You’d be forgiven for thinking the Workers Club was home to a hardcore punk gig – were it not for the fairy lights that adorned the stage.
Punk paraphernalia littered the room, from t-shirts to beanies on the sea of girls, leaving you wondering if you were actually about to see acoustic-indie act D At Sea or a Soundwave sideshow.
It did, however, turn out to be an acoustic gig – a lovely, intimate, and chilled out evening with a friendly crowd and artists with rambling stories longer than their songs.
Opening were Chasing Ghosts, the solo indie-folk-country project of Jimmy Kyle. A departure from his hardcore roots, Kyle has kept his punk-loving fans but is also beginning to master this softer genre, telling the same angsty stories in a more tender and anecdotal way.
Kyle seemed to draw in the young crowd quite intimately, relating to and thoroughly engaging the mostly seated room of people. Jokes between audience members and the performer were rife, and a bit of a friendly heckling completely broke down the sometimes impenetrable wall between the stage and the crowd.
The subject matter of the musician’s music, evidently remnant of his roots in hardcore and punk, isn’t exactly rainbows and sunshine. It’s hard stuff about mental illness, witnessing life on the streets, suicide – but it’s presented quite tenderly, dispelling the prospect of a mundane, depressing set.
Brisbane musician Millie Tizzard performed next, just a 20 year-old girl with a guitar and one of the sweetest, most pure voices you’ve ever heard.
A mix of Tizzard’s original songs and covers followed in a set that had the audience mesmerised. She may not have had the charisma of Chasing Ghosts or headliner D At Sea, but her calming presence and genuinely entertaining set easily made up for it.
Definitely one to watch, Tizzard promised an EP in the near future, and walked off the stage leaving the audience cheering and yelling for more.
Finally, D At Sea – Doyle Perez to his mum (who was present at the gig) – sauntered on stage to rapturous applause.
A little like Australia’s answer to City And Colour, Perez mixes a punk vibe with typical indie/acoustic music, and the result is surprisingly un-clichéd and interesting.
Recorded, the vocals sounds auto-tuned. However, upon seeing the young musician live, it becomes apparent that he actually just has, A: incredible pitch, and B: a smooth, rich tone to his voice that makes the sounds meld into each other, and an absolute pleasure to listen to.
While running through songs from his latest EP Unconscious, it became obvious that Perez’s fans are pretty dedicated. Looking around, there were people mouthing every single word, staring at him in complete awe.
Bringing Millie Tizzard back on stage about halfway through his set, the singer-songwriter ran through soft covers of some punk and hardcore songs – a move which definitely pleased most of the crowd. The pair’s voices blended beautifully together, their harmonies inseparable and incredibly complementary.
“Who’s been to a D At Sea show before?” Perez said towards the end of the set, to which a general murmur followed and a few hands went up.
“You know what time it is, then!” he giggled, before starting what is apparently a ‘wall of hugs’ – a take on the classic hardcore mosh, coined ‘wall of death’. The idea is that the room splits in two before everyone walk towards a stranger and hugs them. Terrifying, but strangely endearing – and the audience had no problem with letting go of all inhibitions to laugh at the bizarre situation.
Launching straight into closing track ‘Lover, Liar’, which the entire audience seemed to know back to front, the already close atmosphere in the small Workers Club room became even friendlier. Groups of people chatted to the extremely willing musicians that stayed around long after the gig was over – perfectly capturing what the experience of an intimate show should be.
