Words by Jimmy Glinster
Pix by Sarah Gilpin
After having to park a kilometre away from the venue, I get to the front, and it looks like a normal night of family friends having a bite to eat and some light ales from the many Miami Marketta food stalls. I must have looked extremely confused, because I get advised by a very helpful seccy that I need to head down the end and turn in at the pink sign. I’ve been down that path before, but that’s a story based in Amsterdam that I won’t get into right now.
Anyway, I walk in and run into Mish from Torizon at the merch desk, only to find out that I’d been misled by the Marketta and that doors were at 6 and not 7. Well, that fucks that doesn’t it, but I do manage to catch the last song of a two-piece by the name of Hevenshe which features Jenna McDougal of Tonight Alive. I don’t know who that is, her, or the band, but Mish was pretty hyped about it. That’s neither here nor there though, what matters is that the last song rocked, and I’m spewing I missed the rest of the set. The little I saw kind of reminded me of a Sarah McLeod/Superjesus type vibe.
My addiction to Korean Fried Chicken distracted me for just long enough to miss the first half of or the whole first Redhook track. That doesn’t matter though because the crowd sure let me know that it was a complete banger!
Vocalist Emmy Mack loses her big gangbanger jacket to kick off the second track, and it’s not long before she launches herself down to the crowd. It’s quite a short track, and in the break before the next one she lets us know that the band is stoked to be back on the GC. Me too, I don’t tend to leave that much though, which helps. I don’t have a bubble machine either, which they clearly do, so that’s a little unfair.
Emmy has told us the name to every song, but I haven’t listened clearly enough to catch them. I think I need to clear my ears out or something. Anyway, she does dedicate the next one to the survivors of sexual assault. This song had a pretty mad breakdown thrown in between a couple of monster choruses.
Some random person walks onstage for the next track and adds some screams. I have no idea who that was, but apparently their name was Jess. Someone really needs to turn up Emmy because I’m really struggling to hear her both during the songs and in between them.
A random crowd participant gets dragged up onstage and all of a sudden, the guitarist is playing a Saxophone. I’m not sure if the crowd guest is texting friends or looking up the words, but either way, she is staring at her phone onstage and typing something. Might try that myself some time. This song was something about fuck you or something like that.
As they start their last track, they ask for the pit to open up for a “Wall of Bad Decisions”. I’m guessing Bad Decisions is the name of the track, but I could be wrong about that. I’m probably not though, but the track isn’t a bad decision, it’s actually a bit of a banger. It’s just a shame the sound was so flat (no fault of the band, I may add).
It’s never a good start when people pre-warn me that I’m not going to like the next band. But I am known as the honest reviewer, so if I hate ‘em I’ll tell you so, and if I don’t you’ll probably still think I will anyway. Let’s just see where this goes, shall we.
A short intro plays and then a dark shadow takes centre stage and begins singing some very melodic vocals. A few guitar chugs and tom thumps join in and shortly after the band starts rocking some heavy strung-out chords and a simple 4/4 power beat.
Just like Redhook, I won’t know the names of any Stand Atlantic songs, either. Hopefully, the sound is a bit louder this time around though, so that I can hear the vocals and the song names between songs. The sound does not appear to be a lot louder, and the vocals stand out more.
I actually know this song, and I think it might be called Hair Out? It’s actually a really good song, and it’s catchy as fuck. So, contrary to popular belief, I don’t yet hate this band.
This next one is a bit too poppy for me though, and it might be the exact reason why the others thought I would dislike them. We aren’t there yet, though, and it does get heavier and seems to drag me in a little. The crowd likes it too as they all clap along with their hands in the air.
The bass player Miki Rich tells us they nearly had to cancel the show because vocalist Bonnie Fraser is very under the weather today. She sure seems to be doing ok to me as they kick into a nice and heavy track. They are definitely way heavier than I was led to believe. I’d been told they were pop punk, but this is definitely not pop punk. Maybe pop core?
At the start of the next track, the band huddles at the back of stage as a random punter comes onstage and asks if anyone knows any jokes. The bass player comes to the front again and tells us all that Bonnie is feeling really ill, and we all start to get the feeling that they are about to cancel the show. But then a volunteer from the crowd heroes up and says he’ll sing for them. Next thing, he’s onstage singing and the crowd fucking loves it.
The stage goes black at the end of the song which breeds further fear of a cancellation, but when the light comes back on the band launches full blast into the next track. Things get serious as one of the stagehands comes onstage to set up the crowd singer with his own in-ear monitors. And so, the show continues.
At the end of the track, the bass player mentions that he doesn’t even know the guest vocalist’s name. Turns out his name is Elijah, and now that they figured that out, they kick him offstage to give another random punter a chance to have a go. Some other currently unnamed bloke jumps up, and they kick into Sex On The Beach, but not before a few “can I get a hell yeah’s?” They should have left Elijah onstage; he was nailing it. Apparently, this blokes name is Two Hill and he’s a local artist.
Two Hill continues for a couple of tracks before the bass player asks the crowd if they want to hear Love You Anyway or Nosebleed. The crowd respond undeniably for Nosebleed. Then he asks who can sing it and Two Hill gets kicked off the hill to make way for an emo-looking lass by the name of Kai. Kai is either super shy or she only half knows the words. She does alright with the bits she knows, though.
The next track is called Pity Party, and another punter by the name of Shay joins them onstage to take over vocal duties. I should mention that Bonnie has remained onstage this whole time, off to the back with a guitar in her hands and singing as much as she physically can. Emmy from Redhook then also jumps onstage to join in on vocal duties. Shay and Emmy then both bail down onto the crowd barrier to get right in the crowd’s faces.
Next up is Criminal, and another punter by the name of Joel jumps onstage to take on the words. This has become somewhat of a karaoke show, and it’s nowhere as bad as you might expect. Joel gets a bit excited and signals for a circle pit and strangely gets one as some techno stuff plays as an intro to the track. Emmy appears onstage again to launch into some massive screams, or maybe just to take over from Joel, who also only appeared to know half the words.
Joel gets the ass as the band invites their photographer Nicki up onstage to have her moment. The band then launches into Deathwish after Nicki introduces the track just like Bonnie would. Some random bloke walks on mid-song to lay down some rhymes. I’m not sure who that was, it could have been Two Hill, or maybe One Hill.
Bonnie gives the crowd a massive thank you for pushing through the show after she wasn’t able to. Jenna from Hevenshe then joins them to sing Love You Anyway, which they skipped earlier. Wow, this one’s a bit of a pop song, Jenna is fucking nailing it though, so I’ll push through. It’s so poppy, those bloody bubbles are back again popping all over the place.
The bass player who seems to be the leader of the show lets the crowd know they are down to the last two songs of the set, but that they’ll first be taking a request. A few punters shout out some random track names, but then someone yells Our Cobra and then gets invited up onstage to sing it. He appears onstage for about 3 lines in the first verse and then just seems to disappear. Top effort…
The next one is their second last song, and it is called Coffee at Midnight. Old mate gets kicked offstage, Emmy appears again, they both bail and then two more random punters appear onstage and start to sing the opening lines of the song. I don’t know what the fuck is going on now.
The whole fucking crowd joins them onstage for the last track, which I just missed the name of. Old mate bass player takes charge mid-song and gets everyone onstage and – in the crowd – to sit down so they can do one of those jump-up bits. It worked, and the place turned into a full-blown party, which ended with Venga Bus (We Like To Party) blasting through the PA.
That was actually very fucking entertaining, but I wouldn’t mind seeing the full band next time and not the Karaoke show. Full props to the lot of them for pushing on though, it did not disappoint me, or the crowd!
