before ripping into a solo. Very Bay Area. They announce their final track Baptised in Bullets, which starts with some thumping tom rolls before blasting into another thrasher. Heads are banging fast at the front of the stage, there is hair everywhere and as they finish the song, and their set, the crowd roars into a 308 chant. Unfortunately, there is no time for encores because this shit’s already running over half hour behind.
I’m not sure where the whole hardcore thing slots in on this line-up because ODIUS are straight up metal, as have the last 3 bands been. Their first song brings a massive cheer from the crowd which I witness from the lower level that has now finally cooled down to a bearable level. The next song is called ar-rah-rah-rah or something like that, which doesn’t matter because this band has some massive riffs, and the kicks are absolutely thumping behind the solid rhythmic assault. They finish up with an absolute thrashing banger.
The show is now running over an hour late, and I’m not sure the last band Head 1$t will still even be able to perform. Speaking to their guitarist Paul, he had the same concerns. I guess we’ll have to wait and see though, and to be honest I may not make it as I have other places to be, like at home in bed in the 18-degree AC. Luckily, I’ve seen both Rhino and Eat City before and know that both bands absolutely kill it every time they perform. The crowd will fucking love it, that’s guaranteed.
Unfortunately, this might be the third time I’ve attempted to see Head 1$t but have failed to catch their set for one reason or another. Usually because I’m fashionably late or end up distracted elsewhere, like at home in bed in the 18-degree AC. And on that note …
This venue has a lot of potential, especially when they get that AC working. And in the venue’s defence, they did supply a fuck tonne of ice water jugs to stop everyone from dehydrating. I may have even slugged a couple of them myself in between JD’s.
Support it or lose it, South-East Qld!!!
