Live Review: Press Club, Moaning Lisa, Velvet Blue

In the dark and slightly dank basement of The Chippo Hotel, local four-piece Blue Velvet kicked straight into a fast and hard punk beat. The old school wood-panel church organ was a fascinating highlight of the lead singer's set-up. The underlying long chords were a unique gimmick but also strangely cool.

You're The One That I Want from Grease, sung with a screeching vocal at around the original tempo, interestingly, is an inspired punk cover. But it's the organ that constantly stood out. The elongated chords, the lead line in the chorus, the dodgy bossa-nova beat. Does it work? The jury is still out.

They played a new track called Dead Wrong for the first time. It's raw, it's fun and it's a bit loose but there's definitely something different there.

Moaning Lisa started Good, guitarist and vocalist Hayley Manwaring yelling, "Canberra rocks!" to a smattering of cheers from the now rammed room (sorry, Canberra). 

Inadequacy came next, the dual vocals of Manwaring and Charlie Versegi reminiscent of The Breeders or an edgier version of The Clouds. A track with the hook of "always cool in a crisis" was coincidentally suitable when guitarist Ellen Chan's pedal boards failed unexpectedly and the vocalists sang the guitar line. When she reconnected, it brought the best out of the track and maybe a new format.

"I'm sweating like a fucking pig up here," declared Manwaring. Her and bassist Versegi switched guitars, harmonies and grins while the crowd started to dance in their own pool of sweat on an unseasonably hot mid-winter night. 

The group called the girls to the front for their final track, Carrie (I Want A Girl). "This is for all you bad bitches!" shouted Manwaring. It was a fucking great set from a group really starting to hit their stride.

By the time the final act was ready to play, The Chippo was hot, crammed and expectant. The surprise hit of a rocking debut album and their infamous live show sold out Press Club's first Sydney headline gig.

Singer Natalie Foster arrived on stage, stared into the crowd blankly and sang the opening line to the title track of Late Teens. From that point, she performed as if possessed. Her singing, her thrashing about on stage, her attitude, her absolute intensity all immediately infected the crowd. With the more well-known second track My Body's Changing, the frenetic vibe built exponentially, seeing her jump into the crowd become one with the rapture.

The band was tight as a nut. Greg Rietwyk on guitar sat tightly with the rhythm section, providing the backbone for Foster to cut loose. And loose it really was, but this was garage rock and we were in their space, in a basement in Chippendale. 

A cover of The Buzzcock's Ever Fallen In Love (with Someone You Shouldn't've)? was the cover we craved with Foster's voice drowned out by the screaming crowd. By the time we got Headwreck, and another adventure into the crowd for Suburbia, the band and crowd were a sweaty mess.

It was a pure garage rock live experience from a group that have the musicianship to hold it together, even when the lead singer is going nuts. Raw, cathartic passion on a Friday night. Why can't every week end like that?