Mach Pelican Radio Action Launch

It seemed like every Punk in Melbourne town was out at the Tote on Friday night, moshing their little hearts out for the Mach Pelican Album launch.
They have been around eight years and are one of Australia’s hardest working punk bands, they have toured with The Buzzcocks, Radio Birdman, Rancid and The Hard Ons to name but a few. Mach Pelican are stalwarts of the Melbourne punk scene.
The Tote was a great choice of venue for the album launch, sticky carpet and 21 years of rock and roll make it the one of the dirtiest dives in town.
Brigitte Handley and the Dark Shadows were first up, a great little 3 piece that had come down from Sydney, very rockabilly, a dark rolling sound, not as polished as the other bands but they had a great rocking sound.
The Wellingtons were the next band up. I know they are quite successful and this was their first show back in Melbourne for a while, but one has to question the choice of this band. They are very radio friendly and more pop than anything else. Maybe Mach Pelican are trying to go more commercial? The Wellingtons were good though, professional, tight and played some great tunes, but musically there was nothing new here.
The Dwarf went upstairs to the cobra bar to watch The Cheats, or escape the pop sensibilities of The Wellingtons, and I have to say that support wise they were the pick of the night. A thumping two piece, belting out originals and covers, like some swampy hellish punk-a-billy.
Next Kids from Russia, not my cup of tea, trying to sound and look too much like The Drones.
Mach Pelican arrived on stage in a sea of smoke, and Kay proceeded to ram punk rock down the eager punters throats. There highly charged set with no breaks between sets had the crowd swinging from the rafters, and moshing away like it was the end of the world. They did have a break at half time though, and thanked the crowd, and happy to see some familiar faces out there. Indeedy all the regular stalwarts were there. Kat Spazzy came on and did a version of Love is Strange, that girls voice is really developing. They played an encore, with the crowd screaming out for Airport, it had to be done. A great night Mach Pelican proved yet again what Punk legends they are.

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