This evening effectively served as an Australian take-over of The Chalk in Brighton, with three exciting bands lined up on the bill. First up were the excellently named Melbourne duo Mannequin Death Squad, who certainly made a lot of noise for a two-piece, and a good noise at that. Featuring Elly and Dan (both on vocals/guitar/drums!), they kicked things off with a nice blend of pop-tinged punk rock.
They brought a good amount of L7-vibe aggression to their catchy tunes and showed off their multi-instrumental skills to good effect by swapping over partway through the performance. I enjoyed their set, as did many in the crowd tonight, judging by the action at the merch stand afterwards. It was a shame that they cut the last song, due to a broken guitar, but they are definitely on my list of ‘bands-to-see-again’.
As are Brisbane-based rockers DZ Deathrays, who describe themselves as ‘Dance-Punk’ (eh?). Shane Parsons (vocals and guitar) and Simon Ridley (drums) are actually from Bundaberg (up the coast from ‘Brissy’) but started playing house parties after moving to Brisbane for university in 2008. They were then joined by Lachlan Ewbank on guitar in 2018 and have worked their way up to being a great live band.
This was an accomplished high energy performance by the trio. They admit The Bronx as being a big influence (very much a good thing) and I picked up a Winnebago Deal style and energy to their slamming but catchy grunge-punk songs too. Tracks such as “Paranoid” (not that one), “King B” and “Shred For Summer” instigated a lot of head banging as the crowd was quickly won over (at least, they were where I was stood, near to the front).
I would say that they kick a lot more arse in a live situation than their online videos would suggest. The psychedelic back-projection was groovy too, enhancing the spectacle of their show. To quote a couple of their album titles, this show was Bloody Lovely and chock-full of R.I.F.F.s!
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Battlesnake are Nick Zammit (drums), Sam Frank (vocals), Ben Frank (guitar), Daniel Willington (guitar), Billy O’Key (keytar) and Elliot Hitchcock (bass), although I have seen others mentioned too – they do love to fill a stage! Whilst the appearance of a keytar is usually a cause for concern with this reviewer, it was used sparingly to enhance the sound, rather than dominate it.
Having formed in Sydney in 2017, Battlesnake have three albums and an EP to draw on, as well as various single releases. And draw on them they do, presenting a very cool head-nodding mix of progressive and classic metal-inspired tunes. They write about sci-fi and fantasy themes, with an extravagant faux-religious wardrobe and tongues firmly in cheeks, like an unhinged Ghost/Hell visual mash-up.
Leaning more towards Hell, in terms of musical style, they impressed all gathered with their tight and fast riffage tonight. “I Am The Vomit”, “Shepherd Hunter” and “Beelzebug Part II” were particular standout tracks, with singalongs being encouraged throughout. The band’s impressive spangly priest robes were cast aside towards the end of the set, with Sam leaping about the stage in his budgie smugglers, sans horned headdress.
Ending the night with a full-on high octane cover of “Let There Be Rock” was a great move too, much appreciated by those assembled. If you like to be well-entertained then I would get along to one of their shows if I were you.
