@alpaca.presents
by Brandon van der Berg @vdb.brandon
Sound Engineer for the night was @rowan.deversound
The 12th of October could have been our spookiest night yet and no wonder as it’s currently the run-up to Halloween and headliners ‘Disaster Clinic’ dusted the walls with cobwebs, candles and blood bags to emphasise the theme. They also drank the blood and spat it all over their frontwoman. The evening was bold and dramatic, the crowd were full of excitement and the walls narrowly held in the noise bursting with earworms and flare. Read about it below. BAD WILLOW The vocalist, clad in patterned sequins, hides the vibrant eccentricity of Kate Bush just underneath the weighted vocal attitude of System of a Down and performance of something somewhere in between Brit-Pop and Fleetwood Mac. The bassist combines the upright suavities of Alexander Skarsgård’s character in early ‘True Blood’ and a dissonant sadness, scorching the melodic progression with the subtle hollowness of ‘Joy Division’. There is a definitive theatrical flair behind the drummer’s exaggerated motifs, hammering down his arms like overgrown thunder to deliver a somewhat sharp but gentle hi-hat sound. I don’t know if it’s the sound engineer, a vocal synth or an ability to ‘double-sing’ but it sounds like she’s harmonising with herself and it sounds brilliantly intriguing over the front-of-house speakers. The set progressed smoothly throughout, faces warmed by coloured spotlights went back and forth between band members who were all, invitingly, there for a good time and had travelled far to be there. The group understand the tastefulness found in sparse embellishments within the arrangement and, despite some slight resistance to being fully engaged, the charismatically shy but outward vulnerability in their entertainment was engaging and well received. For Fans Of Kate Bush, Fleetwood Mac and Blur. Find them on Instagram or Spotify TRENCH MOUTH Trench Mouth are concentrated excitement, rehearsed niceties and outlandish personalisation. Roaring to show you just how unafraid they are to be themselves and dare you not to like them. “EVERYBODY GET IN THE ROOOMMM” – In an ironically boomed head-teacher-esq voice Songs that passionately coerce adults, with sparse resistance and exponential participation, “ARF ARF ARF” at the top of their lungs like a desperate war chant; Alt-pop apololypto’ in the riffage and courage behind the choreographed identity of red-faced aggression. The snarling commitment behind the lyricism is polarising dynamite. You’re either going love them or hate them, but If someone asked you to keep up with their confidence as performers you’d probably make an anxious mega-kaka in your pants. So respect is a given. The playful nature of the frontwomen converts enthusiasm into an electric dissonance that powers the ground they stomp on with an erratic buzz. Something that feels constantly pulling at my focus is the lack of a bassist. The space left without coverage in the verses creates a seemingly unintentional emptiness that your brain raves to fill and when it finally comes in, with what I’m assuming is a guitar pedal, it not only fills the spot but hits it too and the barrage of earworms leaves nothing for your ears to miss out on. For Fans Of Suicidal Tendencies and Turnstile. Find them on Instagram DISASTER CLINIC The stage is decorated and lined with webbing. Candles sit quietly, and full blood bags are draped along the ceiling in a triplet. There is a magnificent confidence beneath ‘Disaster Clinic’ frontwoman’s anxious energy as a frontwoman. Imagine the classic gothic horror of Evanescence mixed with the astoundingly catchy and powerfully technical hooks of Paramore with no diminished quality and somewhere between that and a memory of Avenged Sevenfold I found myself wondering. Pondering the rise of these early stars. Could the audiences of those artists feel the potential of who they were watching before the world caught on? Or did they miss the opportunity to become a part of the wheel that moves them forward? Regardless, the bands definitely didn’t care about the latter. So, join in unless you like being left behind. This is the only clinic you should be getting excited about unless you’re about to be free of the itchy-itch. The entirety of the performance is one disjunct soliloquy to the anthemic grace and horror found only within the creations of Tim Burton. There is a very real sincerity in the small affections pushed through the performance. Concern and passion fuse to create authenticity. Gallant themness fuels the desire to drink from blood from bags hanging from the ceiling? What. “Did anyone have ‘Brain-Lickers’ when they were younger?” “That’s what it tastes like” I really like the communal nature of their presence as a band. The musicians lining the front row feel nothing less than warm spirited and understanding, the music is fantastically engaging, the performance could be bigger and wider but for a developing act it’s where you would expect it to be and although the fronting could be more entertaining it isn’t offensive to your comfort at all and that’s most important. Exciting, passionate and superbly dramatic. For Fans Of Evanescence, Paramore and Avenged Sevenfold. Find them on Instagram
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