Live Review: Bitch Prefect, Scott & Charlene's Wedding

We wait patiently and silently holding pots of beer, forming our own grungy Terracotta Army.  Scott & Charlene's Wedding start playing after 15 minutes spent soundchecking and casually ride through songs as if it's a band rehearsal. One of their newer members jumps up on stage halfway through the set, sloshing her beer around as she fumbles over guitar chords. "Solid entry!" someone yells from the back. Frontman Craig Dermody asks, sheepishly, what the first chord to the next song is, shifting his hands on the fretboard. After the band's last song, we all retreat to the corners of the bandroom for a seat.

Bitch Prefect start to play without warning. We all abruptly jump up and swarm to the front of the stage as drummer Pat Telfer opens with a softly spoken verse. Guitarist Scott O'Hara grooves along, his upper body swaying like Peter Garrett. Out of nowhere he starts screaming, his eyes scrunched up as he thrashes out chords at an alarmingly fast speed (was that a spark that just flew from his fretboard?). Almost on the verge of looking possessed, his sudden spike of energy is quite amusing and we all huddle closer to the stage for a closer look.

Other guitarist Liam Kenny hides behind his cool-boy demeanour, occasionally popping out words between excessive gum chewing. In the song Bad Decisions, his thick Aussie accent violently twists the vowels of each lyric, emphasising every possible diphthong. A few people headbang down the front, but their enthusiasm doesn't inspire any more movement (there seems to be more of a cruisy Sunday vibe on this Saturday arvo). O'Hara takes over vocals for Better Next Time as Kenny spends the entirety of the song playing with his back to the audience. His guitar bears a broken string but, funnily enough, O'Hara's stays in impeccable condition even though it's received more of a beating. In their last song Shipped It, O'Hara paces around the stage like a caged lion with a sweaty, matted mane. Something starts to bubble up inside him and we all eagerly await another spontaneous outburst. To our disappointment, this never happens and the trio leaves the stage even before the resonance of their last chord rings through the amp.