COLLAPSE BOARD

Five things learned at Flavours Of Skuzz

By Darragh Murray (words)/Justin Edwards (photography)

The inaugural Flavours Of Skuzz happened at Woodland last Saturday evening. For the uninitiated, it was a celebration of garage rock but actually involved a number of bands from disparate genres – from punk to (almost) metal to experimental pop music. The line-up was amazing, and featured a number of interesting local and interstate groups.

Id like to share with you a few insights that occurred to me during, and after, the event.

I should not have been sceptical of the move from the Jubilee Hotel to Woodland.

Skuzz was originally slated for the Jubilee Hotel. For some unknown reason, the event was changed to Woodland (rumours persist that the Jube is becoming some kind of R&B club, though the accuracy of that claim is highly variable).

After the move, I didn’t know if it would work given that around 25 bands were to play and Woodland usually only has one stage. But the venue management opened up some secret back ‘function room’ that looked strangely like the upstairs of the Mustang Bar. But, viola – all my fears were allayed.

One group would play out the back, then another would start 15 minutes later on the main stage, then when they finished, a group who had been set up on a ‘floor stage’ got their 30 minutes of fame. It all ran smoothly, and I really enjoyed the dynamic this setup engendered, particularly the atmosphere created by having band play on the floor, almost in the crowd.

In the past, I haven’t particularly enjoyed going to gigs at Woodland. Now I find myself beginning to warm to the place. I guess now due to the countless gig’s they’ve run, they’ve begun to build a cultural space. And if you’re putting on cool shit like Skuzz, that’s only going to do good things for the venue’s legacy.

I might as well cut off my ears because they’re useless now.

Skuzz was loud. Very loud.

It was loud when I arrived during Lobster Prophets‘ set, but after returning from dinner to watch Blank Realm, suddenly, it was even louder. When your ears are almost bleeding because of the ringing, it’s not exactly conducive to a pleasurable live experience. I probably should have gone and watched HITS who were playing at the same time.

If you did not have earplugs – you might now be deaf. Fortunately, the kind barkeep gave me a pair, didn’t charge me a dime, and it much more bearable. I feel slightly sorry for those who braved the decibels.

Still, despite this gripe, Blank Realm still are fucking awesome.

I’m not far off moving to a retirement home.

I’ve turned 30 and suddenly I can’t survive past midnight.

Skuzz went to nearly three in the morning, with many of the bands I dearly wanted to see (i.e. Undead Apes and Keep On Dancin’s) playing really late sets. Skuzz was originally scheduled to go from 1pm to around midnight, which would have been ideal, but I suspect the venue change put a spanner in the works. For once, I don’t think it resulted from Woodland’s previous disposition to having really late headliners on most nights – something that usually frustrates me to no end. (I’m suddenly reminded of a time I saw Evan Dando in New York and he started at midnight and played for four fucking hours – I wanted to murder him by the end.)

One thing I did not understand was why the place shut down for about two hours between 7 pm and 9 pm. It did actually turned out as a blessing in disguise because it meant I could grab a bite and sober the hell up.

Viva la moshpit.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen a moshpit at a local gig (I think I’m going to the wrong gigs). During a killer set from The Meatbeaters (of Snowtown, South Australia – the place where all those bodies turned up in barrals), the floor erupted as bodies began to fly everywhere. Some dudes got thrown to ground, but able bodied onlookers got them back on their feet again. It was an expression of chaos that, strangely, for once I appreciated.

Brat Farrar kicked some serious arse

Never heard of them nor seen them before, but they were my favourite of what I saw.

They’re from Melbourne and play a variety of new wave punk. The sound inoffensive on record, but they were throwing themselves about with such abandon it was difficult not to get enthused by their performance. At alternative times, their singer/guitarist or bassist would charge into the crowd like maniacs, and still manage not to miss a beat.

They also played a fast-paced cover of ‘I Wanna Fuck You’ by Chicago’s The Ponies.

While I’ve highlighted Brat Farrar, truth is, most bands I saw were inspiring. Feathers started tentatively, but by the end, had nailed the blissful dream pop sound that they are so great at weaving. Dick Nasty was an intensive, brutal experience and it was difficult to calculate how many calories the drummer of Dick Nasty must burn in an average gig given the speed at which he plays (I estimate about 10,000). The Narwhals played an instrumental set that had me reminiscing of the likes of Rocket Science, among others. Velociraptor were OK, though I’ve seen them play better. The only group that I did not particularly like was The Busymen. Their singer/keyboardist was on some other planet, randomly shaking maracas and bashing keys at odd intervals that proved remarkably annoying.

But, I enjoyed the whole thing. I loved how the bands all got 30 minutes to show off their best stuff and loved the variety of acts playing. BRING BACK SKUZZ.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 13th, 2011 at 1:52 pm. It is filed under Brisbane and tagged with Blank Realm, Darragh Murray, Dick Nasty, Feathers, Flavours of Skuzz, Hits, Keep On Dancin's, Lobster Prophets, The Jubilee Hotel, The Meatbeaters, The Narwhals, The Ponies, undead apes, Velociraptor, Woodland. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.