Pix by Sarah Gilpin Photography
A loud rumble comes from the P.A. system as Hammers take the stage, ready to rip Mo’s a new one. The riffs come thick and fast, and Fish, Stoney, Dario, and Ricky T all share vocal duties for a smashing track titled Suze while Ruckus focuses on belting out the thumping drumbeats. The Gold Coast has shown up nice and early to join in on the night’s shenanigans, and they sure took notice as they pushed themselves to the front of the stage.
Ricky T kicks off a funky little bass line to kick off Guilty, and the band joins in for the jive. The sound is on point with the crunching guitar, fat bass and solid drums blasting from the speakers as a concrete platform for Fish’s engaging and energetic vocal performance. “After a long fucking time, the new album is done” we were told as the band launched into the title track from the forthcoming release Death Wobbles. Stoney takes the lead initially before Fish takes over. Stoney and Dario then share the harmony duties in the choruses.
The band bounce around on-stage non-stop, track after track, and banger after banger. These guys just keep growing stronger as a live monster, and every show is more energetic and pumping than the last. And on that note, that was another smashing set!
Testeagles took the stage and launched into a thumping instrumental groove that goes by the name of Stomp. The crowd instantly thickened up, and the heads started bouncing along. The following song featured a broken chugging riff, which very quickly turned into a rocking good time and a psychedelic sounding phased out guitar riff kicked off their third attempt before the classic Testeagles broken chug sound that they started the show with resurfaced.
For a 3-piece band, the sound was astonishingly massive. A massive sound that delivered a funk-sounding piece which almost sounded like a Salt & Pepper cover. It turned out to be a cover of The Power by 90s German Eurodance group Snap! It was a very interesting take on the track, which somehow seemed to relive the vibe of the original while taking on its own heavy groove.
The Gold Coast had never heard the next track because it had been 20 years since the band had been there. It was followed by a short hip hop track with their very comfortably seated bass player Dave “D” Paisawa taking up the rap duties. Samples pushed through in the following track to deliver an excitingly bouncing number. The band’s signature broken grooves continued in the following track, which seemed to be the way the band rolls, and rocks. The following three tracks stuck to this method, and all received massive cheers from the crowd. Another two hip hop numbers followed with a dual lyrical assault by guitarist/frontman Matthew “Matty” Matt and Davy D in the first track.
Next up was another first-time track, which was a rockier melodic song, as was the next one that followed. The two following tracks shifted back to the broken grooves that flooded the start of the set, and then the band took a twist to drop some kind of hard techno industrial-sounding number. It was time to finally Turn That Shit Up, and it felt like the end of the set. It was not though, and there was still time for another. Another that kicked off with some melodic vocals and thumping sub drops. The band then joined in with an absolutely thumping, solid rhythmic stabs and jabs, and it turned into what was by far the most melodic and crushingly heavy song of the entire set.
The band left the stage to a standing ovation, not that anyone was seated or standing still during that whole epic twenty-song set.
