Live Review: Young Offenders, Release The House, Greenthief, Slick Arnold, Framework

Tonight’s show was not the first Young Offenders Halloween party to go down in history. Last year, the punk rockers hosted a shindig at the same venue and it sold out on the night. This being said, this party was due to be a banger.

With a stage caped in spider webs and lollies as offerings, the night was kicked off by medical attire-wearing, punk rock three-piece, Framework. Each member of this band, for some reason, is massively tall in stature — making their stage presence extremely DeLonge-esque, with lanky posture and lowly strapped guitars. The ringing of distorted guitars brought the chatting audience in closer and the boys smashed through a set of straight up punk rock. Their new wave pop punk familiarity, tight bass work and Aussie-accented vocals, reminiscent of The Smith Street Band, flash before the audience’s eyes and seemed to be over in an instant.

Following Framework and dressed as crayons, Slick Arnold took to the stage in their signature effortless, funky fashion. With the talent and technical talent of The Chilis, but catchiness of a pop act, they instantly had the audience in the palm of their hands. The set continued with perfect vocal harmonies, sweeping bass licks, face-melting solos and drum lines that were played with such conviction, I could feel the pain of the snare skin. The three-piece effortlessly glided through each song with frontman Jack Crawford literally taking his hands off his guitar during riffs that even talented guitarists would struggle to play. Rolling through their latest single, PV, and new track, Friction, they concluded the set with Crawford dropping to the floor to finish his beer.

Melburnians Greenthief were next to hit the stage. Another trio, they shredded a set with massive riffs and catchiness, much like DZ Deathrays… They had the hair to match too.

The crowd were left desensitised following a set from Release The Hounds From Brisbane. Yet another trio, they relented through a ruthless set of thrash punk.

Young Offenders finally took to the stage following an assorted bill of four other bands. Recent line-up changes left the band with a new bassist and changed them to a three-piece, too. However, this didn’t hold them back. The crow thrived off every tune and they pumped out their signature sound that falls directly between The Clash and Arctic Monkeys. Through stage invasions, crowd surfing and line-up changes, the set remained perfect. It’s a shame these boys aren’t playing shows like this in the UK because they’d be playing arenas if that was the case.