Homebake 2009
By Joanna Lowry
I
wandered into Homebake 2010 somewhat dolefully after discovering that
ex-Birthday-Party-member-come-my-personal-musical-savior Rowland S Howard had
to withdraw from the lineup due to illness, serving merely as a mirage in an
otherwise desert of never-ending beer lines and wife-beater clad,
southern-cross-tattooed Jet fans 'pinging' off their 'tits'. However, the day was about to take a turn for the better, as these under-the-radar highlights attest.
The
first act I checked out was The Scare, who gave a nod to the hair metal bands
of the mid eighties with their dirty guitars and wailing vocals. With lyrical
references to vampires, signature scissor kicks and shapes pulled straight out
of The Horrors' book (particularly in
the leg silhouette department – the guitarist wore the tightest pair of
drainpipes this reviewer has ever witnessed), they oozed rock star charisma and
sleaziness. They played songs from their new offering OozeVoodoo like 'No Money' and 'I Saw Destruction', as well as pulling out tunes from their debut,
'Ghetto Psalms' and 'She's Sleeping In A Strangers Bed'. By the time the final
chords of 'Cry' had rung out, The Scare had hurtled through a solid set.
Next
up, over at the Hopetoun Stage, was Townsville's The Middle East, a band who play gorgeous folk songs that have you lulled, before
waking you up with an assault of a gloriously harmonised wail session. 'Blood'
is one such number, which closed The Middle East's set in crescendoing
cavalcade of drums, trumpet, banjo and foot-stomping. Unfortunately the emotive
power of their music was somewhat lost over the chitter chatter of the
clientele (the guy standing next to me intermittedly yelling "more cowbell!"'
did not provide the most mood-conducive commentary).
Having
shed the electro-pop stylings of 2005's Fractions on their latest double-disc of sprawling Mogwai-esque post-rock,
Decoder Ring seemed like an odd choice for the Big Top Stage. Once the DJ
playing the generic doof ejected his CD, Sydney's finest emerged and went about
flooring the sparse crowd with their heart-shuddering bass, shimmering
atmospheres and equally impressive lighting and big screen visuals.
To
finish the night I immersed myself in the sweaty confines of being front and
centre-stage for Melbourne garage-boogie messiahs Eddy Current Suppression
Ring. Their feverish stage presence was exhilarating. Paced like a caged lion,
vocalist Brendan Suppression gripped the microphone with his black golf gloves,
twitched his leg in a such a way that even the most Ritalin-deprived ADD child
could not imitate and pulled out his idiosyncratic dance moves (think Joy
Division's Ian Curtis crossed with Seinfeld's Elaine Benis). Guitarist Mikey,
emerging wearing a t-shirt that somewhat aptly read "Piggly Wiggly", bounced
with giddy excitement the entire set.
The
crowd went mental for 'Cool Icecream', jumping up and down and demanding their
dessert like spoiled children. "Chocolate, vanilla, whatever – I deeeesssserve
my dessert!" Brendan billowed. Other highlights included 'Colour Television'
and 'Which Way To Go', where Brendan, to the dismay of security guards, told
the crowd to "Jump over the barrier and come up here. You're all a bit far
away". Security tackled the few punters who tried and the crowd booed, before Die Die Die!'s guitarist, watching from side of stage, ran across the stage
and jumped into the crowd, resulting in an uproar of cheers and the party
ensuing. 'Wrapped Up' was an equally wild number, with the Eddy Current
bassist writhing on the floor and a roadie donning a sombrero taking the stage
and twirling around with a beer in tow. Perhaps as an ironic nod to the
disgruntled security, Eddy Current closed what was a truly stellar rock n roll
set with ‘I Admit My Faults'. Joanna Lowry
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