Live Review: The Growlers, Tomorrow Tulips, The Walking Who

On Friday night, Sydney live music fans were spoilt for choice. Whether revelers headed to Queens Of The Stone Age, The Roller Den's opening night, or to catch California's The Growlers, people ended the night sweaty and content.
At Oxford Art Factory, The Walking Who opened proceedings, playing middle-of-the-road indie-psych. Obvious fans of BJM, the Wollongong group were at their best when they left the atmospheric synth and the washed-out sound behind, and instead played tighter poppier numbers, with bassist Jay Bird providing much-needed back-up vocals.

California's Tomorrows Tulips followed, surrounded by bubbles, to play what seemed like a Nirvana homage. They had the look down, with '90s outfits, long blonde locks and all, and the garage/grunge sound, although Alex Knost's vocals were not quiet akin to Cobain's. Their sound seemed more effortless and honest than the former's, with projections behind heightening the atmosphere.

For The Growlers' maiden voyage, the crowd were rabid. There was a fair amount of moshing, crowdsurfing, dancing girls on either side of the stage, shirtless young men and lots of crowd stage dives, but The Growlers played on unfazed. Frontman Brooks Nielsen didn't mind, he seemed glad to be there, with an almost creepy kind of swagger as he crooned tracks from 2009's label debut Are You In Or Out? and their more recent discography. They opened with Something Someone Jr and although the SoCal psych songs quickly blended into one another, Acid Rain was a crowd favourite. Their sound feels less surf-focused and a little more intricate than that of their contemporaries, sometimes almost going Western in feel and execution, a blend of desert rock and psych. It was a fun high-energy performance with Nielsen's stage presence proving entertaining as he performed in front of video footage of California, with minimal lighting that for the most part illuminated only him and drummer Scott Montoya. The furnace that is a capacity Oxford Art Factory (almost like being in SoCal in summer) seemed stoked with the set even when the band chose to forego an encore.