CHECK OUT THE PICS HERE!

Some of you, like me, may be beginning to wonder if Canberra in general has no interest in live indie music? This seemed the case at Friday night’s show at ANU Bar, and just as astounding is the patchy turnout for recent gigs such as End of Fashion. How perplexing. This leaves us asking; Canberra where the hell are you?

But onto the bands, its surprising that time and time again the support acts that accompany the headliner are incredibly talented and entertaining. Lets start with the first band Haunted Attics. These local fellows were plenty enjoyable, with their upbeat indie rockabilly sound. Each track is distinct, featuring unusual key sequences and guitar riffs, yet it all seems to tie in well together to create a signature sound across the band’s repertoire. The lead singer belted out his rugged and strong rock vocal, and the rest of the guys were well, pretty good at doing what they were doing. It was guitarist George’s birthday the day before so they all sang happy birthday for the second night in a row and fired up the BBQ (a present from the band) after their show, following their final track We Eat Young Souls – I’ll settle for the sausage on the BBQ thanks.

Continuing with the five piece theme, Bird Automatic from Sydney presented a different kind of indie music to the band preceding them with some shoe gazing indie pop. Front man Chris has very distinct and gentle vocals in the same style as Death Cab For Cutie, which incidentally is cited as one of the band’s influences. The keyboardist was reasonably excitable and wowed the audience with his aerobic workout. The band had a few friends in the audience who danced with indie styling and even mum and dad got up for a dance to the last track Can’t Sleep. The band exited the stage like true professionals but then had to come back to pack up their gear as they realised they had no roadies.

While a few people were out at the BBQ, Melbourne’s The Temper Trap got straight to the point opening with loud and brilliant guitar sounds and crazy vocals. The bass and drums featured heavily, keeping up the momentum of each track so that foot tapping was practically mandatory. Some danced while others just soaked up the music but this one guy felt the need to encircle his groups of friends during the entire set – strange.

The band’s eclectic mish mash of collective vocals, ambient keys and guitars, sustained bass and pounding drums created an incredible live sound with enduring energy that was evident in the tracks Sweet Disposition, Sirens and My Sun. The lead singer joined the drummer to pound the bejesus out of the kit and it sounded absolutely amazing. The band also threw in a dash of electronica in their final track Science Of Fear adding another dimension to their already brilliant sound. The guys looked like they were having fun, occasionally moving toward each other as they rocked out with precision timing. The music and vocals are soulful and powerful, so much so that the music filled atmosphere was completely disproportionate to the mostly vacant venue. It was odd and kinda eerie for such great finishes to each track to be followed by subdued applause. The band noted the meagre Canberra crowd and wondered where the party was at? Floriade Nightfest?