Dan Condon: Sick Tunes, Soundwave Spectacular

Hello.

I am going to Soundwave on the weekend. I am going alone, I am planning on going sober and I am going as someone who does not like crowds of people at all. Here are five reasons why I am putting myself through this.

THE LAWRENCE ARMS:

If you love punk rock and pop culture and you're not an absolute dolt then you'd probably be wise to get amongst the work of The Lawrence Arms. It seems a little strange to be watching them in the midday sun, they're a band that I really want to be thirteen beers deep whenever I see them play, but I'm all for new experiences.

This tune is kinda heartbreaking because the way it has been written, you can just tell that it is true, There's definitely a real Mike out there who is bitter, pissed off, frustrated and unhappy. And, sometimes, there's a little bit of Mike in all of us.

LUCERO:

The gruff vocals and gritty song smarts of Ben Nichols make Lucero one of the highlights of the Soundwave 2013 bill for mine. They, for some reason, continue to tour Australia as small fry on punk rock tours which I think could prevent them from building their following too much out here. Let's face it, there'll be a significant portion of the Soundwave crowd who are not going to like this at all.

I'll be watching this with a strong coffee and three cigarettes, thinking about the night before and why everyone seems to hate me this morning.

N.B. They are playing at the same time as Anthrax at some of the shows. I saw Anthrax last night and they absolutely tore the fucking place apart, which makes this a tough call.

GHOST:

I watched a YouTube video of these guys and it frightened the fuck out of me. It's definitely the kind of band that plays on my Irish Catholic upbringing – if my grandmother (may she rest in peace) knew I was going out to see bands like Ghost she would likely disown me.

Slightly more importantly than the fact their schtick has me completely sucked in, is that their brand of deep, heavy, rolling metal with plenty of touches of classic power metal and psych is really, really good. I'm so scared about going to see these guys but so excited at the same time.

FUCKED UP:

The last time Fucked Up came to my city I was feeling pretty down; not sleeping much, worrying about stupid shit I couldn't change and starting to feel like certain things and people in the world had turned against me.

By the time the show was over, I felt unstoppable. Yes, the world was being a little bit fucked to me, but I knew I'd pull through and I became thankful for the privileged life I lead and privileged that I was able to see a band as incredible as this play such a great rock show.

It's hard to say exactly what it is that's so uplifting about a Fucked Up live show; the dichotomy between the messy, destructive, hard-hitting vocals and presence of frontman Damien “Pink Eyes” Abraham and the precision of the not-quite-hardcore-not-quite-indie-rock band that backs him up is almost, in itself, a picture of musical unity.

Plus the songs fucking rule.

CEREBRAL BALLZY:

Is Cerebral Ballzy the worst band name in history? It's very possible. These New York-based thrashers dropped their debut LP early last year to a whole lot of noise but we haven't heard a peep from them since. Honestly, I found the LP to be a little limp and contrived at times, but the songs were good enough to make me think that they'll tear the live stage to shreds. Here's hoping.

I wanted to include Slayer on here but I'm cross with them at the moment, so they miss out.

Have fun if you're going to Soundwave and please take care.