Going by the orderly stampede of rosy-cheeked undergraduates along the road outside The Workers Club, it was a sign that things weren’t as they should have been.
The bar was jammed. Surely some key information had been missed in the last fortnight and at least one of the bands on the bill had hit it big, perhaps on the back of an electronics advert with silhouettes dancing around. (Remember those?)
Whatever it was, it seemed to have worked.
But it didn’t. The bar was jammed with I.D. sporting kids politely lining to purchase the cheapest drink available while the band room was an empty cavern.
As Naked Bodies took the stage, no one noticed amid the haze of chatter in the room beside. A year ago, frontman Quang Dinh was a member of the hottest new band in the country – Little Red.
Disbanded and splintered into numerous projects, Naked Bodies are one which should have garnered some early interest. Hindsight proved a fair judge.
The squeak of the barman’s cloth on a glass was the only sound louder than a watch tick between songs as Dinh’s forced wails and lifeless chord changes were set over the skilful but out of place strings of Will Lopez.
As the paying crowd swelled to a couple, the band proceeded to bludgeon “This Wheel’s On Fire” in a surprise act so callous it hardly seemed right to face the stage.
Covering a song best known as the theme tune to a sitcom about two demented, menopausal alcoholics somehow seemed quite fitting when Dinh busted a string.
These things happen, but you don’t often see a violinist abandon his duties to wrench a guitar up and across the face of the singer mid song only to present him with a replacement guitar that doesn’t have a functioning strap.
They eventually went away, so the gathered carried on with pleasant, uninterrupted conversation.
Flyying Colours’ turn to entertain was a mix of fuzzed-out, screaming guitar and hair.
Central figure Brodie J. Brümmer shunted from right to left beneath his mop. Having recently lost a member, guitarist Gemma O’Connor, the space available has lessened the load of outright lead from Brummer’s shoulders.
This proved far and away a gain rather than a regress. The melded sounds echoed the obvious shoegaze influences, though the contrived chaos at the set’s end did nothing to dispel the copy-cat mode.
A few more had gathered in the room, but sadly the doors couldn’t be flung open to the mass of formative learners outside for headline act The Demon Parade.
Lashings of guitars have always been the mainstay from would-be-hitmaker main man Michael Badger. The jangly psychedelia was still fresh after a two-week tour of the East Coast, ably flanked by O Koppes on guitar and towering bassman Rob Bryers.
While the simple chord progressions pay homage to mysterious psych-rock overlords the Brian Jonestown Massacre, there’s a pop sensibility that instantly grabs the listener – the now padded out audience swayed in appreciation as the band dug into both their EP releases.
“Spiralling” from 2010’s God Said It’s Legal EP split the front half as Badger’s slow plucked groove took hold only for its climactic swirl to be effectively scuppered by a gear-hitch.
A shame, but they battled on and made the most of it – unlike some.
Troy Ramaekers’s watertight rhythms carried on through, with Badger in fine voice, allowing Koppes to flaunt her skills. With musical genes like hers, passed down from father Peter Koppes of The Church, there was plenty on show as her inventive lead brought alive the chugging tunes.
The set was well spread, middled by a slow-fi reworking of their early single, “Do You Believe In Hell?”
Koppes hopped about her corner while Badger threw shapes in and around the 2012 Chameleon EP’s poptastic singles “All The Cool Kids” and “She’s Gonna Be A Star”.
A boogie or two was spotted in the crowd as the big, bright, open crashes gave way to the customary gig end wig-out of “God Said It’s Legal”. Badger was left wailing into his mic, with his guitar slung low around his waist while the thumping rhythm wore out.
It had all been worth it after all.
