Live Review: Camperdown & Out, Mad Nanna, Ocean Party, Nervous

Openers for the night are gritty five-piece Nervous, a fast and loud noise-pop outfit combining various undistorted punk elements. For a first set in a night of four acts, Nervous get the crowd jumping and shouting, while vocalist James McLean yowls into the mic. McLean is an energetic frontman with a strong personality, moshing with punters as best as humanly possible from up on stage.

Ocean Party are a distinct change, meticulously getting their sound right beforehand for a gentle, dreamy performance. Their set incorporates watery distortion with pensive melodies and wandering, feathery keyboard notes paired with three guitars and no bass. They're floaty rather than hard driven; their songs building lightly rather than powerfully. However, their pleasant, atmospheric sound gets Camperdown & Out's Nathan Roche swooning at front of stage.

Next the again starkly different Mad Nanna perform an intriguing grungy set with super long bouts of dissonant, instrumental lo-fi. The band are casual, laid-back slackers whose jarring elongated sections and genre-fitting off-notes seem to put some of the crowd at ill-ease, and others to sleep on the bandroom floor. However, for a crowd here to see the jangly Camperdown & Out, it's no surprise that Man Nanna's winning '90s emo sound seems to jar with the audience (though again, Roche devotedly parties for one in front of the stage before his turn to perform arrives).

Headliners Camperdown & Out are a poppy garage rock outfit with a pleasantly recognisable Australian indie-rock sound reminiscent of contemporaries Boomgates or Twerps, though these guys hail from sunny Sydney. They open with the endearingly locally set Manly; a grabbing, lo-fi tune and the perfect icebreaker. The band have a relaxed and unpretentious back and forth relationship with the crowd, especially guitarist Roche who encourages his Northern Queensland mates in the crowd to misbehave. His vocal style is quite conversational as opposed to melodic, and this suits the casual, garage vibe of the band. Another highlight is the chordy Down And Out; a good demonstration of the band's fun, self-effacing ethos. All together it's an even set; steadily paced with a solid chord-driven, synthy sound and boppy tunes.

While Camperdown & Out and all their supports are strong and entertaining in their own right and particular genres, the crowd can certainly feel the incongruity of the acts – chosen perhaps for their individual flairs rather than for a consistent, crowd-targeted bill.