Gig Review- FilthyScum PunkFest- Whole Lotta Love FFO: Old school Punk Glory!!!
This was at the glorious Whole Lotta Love bar in Brunswick, which is a small but friendly venue, that has that dive bar vibe with staff playing ripper playlists in between doing shots or having a gasbag with the punters and bands.
First up, were those Industrial Crustpunk Metalheads Knife, who played a ripping set of riff-filled ragers sitting somewhere between GodFlesh, Napalm Death and old school crustpunk. It has to be said for an arvo gig it was packed to the rafters with a predominantly 90's/ Arthouse(the legendary punk venue) mix of punks, goths, skinheads, crusty punks and every sort of alternative subculture. Yes, big warm vibe all day.
Up next was the massive power of Firepower, think Motorhead on steroids crossed with the best of Aussie rock mixed with street punk. The band's singer/guitarist is Al of Marching Orders and many other bands as well Jon from Bastard Squad on bass, and despite not sounding like either of these bands, they already have classic tracks in their set and definitely sound much rawer and chunky than from the previous audio released. The songwriting is really tight, and the riffs and hooks are a hefty part of the band's appeal. People were screaming out their lyrics already with only a few singles released, this band will be huge and has that classic 12-bar blues on many tracks. Cracking set indeed. Firepower is nuclear-powered, that's for certain.
Next up was Y Not, another band with well-known punk godlike members; Bucky from Warp Spasm and Camel from Wot Rot. Again as what would be a theme of the day each band was unique and not super defined genre-wise. They are a solid mix of UK82 punk, sludgy rock and hardcore, and it was sensational. This band gets tighter each gig, the songs are catchy and memorable combined with Bucky's time-honoured banter and bad jokes. All great blokes and the few songs with the drummer's girlfriend were real highlights, but really support these guys as they have that old-school spirit that is seemingly dead in Melbourne at least. Solid and raw punk set of awesomeness.
Blowhole crushed us next, like the previous bands they were super undefinable in the best way. One minute they were very hard rock meets Oi!, next like Rancid style punk mixed with almost rockabilly sensibility, also a touch of Social Distortion/raw blues. They are a class act who write excellent songs with that punk edge, there is so much to love about these guys. Looking forward to their recording coming out later this year. Excellent band indeed. But makes sense given the experience of the band members. Highlight was Brendan of The Clinch getting up for a guest vocal slot!!!
Rounding off this killer afternoon was the legendary The Half-Pints, been around for ages and still killing with their snotty, but harmonic multivocal punk. They remind me of the awesome time when bands were in the 90's writing banging and catchy melodic punk, but not that syrupy pop-punk nonsense. From the first track they, as always had the crowd in the palm of their hand with all their anthems and tons of crowd singalongs. They play fast, and grab your attention instantly, again bringing back that epic Arthouse vibe. Classic band and if you don't have their debut album, you need to grab it asap.
All in all a classic arvo gig, great vibes and cool to see so many of the old crew at this gig!!
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