What a day yesterday was!! My buds and I headed to the Annandale Hotel in Sydney for the “Blood, Sweat & Beers” festival, which showcased a swag of bands in the punk, paddy punk and psychobilly arenas.
The event started at 1pm or so, but we were never gonna get there that early, if we expected to stay til midnight! We were planning to be there in time for Los Capitanes (a cool ska band from the ACT), but didn’t quite make it. We stopped in the street to catch this pic of my outfit – yes, it really is street fashion, heh.
My fab blue leopard punk pants and overskirt, as well as the leopard belt and lime green skull ring, are from Sexpot Revenge in Tokyo. I love this label!! A black fishnet top over a black bustier, punk cuffs and my skull necklace from i-socks in Malaysia, finished the outfit. Oh, and mustn’t forget the huge, dark circle lenses for that spooky demeanour 🙂
We hit the Annandale by 7, and started catching up with old mates and Joey, the double bass player for the Fireballs, who were headlining. There were gorgeous fillies:
as well as cute boys
Mattoo, to the right (above), is an awesome tattoo artist who now works at Bondi Ink.
Jordan, left, has a punk kidswear label called Kid Vicious. Cam, centre, is vocalist for Sydney rock outfit Rhyme Abuse. Simon Nott, to the right, is the UK mate who’s been staying with us, and he writes for punk, rock and metal magazine Big Cheese. Not content with filing stories from afar, he’s been known to tour around with the Living End in their tour bus, and indeed just came up in the sweaty van with the Fireballs from Melbourne! More on these in future posts.
Had a chat with Aaron aka Captain Reckless (ex Zombie Ghost Train) about his upcoming album for Captain Reckless & the Lost Souls. Carly and Brigitte from the Dark Shadows were also at the gig, taking an uncharacteristic break from touring and recording. We dragged them along with us to Deathrock/Goth club “Cobweb” afterwards – but more on this later.
The band that stopped us socialising in the front bar and compelled us to go in and watch, was The Rumjacks. Superb!! An irish pogues/punk kind of band with killer gritty, gravelly vocals and a real driving force. I’d not seen them before, but the music was raw and infectious, and I danced my ass off.
The Casino Rumblers I had seen before, but their show was even more polished and assured, yet maintaining that raw badass vibe we know and love. Somewhere between psychobilly and punk, yet with a killer horn section, they kind of defy description.
Sydney City Trash I hadn’t seen in a while, and was incredibly impressed with. Billed as country punk, to me they are hard folk punk – I don’t like country but I love these guys!
Finally it was time for the headlining act from Melbourne, The Fireballs – and what a freaking show!!
Joey the double bass player came out in what looked like his boxers, and had a six-pack to die for! Not bad given that these guys have been around for years, and he’s no spring chicken.
the other band members weren’t too shabby either.
In the moshpit it was going off!! I got dragged in for a minute, but didn’t stay.
The Fireballs played ferocious psychobilly til we were all wrung out – but we still cried for more when they announced it was their last song. They managed to knock another one out before kicking the drum kit over and calling it a night. Phew! It had been a great night, and I’ll be sure to attend the next one.
Seriously, if you’re into punk or psychobilly, check out the links and listen to all these bands. I guarantee there’ll be a few that’ll blow your socks off.
Before I left, I picked up a copy of the new aussie punk magazine “Renegades Empire“. Today I read it cover to cover; it’s a great resource for upcoming gigs and cd releases, and a fab read. They also have a blog, so you can keep up to date with punk gigs in Australia.
After the Annandale, it was time to check out the new Sydney Deathrock/Goth/Batcave/Punk night called Cobweb. Part 2 of my night is coming up…stay tuned..
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