Live Review: The Blurst Of Times Festival

It’s a beautiful spring day and there’s an excited buzz as the crowd starts to build for a day where a non-stop rotation of Aussie indie bands rock out across three stages, a veritable orgy of homegrown rock’n’roll on the agenda with pretty much something for everyone’s tastes on offer – as long as guitars and good-time rock’n’roll is your thing.

The Jensens have all the ingredients for a band you could really hate: super obvious garage pop revival influences, one song that is pretty much a direct rip off of Last Nite, and plenty of flat cap wearing teen fans up the front. But they do it all with a distinct lack of posing, a rare kind of genuine energy, much of which comes from Joe White’s direct and excellent vocal, and such a super tight sound, that you end up being charmed despite it all.  

Melbourne’s Scotdrakula are one of those bands you wanna evangelise about, standing out in a bloated garage rock scene. They’ve pretty much perfected the power three-piece – nothing in these songs is superfluous or wasted, and they keep up a cracking pace. Yowling vocals cut through fuzzy, scratched-up guitar and the rhythm section is pretty impeccable. The best bit, though, is how obvious it is that they’re having a sick time: that energy is totally infectious.

Roku Music’s songs are so good it’s pretty much impossible for them to suck, but the early hour and outdoor stage sound issues mean that this set is missing the swallow-you-up, wave of noise vibes that they usually do so well. However it’s cool to hear the vocals not as drowned out in reverb as usual, and they deliver a fine, if suitably unenthused, performance.

Local four-piece The Good Sports bring a dose of upbeat psych to proceedings, their live vibe fun and loose with the reverb-heavy vocals bringing a bendy, lysergic feel to songs like to potent No Sleep Pt 2. Probably better suited to late at night but a fun proposition in the arvo nonetheless.

Prodigal locals Dollar Bar come out with all guns blazing, offering a beefed up version of yesteryear’s hit Cute Gurls Have The Best Diseases to open like they’ve never been away. Their sound is massive and they seem to be having a blast, songs like We Won The War, House Of Cards, Everyone’s Everyone’s and (You’re) Blind Baby prompting grins and dancing in equal doses, but it’s new single Legside which actually proves the most fascinating moment as it augers extremely well for their impending third LP.

Quartet Babaganouj draw a large crowd to the carpark stage and play a perfectly mellow set of polished indie rock that’s seems perfect for the languid afternoon. They swap vocal roles to great effect and there’s noticeable pop smarts on offer, and their clear camaraderie make them an enjoyable proposition to relax and sink into their cruisy charms.

You don’t hear too many bands smashing out Cake covers, but Sydney indie-funksters High-Tails clearly do what they want and their rendition of Never There proves to be a ton of fun. It’s their string of classy originals which really make their set so fun, however, and tracks like Bending Over Backwards show why this band has been turning so many heads of late.

Over at The Brightside’s main room, Per Purpose are, to put it quite simply, owning the packed room. Everything on show today is the band at their best with the sound fully do justice to the organised noise. They’re joined by snap happy violinist Josh Watson and he further fleshes out the sound and his presence quite complements the band at their loudest. Reaction is a moment of note with its stop/start rhythm section and the band also showcase a number of new songs. An early highlight.

By the time Major Leagues get to the outdoor carpark stage it seems like the sound issues have been fixed up, and they deliver one of the tightest, most exciting sets they’ve played in a long time. Anna Davidson’s bored vocal creates perfect tension against the insistent, melodic lead guitar lines. The couple of new songs we get sound heavier and darker than this year’s Weird Season EP, occasionally at the expense of engaging melodies. They bring it home strong however, with a shred-heavy and intensely great version of Feel.

There’s only a sparse crowd inside enjoying Melbourne four-piece I, A Man go through their paces but everyone seems transfixed as the band build beautiful walls of texture and bring a more subtle and nuanced – but no less entertaining – aesthetic to the table. Their use of space and the quiet/loud dynamic is captivating, and a nice change up to the relatively breakneck speed of the day.

Traction-gaining Rolls Bayce have well and truly got all the young people of the festival grooving with their accessible upbeat Aus-psych rhythm-laden grooves. It’s quite the tight affair and the group play off each other quite naturally. At times tracks blend into one another to the point that it’s hard to tell one from another but either way the audience is enthralled for the duration.

Over at The Zoo, having been bumped up the bill due to the last minute cancelation of Martyr Privates, Salvadarlings seem to suffer a few sound issues which is a problem that crops up throughout the night at the venue. The mix sees the density of their recordings lost and they come across more of a standard rock band. The performance as well is relatively un-engaging at times as well and ultimately it is a bit of a misstep for the group.

When Day Ravies are on form they deliver a low-key but attention-grabbing genre-expanding mix of shoegaze, psych, garage pop, and every other good thing from the last 50 years.  Unfortunately tonight they’re a bit off, maybe due to some sound and instrument issues, but whatever the reason there’s an air of annoyance in their performance that makes it hard to really connect to these still very good songs.  

