Day of The Animals

Finally my internet has been recovered from it's coma allowing me to actually POAST FOTOGRAFFY ~

First Shots from ‘The Day of The Animals’ Gig @ The Tote.

The Bloody Souls (NZ) drew first blood - offering some filthy, throat-ripping sludge rock. Soul Food.

Pics:

Continuing the punishment were The Tigernaughts, riffing away like maniacs. If you ever found yourself speeding through Palm Desert, frenzied from bad meth, horny as satan, knuckles bleeding from a fight you can’t even remember… this would be your music. Berserk, sex crazed, stoner rock.

Next up were Vultures of Venus: Heavily textured, sexed up and outrageously catchy glam. These guys are the band you’ve been wanting to hear ever since you saw ‘Velvet Goldmine’. The predominantly hard rock/metal crowd of the tote were a bit stand-offish about these guys first - the stage was encircled by a wall of confused metal heads… that, was until a crowd of girls burst through them and started dancing like freaks. Then everyone understood, and rightly grooved the fuck out

Little Black Sparrow then arrived for some floor stomping acoustic blues. For a couple of openly morose shits, these kids were a lot of fun.

Afterwards, The Great Apes swarmed onto the stage dressed in white like perverse Mormons before they delivered their bent, Mongoloid era, Devo pop.

Finally, Cockfight Shootout Kicked in. These guys have been damaging my stereo since I was 18, when they released ‘Something You Don’t Need’ in 2002. Their track, Earth Grazer, is would have to be one of my all time favorite stonerrock tracks. I hadn’t heard anything else of theirs since then. Unfortunately for my camera, their new stuff rocked like fuck. Here are some shots I managed to pull off before I lost my shit and threw my neck out of alignment.

Will Wagner gig

Thursday night. Traditionally, not the most rockin’ day of the week. But hungry as my ears were for a bludgeoning, I decided to check out some local talent at the Birmingham Hotel (which, rumor has it, is no longer owned by Nazi sympathists)

Having charged in from the melbourne cold, it was mere seconds before I spilt my thimble full of courage all over a girl I managed to crack heads with while rounding a corner. Smooth. Thank god The Parking Lot Experiments kicked in to clean up my psychological mess.

They were doing the whole, triumphant~ jangly guitar buildup/experimental electronica thing while actually enjoying themselves. It was as if The Beatles had told Mogwai a really awesome joke, and now they’re giggling around on stage like well adjusted (and rockin’) children. Finally, post rock is starting to lighten the fuck up.

Piccas~

Wolfman Jack, quickly changed the tone, pillaging my eardrums with some refreshingly manic Punk. Angry kids. Somehow, through the shitstorm of rabid screaming, they managed to play a pretty tight set. Respect.

Next up were Kimbo Slice (who I promise not to describe with any descriptors involving ‘punch’). They rock the post-punk vein pretty hard, but they really ruined my composure with their perverted, offbeat breakdowns & scalpel sharp staccato riffin. Catch them at the Arthouse September 5^th to see what I mean.

Finally, Will Wagner, the headline act, opened with an old song he forgot the lyrics of, before TOTALLY CHEWING MY MIND OFF. Moving and insightful political commentary to mania tinged artrock? What dimension had I slipped into? Clearly not one where I could be bothered taking photographs, I was too busy flailing my little heart out. Here are a couple of snaps I managed to pull off before succumbing to the waves of distorted sex.

What the shit~ Every band that night had been awesome. I wandered home with a sweaty camera- spent, and confused.