Live Review: Bits Of Shit, Tyrannamen

Thank fuck the Grace have done away with that ridiculous side room as a bandroom upstairs. The corner stage in the upstairs bar area is a bloody ripper and tonight most of the spoiled-brat element of the downstairs clientele stay well away. Tyrannamen bring the kind of sloppy unhinged energy you want from a Bits Of Shit opener. Their set-up is no-frills, two-guitar, bass and wildman minimal drums with frenetic fronting and they generate a poppy mess. Singer Nic Imfeld's vocal percussion during the opening number gives the thing a nice escaped-mental-patient feel and they kick into half an hour of some fresh power-pop balladry. There's a song about going to jail (at least that's what it sounds like), something about concrete and some mumbling about “remember me”, before the set's out. The room's pretty full already (mostly old blokes), and there's barely a teeny bopper in sight – at this end of the stairwell, anyway.

Bits Of Shit are the stuff of nightmares: they're unpredictable, strange lookin' and their collective attitude sits somewhere in the nether regions between punch-you-in-the-face-'cause-you're-lookin'-at-me-funny hardcore and really-a-bunch-of-big-softies-if-you-bother-to-get-to-know-them good humour. I don't know them, so they frighten me slightly. They're celebrating their debut record launch, the balls-out Cut Sleeves (a reference to their matching patched denim vests), and celebrate they do.

Ripping through the bulk of the record, manic frontman Danny Vanderpol's theatrics brighten the three chords on offer. He's down, he's up, all rolling eyes and facial tics (he even blows a kiss at one particularly impassioned moment) as he sporadically lunges into the crowd. Standouts include Traps off the new album and a sped-up version of previous b-side Gail Force. The instrumental parts, F and possibly even Intro, lack nothing as Vanderpol gyrates across the stage.

The band sap the crowd, who actually dance through the set, and the thing grinds itself to a whimper. Tapped out and sweaty, the focus returns to the bar and merch table (they do a t-shirt and LP combo deal). They're not a band you'd want to see every weekend, but a Bits Of Shit launch is something that'll stay with you for a while – if only in your darker moments.