Live Review: The Delta Riggs, Stillwater Giants, The Guppies

Local boys, The Guppies, opened with a few songs of tight and punchy garage. The genre continues to (re)assert itself in the Aussie indie scene, its loose DIY aesthetic proving an easy template to master and an effective voice for young rock bands - messy and fun.

Quality WA imports Stillwater Giants came out with a high-energy set full of bristling power pop riffs and soaring harmonies. They were liberal with their hooks and every now and then they'd dive into the kind of sweaty, sunburnt blues chord progressions you'd find in some Mexican border town saloon. It was really exciting stuff that somehow failed to get the punters on the floor (a nice polite circle formed around the space in front of the performers, but no one dared step in). The mix took a few songs to get right, but it came up peaches, with the vocals sounding great and the lead guitar from Tom cleanly drifting upwards in dreamy patterns.

Melbourne retro rockers The Delta Riggs have chosen a well-worn path, but haven't really brought anything new to the table. Rock music is not new, and but the difference between them and their support bands was that their supports didn't have a healthy cloud of cynicism floating around them. It was an intangible element, but it was pivotal in creating a lasting impression. Their technical skill was sound, their songwriting was solid but their aesthetic borrowed so heavily from tired tropes it seemed like they were taking the piss. Visually it looked like they had trawled through Jet's autumn collection, and aurally they just had nothing new to say. Sure, originality isn't always paramount, but even when you repeat or mimic something that really blows your hair back you have to give it the meaning and conviction it deserves. We get that they loved The Jam, we get they loved the British Invasion of the '60s, but they have work to do to convince us they generally give a shit about being anything other than a pastiche.