What Thursday night is complete without a good dose of live rock? Last Thursday that is exactly what you got if you were at Oh Hello, the little club venue with milk crate stools and projections of Pokémon on the walls. Delivering not two, not three, but four great local rock bands to the Brisbane crowds made it quite a late but very enjoyable Thursday night. Kicking things off were the three-piece rock band from Melbourne, Damn Terran. Playing only a half set, the boys warmed the next to nothing crowd up for what was to be a big night of rock music. Their hard rock sound filled up the entire venue and there was no escaping the onslaught of their driving guitar riffs and hard-hitting drumming.
Taking the stage a mere five minutes after Damn Terran left were fellow Victorians Money for Rope. The band with their two drummers, Chris Valdemarin and Nige Moyes, delivered a chest-thumping sound complete with two guitars, bass and keys…the latter of whom seemed to have some kind of old-school phone handset as a mic. Led by singer/guitarist Jules McKenzie, the band played through a half hour set with raw guitars, great energy and certainly lots of smoke – so much so that at times you couldn’t even see the drummers. Having dual drummers in a band can be worrying at the best of times due to timing issues, but these guys have got it spot on. Hitting the drums with absolute precision makes this one pretty spectacular, and the crowd loved it. Kicking off his shoes, keyboardist Rick Parnaby also showed a lot of energy and that he was having a great time, whilst half of the band then got topless. Completing their set with a traditional rock ‘n’ roll stage trashing, the boys were left to clean up whatever was left standing on stage before the next band Kingswood come on.
With a bit of a delay, Melbourne rock outfit Kingswood finally took to the stage at 11.15pm with their ear-thrashing rock. These guys have a great sound that is comprised of a lot of sweet little guitar licks and solos backed up with some fantastic drumming. Going hard out for their set, the boys do everything from getting the crowd and previous bands to mosh out, to smashing a tambourine to pieces, which they will then swap to a crowd member for a box of popcorn. Making a lot of new fans on the night, these boys showed that they can have a lot of fun whilst delivering some serious rock to their fans.
Finally getting to the stage quite late into the night were the northern New South Wales band, Royal Blood. For anyone who is not familiar with this band, well you must familiarise yourself quickly before they become something big and stop playing these small intimate venues. Probably one of the best up-and-coming bands that this reviewer has seen, the two-piece rock band deliver a sound that must be felt to believe. Felt because when these guys play, the sound doesn’t just hit your ears but rattles your entire body due to its sheer ferocity. Opening with a very raw and powerful number Hole, the guys played a very short set, which finished up with their very White Stripes-sounding hit, Figure It Out.
Oh Hello has probably never undertaken such an attack of loud guitars and bone crushing rock!
