Live Review: Dune Rats - Workers Club

It's been a cold, dreary day as Melbourne makes its way into winter. It's hard to imagine weather less suited to Dune Rat's summery surf rock. Despite this, a decent-sized crowd gathers in the Workers Club bandroom, armed with beanies and woolen jumpers, ready to forget the crappy weather, if only temporarily.

Udays Tiger are the first band playing. They're a local duo that appears to be strongly influenced by Death From Above 1979 and DZ Deathrays. The guitar is heavily laden with effects to fill out the otherwise sparse sound and they have a strobe light that flashes during the more frenetic moments of their set. From a distance, they even look like DZ. They throw in a really good cover of Queens Of The Stone Age's Millionaire.

Next up is another local group, ScotDrakula. The trio play rough and raw garage rock with songs that seem to disappear or peter out just as people start dancing. A group of people up the front persist and are rewarded with some boogie-friendly moments as some more polished songs are played later in the set.

Dune Rats' popularity has been growing rapidly over the last year or so, thanks to more triple j airplay, some music videos and tours supporting like-minded acts including Best Coast, DZ Deathrays and Bleeding Knees Club. Tonight, however, is their night as they launch new single, Fuck It. The duo are aided by Brad Heald, from The Vines and Red Riders, on bass. They have a lot of fun onstage as they pound out their bare-bones surf tunes. During Wooo! they break into giggles for some reason, but manage to hold it together and finish the song. Their finale of Fuck It and Rat Bags brings the crowd to life as dancing takes over during the former track but gives way to a handful of people moshing during the closer. The show's over all too soon and the crowd heads back out into the cold night, this time with sounds of summer fun to occupy us.