Live Review: Nobunny, Bits Of Shit & Gooch Palms

Newcastle's Gooch Palms are eye catching. Wearing nothing but a Stratocaster, Leroy Macqueen thrashes his guitar's headstock through the signalled frequencies of a theremin, while Kat Friend provides a backbeat on a makeshift drum kit, consisting of just a floor tom and snare. It's a blitzkrieg merger of punk, surf and garage sounds spanning four decades of influences. Though their attack is simplistic by intention, Macqueen's voice is not. At times he flirts between Lux Interior, Joey Ramone and Del Shannon-like vocal stylings, all with a reckless and soulful abandon.

Bits Of Shit don't write pop songs. Their sound, and so too their performance, is manic and unhinged, mixing the fuzzed out, abrasive bass of Big Black with early era Black Flag guitar sounds. They're the odd ones out on this line-up, but to their credit, they're probably the odd ones out on every line-up they play.

Nobunny is 30-something San Francisco local Justin Champlin. Dressed in a tattered, nose-less rabbit mask, bare chested and in black y-fronts, it's as outrageous as it sounds. Beginning with Nobunny Loves You, it's clear from the start the sentiment is reciprocated by the capacity crowd. On and off the stage, the Tote soon becomes a scene of chaos, with beer swilling and crowd surfing, as he bounces about the stage more out of impulse to his music than homage to his moniker. Associated with the Goner Records label (Jay Reatard, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, The King Khan & BBQ Show) his sound, on the surface, is lo-fi garage pop, but delving deeper is a history lesson exploring everything from The Ramones to The Beach Boys and Chuck Berry, all delivered with feverish punk-rock urgency. Lifting from 2008's Love Visions and 2010's First Blood, Champlin knows how to write a catchy pop song, most of which are under two minutes, have repetitive choruses and no more than four chords; the greatest example being crowd favourite Chuck Berry Holiday. It's the bunny act that gets people's attention, but the songs that hold it.