Bloods seem to be quite together onstage delivering up Sleater-Kinney style alt-rock. No Fun opens the set and it’s quite a fuzzed-out delight of pure pop that despite its relatively blunted lyrics and happy guitar pop clichés is a great way to set up the show, ultimately burrowing its way through the ear canal and laying an egg on any inhibitions about the debatably-dated style. The rest of the set follows suit and brings out the young party girl/guy in all.

Canberra-bred foursome TV Colours lay waste to The Zoo tonight and fully justify the building buzz surrounding them, proving themselves to be one of the most exciting propositions on the Australia underground scene at the minute (perhaps even global, such is the strength of their performance tonight). Frontman Bobby Kill has assembled a crack band to fill out his catchy, insistent indie punk nuggets, and the incessant grooves and bountiful hooks of tunes like The Kids Are All Grown Up and Beverly make this a beyond memorable set. Best in show.

It seems Jeremy Neale hasn’t yet kicked his habit for ever-expanding lineups. After the addition this year of the (still perhaps under-utilised) Izzy Mellor on keys and vocals, we’ve also got a sax and tambourine on stage tonight, which definitely help to make them the first band of the day to really own the outdoor stage. There’s plenty of pop hits to be had in this set, but the coolest moments are when we get to hear new stuff, featuring Phoebe Imhoff from Go Violets (RIP), which are very ‘90s R&B sounding, and bloody good. Don’t tell Jeremy Neale he’s just a ‘60s pop guy anymore – even the medieval metal epic too-good-to-be-a-joke Stallion Rider gets a rare live outing.

Orphans Orphans seem to wear their influences on their sleeves and imitation is not always flattering. While technically they perform their ‘60s-inspired rock sound quite well, there is something about the sunglasses inside attitude the band have which is rather off-putting to watch and nausea is a feeling that comes to mind as audience members gradually trickle out of the room.

Halfway through this set keyboard/keytarist and vocalist Sarah Spencer remarks on the enthusiastic crowd of “old Brisbane people and friends” here tonight, but Blank Realm are a band that any city could be proud of. They’re just so fun; with frantic and impulsive melodies, and tense and driving rhythms holding everything together and always moving in the right direction. Favourites Falling Down The Stairs and Back To The Flood get the biggest reactions, but every song is so insistent and danceable that the crowd pretty much groove non-stop.

Making a rare appearance to ‘The Streets of our Town’… the one, the only UV Race are here and as is the crowd, with The Brightside packed out and the crowd going ballistic from start to finish. There is crowd-surfing, joints, some guy running around with a bottle of tequila, more crowd-surfing and essentially chaos in perfect time with Dan Stewart’s tubthumping drumming. The sound is loud and the band’s almost signature production on record is swapped for a more heavy mix. One of last year’s best records Racism is largely featured tonight and tracks like Life Park and balls out closer Raw Balls make the wait for the band all the more pleasurable. Despite the crowd getting quite the work out it does feel as if they were only getting started with the band’s energy nowhere meeting the audience, but still, it’s a damn good time had by all.

Over at The Zoo the stage creaks as the full contingent of Velociraptor bring the party, 24 shoes jumping and jostling and guitars seemingly everywhere as livewire frontman Jeremy Neale leads the troops on a merry dance. Older tunes like Riot still pack a hefty punch, but it’s the new tracks such as the hook-laden Sneakers and the funtastic Monster Mash which really sizzle tonight. Too much fun.

Current local buzz band The Creases seem to be busting out all the bells and whistles for tonight’s gig with the stage acting resembling the sticky dance floor at Rics which is also a good analogy for the music with the all-round young and hip vibe resonating like herpes and no doubt inspiring a spike in sales of stupid guitars and op-shop garments. Though quite entertaining a number of bands making similar music have been featured today and if this ain’t yo’ bag then there is little to enjoy here apart from the spectacle.

Dick Diver’s laidback efforts are the best way to close things tonight at The Zoo and the band deliver throughout. The hits are what stands out with the Steph Hughes-led Calendar Days being an unavoidable perfect pop groover. Head Back feels a little underwhelming considering past performances of the song but that bass line still makes it worth it. Alice with its domesticated sophistication also works on so many levels that it’s hard not to get consumed by this band and their essentially unique sound. Nearly topping the music is the group’s banter which tonight ranges from beer to sport to just wandering about town.

One of the great things about DZ Deathrays is that you can see them ten times and still get that same powerful, heart pumping, aw-fuck-yeah feeling every time like it’s all brand new. Their set tonight, beefed up with the addition of a second guitarist, is heavy rock perfection, with plenty of stage-diving and crowd-surfing antics from a crowd in an obviously delighted frenzy.

Only the diehards remain inside The Brightside as Aussie punk legends Hard-Ons unleash a fearsome set of no-holds-barred rock’n’roll to bring down the curtain on an amazing day of music. There’s bare flesh aplenty and hair flying around everywhere as they punish the stayers with a brief but brutal set which showcases why they’ve been so important for so long.

Today The Blurst Of Times line-up shone a bright light on just how many great guitar bands are currently flying under the mainstream radar in Australia – a brilliant array of homegrown rock’n’roll and a great atmosphere combining to make this one of the most fun and fulfilling days of music in recent Brisbane memory.

Words by Brad Armstrong, Sam Fisher, Madeleine Laing