Live Review: Step-Panther, Bearhug, Point Being

With a steaming hot spring day in Sydney it made perfect sense to retreat to the subterranean smoke and mirrorball basement venue for some noisy guitar and slack-jawed vocal sounds. Relative newcomers Point Being opened proceedings with set of primitive drumming, barked lyrics and dense, interweaving guitar work reminiscent of Swervedriver or the sharper end of Built To Spill.

A co-headline show with Bearhug and Step-Panther both celebrating album releases in the last few months, this was a chance to hear the former’s So Gone played live and loud. A change in sound from previous releases, the songs still sounded good live but they missed some of the density and weight that they have on the album. There also seemed to be a weird vibe of indecision and plenty of intra-band discussion between songs which lent an air of disjointedness to the set, possibly kicked off by a dicky amp at the start. When they hit their groove though they could sound quite magnificent with guitars peeling off against one another, sonic tangents aplenty over the solid rhythm section.

Step-Panther’s new album is their best to date and live the trio were on form. Main guy Steve Bourke is still the captivating frontman, mumbling atonal lyrics one second, hitting uber-catchy melodies the next. Between songs he seemed super shy, seemingly struggling to interact with the audience before busting out a sci-fi space rock guitar riff with loose-limbed enthusiasm. The new songs showed just how well the band have a handle on the disparate styles that comprise their sound. Chugging metal riffs gave way to indie pop brightness before dissolving into stoner rock played at breakneck speed. It Came From The Heart, Nowhere, Parallel and Zombie Summer were particular highlights of an invigorating set that sounded like Cobain fronting Weezer covering The Clean.