Written by: Tom Wilson - Sense Music Media | Friday 5th May 2023
Photos by: Tracy McLaughlan >> VIEW GALLERY

Making The Brightside live up to it’s name

There is a buzz in the air tonight, and the line to get into the Brightside is already stretching down the street as I arrive. After years of grinding away on the gig circuit developing their fan base, Sydney’s REDHOOK have finally released their debut LP Postcards from a Living Hell, and the reception speaks for itself – the show is sold out.

GRENADE JUMPER kick things off, and there is already a decent crowd up the front as they break out a selection of irresistible pop-punk anthems. Taking their name from a FALL OUT BOY song, they wear their influences on their sleeve, but I can’t help but sound old when I think that they could have easily come from the Australian alternative boom of the 90s (particularly when they bust out a cover of NO DOUBT’s Just a Girl and nail it). There is a sincerity in their music that is refreshing, and Crazy is equal parts earworm and anthem.

Melbourne’s BELLE HAVEN take things in a slightly different direction. With metalcore riffs and a frontman with “EMO” tattooed on his right arm, it’s like its 2008 all over again (though, thankfully, without the drainpipe jeans). Singer David De La Hoz instigates a call-and-response for Burn the Witch, and for the rest of the set he holds The Brightside in the palm of his hand. The vibe of the night is slowly getting heavier, and things only increase when BAD/LOVE’s drummer emerges and starts hammering out a solo, before the rest of the band take the stage and instigate the first circle pits of the night – their guitarist screaming at the crowd to give him some energy, and they return it in earnest. A bruising, down-tuned amalgam of metal and hardcore, their singer draping himself off the mic stand, they get the crowd to raise their phone lights over their heads, and for a moment it looks as if the venue has been swarmed with fireflies. From the crowd reaction, BAD/LOVE already had plenty of fans in the house tonight, and after that performance, they’ve no doubt made a few more.

A warped version of an in-flight announcement comes over the P.A., and the crowd cheers as REDHOOK emerge and burst into the first track of their album, Postcard XO – Emmy wearing a captain’s hat and bristling with energy. The crowd surges, and they plough straight into Low Budget Horror. “Holy shit, Brisbane,” Emmy gasps as they finish. “This is fucking insane … Thanks for choosing to hang with us instead of going to the footy.” The crowd roars, and there is a tangible amount of disbelief in the band onstage that they’ve managed to pull this off as an independent band. The album is charting, they’ve sold out a venue, and there are hundreds of beaming faces pointing straight at them. She tells us that they’re going to need a bit of help for this next one, and Emma Beau of THE ATOMIC BEAU PROJECT emerges for Imposter. The vibe is elated as two champions of mental health awareness perform together, and Beau crushes it.

She exits stage, and Emmy starts frantically whispering the opening to Fake, before Craig kicks off the riff and the pit explodes in a swirl of nu metal and angst. Having previously incorporated the breakdown for LIMP BIZKIT’s Break Stuff at The World is a Vampire festival, I had heard that they’d be switching it up tonight, but I didn’t know what with. Long ago, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE were beaten by LIMP BIZKIT for best music video at an awards show, prompting bassist Tim Commerford to climb the backdrop and threaten to derail the event. Tim would consider tonight a win, as the Break Stuff breakdown has been replaced … by RATM’s Bombtrack – Emmy shrieking “burn” with a vitriol that Zac De La Rocha would approve of, as the pit shakes from Ned Jankovic’s bassline. The band leave stage, and after a short pause, Emmy races back onstage in a straightjacket and Hannibal Lecter mask, being chased by two men dressed as orderlies, before breaking free of her restraints and launching into Psych Verses Psych – the band busting out novelty sunglasses for … reasons. In introducing Soju, Emmy mentions that they were going to hand out cans of the drink to the crowd, but unfortunately, licensing laws said no. So instead, we just settle for a giant singalong with plenty of middle fingers raised in the air, pointed at the pressures of being a people-pleaser. Craig busts out his saxophone for I Don’t Keep Up, conjuring the world’s happiest circle pit, before the vibe takes a sharp 180 as Emmy tears up while introducing trauma anthem Jabberwocky. It’s beautiful, cathartic energy, and she shares numerous solidarity fist bumps with the punters in the front row. The berserk Off With Your Head leads into a drum solo from Alex Powys, Emmy disappearing backstage and re-emerging a blood-drooling zombie for Dead Walk, before Kamikaze brings the set to a close.

The chants of “one more song” are eventually answered, and the band reappear, coaxing their support acts onstage to fling toilet paper rolls across the venue as they burst into Bad Decisions, Emmy cheekily flashing her Taylor Momsen-style nipple tape at the front row as the crowd chants the chorus back to her. The band leave stage, and we depart, scraping TP off our shoes and wondering just how mad the venue is going to be about the mess. A storming set from a band with an extremely bright future, and one of the best frontwomen in the game.

All photos by: Tracy McLaughlan - Kaotic Images
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