Live Review: Old Mate, Martyr Privates, Outerwaves

It's a chilly night tonight on the beginning of this action-packed weekend. With shows left, right and centre it's clearly a good choice, in the warm confines of Black Bear Lodge, for elated Adelaide assembly Old Mate.

Perhaps an odd billing on paper, local psychedelic electronic artist Outerwaves takes the stage to a solid and intrigued crowd. His mix of Animal Collective-esque thunderous rhythmic drum samples and reverb-driven vocals sound great through the Black Bear PA: Dominic Stephens clearly enjoys himself onstage and for a one-man project he provides a large amount of noise.

With electronics swapped for guitars, Martyr Privates seemed to have amassed quite the popularity tonight as they take to the stage with virtually everyone in the venue on their feet. The three-piece sound great as they move through their delay-driven blues motions, with notable string-bending single Native Son making an early appearance in the night. Vocalist Cameron Hawes really excels during the dark garage punk sound of Bless with the track and Hawes' confronting vocals really setting up an atmosphere. The band nails the set, being energetic, wildly tight and simply enjoyable throughout. It's over slightly too soon, but it's nonetheless satisfying.

Even more guitars are plugged in when Adelaide's Old Mate take to the stage for their debut Brisbane performance. Made up of three guitars, bass, tambourines, drums and Bitch Prefect's Patrick Telfer on vocals/beer/tambourine, it's literally a cavalcade of South Australian musicality with all members of the cohort synching in perfectly together as they bring their brand of “I lost my job/Things are kinda shit… But you know, fuck it” attitude to life. Tonight they're launching latest release Word Is Bond and much of the night's set draws from that. The wall of sludge from Bad Situation is really enjoyable as Telfer's lyrics of borrowing credit and thick accent drive both the audience and band, before the anthemic I Got Fired kicks in with its eponymous chorus line resonating throughout the building.

Unfortunately the band is without a saxophone player tonight, which causes some of the more catchy wailing of the original recordings to be lost. Also, the set once again feels unfortunately a tad short. However, the whole experience is completely engrossing as the band happily bitch about getting fined for not binning cigarette butts or as they play off each other closing the set as Telfer bounces off into the distance with beer and microphone in hand.

A wildly fun night with booze and good times splattered around the walls, with this great bill of bands clearly showing staying power as they continue to increase their profile in the local market.