Live – The Deep End/Destroy She Said, Melbourne, 25 February 2012

Shane | 3 October 2012 | Reply

The Cherry Bar, Melbourne
By Shayne McGowan

In the weeks leading up to this gig, I had predicted that it would be the best of the year so far. Not only did it live up to my expectations completely, but I would also have to say that it may be an early contender for local gig of the year!

Unfortunately I arrived late to the venue, so I missed the opening act, “Home to Kelly”, however, I hear that they were great. I thankfully made it before The Deep End hit the stage.

The Deep End is a band that has definitely outgrown the small stage of the Cherry Bar. All five members give it their all every time I see them, and I would love to see the sort of show that the extremely energetic young rockers could give, if they were playing a larger stage. All of the songs from their two fantastic EPs are given a run tonight, and I would be hard pressed to pick a high point. The whole set was absolutely perfect from the opening bars of “Lights Out”. It was great to see the band getting such a strong crowd reaction, especially for the likes of “Can’t Say No”, “Mrs Right Now” and “D.T.F”. The Aussie rock attitude shines through in the live setting, even more so than it does on record. The Rose Tattoo influence can be seen as well as heard on “Don’t Rip Me Off” and “Shit Talker”, while the more modern feel of The Living End is evident on my personal favourite song from the band “Just Waiting”. An awesome version of the 4 Non Blondes classic “What’s Up” comes late in the set, and as always, the crowd eats it up.

If you haven’t had the chance to see The Deep End live, I highly recommend that you take the very next opportunity. The band is one of, if not THE, hardest working band in Australia right now, so they are constantly playing shows all over the country.

http://www.thedeependrock.com

Next up were headliners Destroy She Said, launching their new single “Squirter”. This band does not mess around, they were at Cherry Bar for one reason, and that was to kick arse. “Four to the Floor” kicked things into high gear right away. Singer Simon McCullough spits and sneers his way through the songs, sounding like the bastard child of Bon Scott and Angry Anderson. The sound is absolutely massive, and the crowd is eating up every bit of the bands vicious, but catchy repertoire. The band launches into the first of three new songs now in their set called “Overrated”, which is followed by “Ragdoll” from their first EP and then the tongue in cheek “Fanta Pants”.

The crowd loves every minute of this set, and the band is feeding off of the vibe in the room. The next two songs are both heavily innuendo driven, “She Fanged It” followed by “Drivin’ Machine” is the perfect combination of heavy sludgy hard rock, mixed with the kind of lyrics we all love. “Squirter” is the reason that we’re all here. It is the next single from the bands excellent second EP “Music for Muscle Cars” and it, like all of the other material, translates extremely well from record to the stage. The band is very tight, and it’s clear that all of this material is very familiar to them, so it’s great to see/hear another two new songs in the set. “You Might Think I love You” slows the pace down quite a bit. The backbone of this song is a very Sabbath style chuggy riff that is nothing short of awesome. At the exact opposite end of the spectrum is the last of three new songs. “No Church” is punchy and fast paced, with a chant along chorus. The band seems to genuinely enjoy playing this song, and that’s not to say that they don’t seem to enjoy the older material, it’s just that this one is so different to anything they have done before, and it shows on stage. Slowing things down again, is the brilliant and seldom played “You love Things”. I think that this song is totally underrated, and is a great fit for their set. It should be played more often.

The last two spots in the set are filled by “Game Over” and finally “Hookers Don’t Kiss”, which is probably the best one-two punch combo of songs going around right now. It’s the perfect way to end a set, but Destroy She Said is just so good live, that I am left wanting more of their sludgy, heavy, massive sound. The band have some big gigs coming up in the next few weeks, including one with The Poor and a show at House of Rock in Melbourne, and it’s easy to see why.

It’s great to see that even though “Music for Muscle Cars” is only a few months old, the band already have some new material ready to go. Hopefully it won’t be too long before we see another new release from them, and it definitely won’t be too long before I go see them play again.

http://www.destroyshesaid.com.au