Words by Jimmy Glinster
I’m not sure which part of the day was the strangest, the fact I was rolling into a show at lunchtime or the fact that I was going to a band competition. It’s both the first time I’ve been to a show at lunchtime or a band comp for at least 10 years. Nonetheless, Vinnies Dive was vibing on my arrival and ready for a rock show.
What better way to start the day than for Davo from Rebel FM to open up the event with his trademark bad jokes and just as bad hair? I’m not sure what was worse to be honest, but he made us all laugh, so that’s a win. He also told us about the five awesome bands about to battle it out for the opportunity of a lifetime to open for The Smashing Pumpkins at Broadwater Parklands on April 30 for The World is a Vampire Tour.
First up was Eyesite, a bunch of young grunge-looking fellas who look like they just got out of high school. Some slight technical difficulties delayed them a little before they started rocking out with an instrumental intro. Their sound was very early 90s Seattle grunge sounding with a touch of late 90s pop punk sensibility. Their parents, family and friends filled the floor quickly as did someone’s grandma.
The songs were simplistic and catchy with a combination of softer verses and rocking choruses. The switches between the two were tight and well-rehearsed, and a couple of songs were a bit slower and drawn out, a bit like some later Smashing Pumpkins stuff. Then they dropped a straight-up punk banger on us after asking the crowd to come further to the front of stage to which the sea of Eyesite shirts complied. The last track pulls back a little, but not too much and the grunge keeps flowing through some thundering tom rolls in the bridge. After playing around with some chords for a short while to enable the bass player to take a stroll through the crowd they finish up with a final chorus and some heavy rhythms.
The band had their crowd clapping along a few times and received a good solid applause after each song. Everyone appeared to be having a good time, including the band, which is all that really matters right!
I’m familiar with these guys, Tailor Made Rejects, but being the shit khunt that I am I got caught up talking my wedding after-party plans with Glenno out the back while sucking down a quick dart, but more about that later. I walk into the room, and the boys are rocking out hard. Their tunes are catchy and just heavy enough to make me, and everyone else slightly bang their heads.
Frontman Ryan tells us all that life sucks and then you die, but these guys sure as hell don’t suck and again, we all appear to be having a good time rocking out to their tunes, so life doesn’t suck right now. They have a strong stage presence with the delivery of their hard rock, and they certainly rock hard, but someone needed to turn that lead guitar up because that solo looked like it was shredding.
Hey, hey, it’s Saturday, but that has fuck all to do with the crowd chanting along hey, hey, hey for the intro to the band’s final track. Nothing like a good bit of crowd participation and TMR definitely had the crowd participating and receiving some big applause. Did I mention these guys were the Wild Card entrant? When a band like this is the Wild Card, you know the competition must be strong!
Well, if those aren’t the tightest pants I’ve seen since the glam days of rock and roll, I’m not sure what are, and I’m not sure how Dellacoma frontman Dellacoma managed to get into them. But anyway, some thundering tom rolls open the set and the hard rock soon takes over. Unfortunately, the crowd is not as big as it deserves to be for the out-of-towners, but they still rock hard.
Dellacoma is a true hard rock performer with moves reminiscent of the LA hair rock scene. And what better place to belt out some hard rock vocals than on a bar stool in the middle of the room? Well, maybe not, but that’s how it went down. We are advised that the guitarist on stage is not the band’s regular guitarist but instead a replacement who flew in from Melbourne today to fill in. Pretty impressive since he didn’t seem to miss a note.
A mid-set ballad slows down the pace a bit but doesn’t lose the interest of the crowd which has again started building. I think everyone might have just finished their durries. Another ballad follows, and kind of picks up the pace but still holds steady. These two slower songs show off the vocal talents of the frontman as the band just kind of plods along.
And now we are at that point in the show where the frontman loses his shirt, and the ladies move in a little closer to hear the band a bit better … The intensity then picks back up again and Dellacoma rock us out one last time.
Earlier in the day I had a discussion with The Silencio frontman Nic where he told me that they were a shit band, so let’s see if they live up to the standard. But never mind the shit band, let’s get back to the shit khunt who missed the first couple tracks because I was trying to get some Korean fried chicken in my guts and organise a literal shit tonne of it for my wedding after-party. I don’t know why, but it seemed to take a lifetime to deep-fry that shit.
Anyone familiar with The Silencio would be familiar with their unique blend of acoustic-driven tracks supported by electric guitar, bass, drums and the odd sample to add a little extra flavour. Their stage banners and light rig ensure you know who you are looking at.
It’s rock with a progressive edge and the band delivers with intensity and accuracy. The songwriting ability of this band is unique and confident, and It’s hard to pinpoint them down to a particular genre, but it’s rock, and it rocks. The performance is well rehearsed and frontman Nic’s vocals are on point. At times, a three-prong vocal attack helps to deliver a reinforced aural assault.
Nic puts his guitar down for the final track which is a straight-up hard rocker and makes his way onto the pool table at the back of the room to rise above the crowd and belt his strong vocals straight in everyone’s faces. And as for his comment earlier, The Silencio definitely weren’t shit! More like Shit Hot!
We The Hollow enters the stage in their trademark masks and matching uniforms while a dark and somewhat disturbing intro plays, and the stage fills with smoke. This without doubt will be the heaviest band of the day, maybe they should call themselves We The Heavy.
Immediately, the performance is intense and chaotic, but some melodic vocals add some calm and relief over the heavy riffs. It only happens now and then, but the intensity always continues to hold. And as much as it shits me, the phones are up filming the masked spectacle including a little something about Fuck Diskust. And here I was thinking that beef was over, but maybe it’s now just part of the delivery of the song. Song after song it’s heavy and relentless and by mid-set the room has filled with everyone at the venue just trying to get a look at what is going on. They’ve certainly got everyone’s attention.
Their set just gets heavier and heavier which would make for a very interesting start to The World is a Vampire tour. And just as I make that statement, the band treats us with a new track that they claimed they’ve only played once before. It’s a bit of a slow burner but a good chance for them to get a breath. Well, for a second anyway, before shit got very fucking heavy again.
The band then hits us with a song called Spineless which is apparently their most popular single and to be honest, it’s a bit of a fuckin banger. Their final offering delivers full intensity again … and now it’s time for the judges to tally up their votes.
The judges fuck off to the “office” to compare notes and votes and this takes way too fucking long. Fuck knows what they are up to back there but when Davo finally hits the stage he says something about democracy Manifest which I’m not sure was a reference to the succulent Chinese meals available in the neighbouring restaurant or something to do with the democratic process which was just undertaken in one of the deep dark corners of Vinnies.
Davo thanks Vinnies again for putting on the show and hands the microphone over to One World Entertainment‘s Tim for some words of wisdom. He shares advice relating to honing your art, and perfecting your performance and also reminds the bands to continue to build their audiences through performance and promotions. The biggest tip though, and one that all professional musicians know, is to always give your best performance, even if you are only playing to 5 punters or 5000 punters. Always play like you are playing at Wembley Stadium, which I can happily say every band did today.
But the award can only go to one band, and on this day that band was The Silencio, who by a slim margin managed to take out the comp by a unanimous decision with their refined, well-rehearsed performance and stage presence.
Now, as for that wedding after party of mine the night before The World is a Vampire Tour, it’d be a damn shame if one continued into the other. Just need to get us some tickets, that’d be a nice wedding gift. Any of my people know any of their people? ��
Also, Vinnies now does weddings!
