Thursday 7th November 2024

Written by: Tom Wilson
Photographer: Rashid AlKamraikhi
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The Weed Meets The Speed in Brisbane

It’s a Thursday night in Brisbane, and we file into the famously brisk air con of The Triffid to bear witness to the second night of the “When The Weed Meets The Speed” tour. First up tonight are Melbourne grind psychos CHOOF, and they waste absolutely zero time, goading the audience while playing music that could legally be classified as assault. More accustomed to seeing their chaos in tiny rooms, it’s a strange experience seeing CHOOF playing a venue with a crowd barrier, like watching an apex predator through glass at the zoo. Sure, Jake is hocking loogies across the stage and sending the occasional geyser of beer into the air, but the layout of the room robs their set of the volatility and danger that are essential parts of the CHOOF experience. The music, however, is incredible, and KING PARROT guitarist Andrew Squires watches approvingly from side stage as they rattle off caustic bangers like Yoghurt Cups. Brace yourself for their new album – it’s an absolute monster.

Up next, the speed gives way to the weed, as the phenomenal duo that is ASTRODEATH take to the stage and unleash a rumbling tsunami of stoner rock, Tim’s enormous riffs crashing across Yoshi’s pummelling drums. Ceremonial Blood is cataclysmically heavy, and the fans lined up on the barrier are at risk of a neck injury, particularly as the tempo picks up and we are at the mercy of Yoshi’s snare. They ask us if we’re in the mood for some BLACK SABBATH, and they must like the answer we give them, because they plunge into Children of the Grave, and it is physically impossible to stand still.

The fuzzed-out stoner vibes continue as North Carolina riff lords WEEDEATER take to the stage, and the incorrigible Dixie straps on his bass and cranks it so loud we can almost see the sound. The structural integrity of our earplugs is put to the test as they fire off salvos of old-school metal, stopping only to swig booze and tell us to go fuck ourselves in Dixie’s famously gravelly drawl. The pit kicks off in earnest, and drummer Ramzi coaxes it into a massive circle that threatens to envelope the entire front of the stage. It’s spectacular stuff.

KING PARROT are a man down tonight. Guitarist Ari White is nowhere to be seen, but that’s OK, bassist Wayne Slattery tells us, because they’ve replaced him with Chat GPT. Is it ideal? No, but if we don’t like it, we can refer to the title of their blazing opening track Get What Ya Given. Now several kilos lighter after shaving off his dreads, drummer Todd Hansen is a whirlwind on the kit, as Slatts hammers the bottom end out on his battered Rickenbacker and Youngy sends geysers across the crowd from his traditional arsenal of water bottles.

Anthem for the Advanced Sinner and Disgrace Yourself are lessons in brutality, before new track Target Pig Elite is dedicated to both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Squiz is in his usual extraordinary form tonight, and the lack of a second guitarist doesn’t hold them back one bit. I get my favourite track Dead End dedicated to me for my birthday, and the pit explodes into absolute bedlam. Rather than play the traditional game of encore peekaboo, they tell us that they’re wrapping things up, and their seminal classic Shit on the Liver segues into new track Horse, as Youngy has the entire Triffid screaming “Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.” KING PARROT don’t know how to put on a bad show, and even on a night like tonight with plenty of competing gigs, they remain the hottest ticket in town wherever they go.

Photographer: Rashid AlKamraikhi
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