Midnight Juggernauts

Extravaganza. Probably the only way to describe the events of this night. It’s like, when you invite friends over, and you have to invite people you don’t like as well as your cool friends, but none of the boring people can come. Three of the best young electro-punk-funk bands in our country, in one room, at one time. It’s more than you can ask for. But, really, it’s a big ask for them all to deliver, you know what I mean?

Ok, so Damn Arms, they have a story. They rose from the ashes of Snap! Crakk!, only to deliver a superior, fierier fuck-and-roll dynamo. With only one e.p. under their belts and some of the biggest support slots going around (We Are Scientists, Something for Kate and soon The Rogers Sisters), this is a band you should definitely keep your eye on, if you aren’t already all over them like sex-on-a-Scarlett. By the way, they just ripped the shit outta everyone who was paying attention, and spat in the faces of every other scenester up in the building. Speaking of the building, by the way, the HiFi Bar, has improved leaps and bounds and is now actually a tolerable place to watch a band and shake your arse.

Segue the second, shaking your arse was definitely the theme of the evening. Next up were Sydney post-punk darlings, The Valentinos, and these gentlemen know how to get a room moving. Catchy hooks, spasticated glitches, and frolicking bass-lines combined with sexy jaunts and oblique haircuts make for some gosh darn infectiously groovy shit. However, there was a new element to the show, sort of like prog intervals between the hits. BORING GUYS! We like to dance to you, not shoegaze, that’s what Pavement were for, and where are they now….?

Melbourne’s very own Midnight Juggernauts owned this night, and they owned every scarf wearing, stovepipe clad, chic motherfucker in that place. Blistering through new shit like Tombstone, a simple, Daft Punk-esque romp, and beating the crap out of our ears with the unruly synth behaviour of 45 and Rising, these guys know how to get your attention, and they have no problem whatsoever keeping it, and making your feet move. Think Presets minus whatever pretence there might be there,

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