My absolute favourite Sydney band banged out a hard hitting set at The Bearded Lady in West End Friday night for their Americana Doom Fuzz album launch. I have seen these guys play a few times in the last couple of years and they never fail to impress me with their hard rocking stage presence and sound. The Lockhearts are extremely talented performers and watching them live is like that first sip of warm tea or coffee on a cold winter morning, it’s blissful; it warms you up from the inside out and leaves you wanting more.
The support bands also didn’t fail to impress with Gold Coast’s Atticus Chimps up first. I had heard a lot about these guys but had not seen them live until this gig. With a 90’s grunge/punk rock sound they kind of reminded me of Nada Surf but heavier. A great band to kick off the night and chatting to them after their set I found them to be really lovely guys too. The stand out for me was when they covered Do It Again by Queens Of The Stone Age and they covered it really well.
Next up was Brisbane band Ellis Dewald. Well what can I say about these guys? They blew me away! Have seen them play a few times but last night’s performance is the best I have ever seen them. Frontman Billy takes command of the stage with his amazing voice, hard rocking guitar and strong, confidant stage presence. These guys are really hard rocking and I honestly think they are deserving of a much bigger following than they already have. Honestly, if you haven’t heard of these guys, do yourself a favor and look them up now. Get to their gigs because they are just brilliant to see play live. Ellis Dewald was a perfect support for The Lockhearts.
I had a couple of friends who came with me to the gig and they both said the next support band was their stand out band of the night. Brisbane’s Street Pieces remind me of the band The Music with their hard rocking melodic and groovy sound, with awesome and haunting vocals from frontman Ben. The bass player was really great too and very energetic on stage; he managed to break a string half way through the set. These guys recently played at Mojo Burning too. They played a great set and had a lot of fans in the crowd supporting them. I had not seen these guys before and now I am keen as hell to see them again.
The Lockhearts were amazing as always and it was so great to see them again. These guys are not only extremely talented, but they are all truly lovely and beautiful human beings inside and out. They play hard, they rock hard and they are so much fun to watch. All of them have such big and individual personalities. One of my favourite things is watching Jameel defying how far you can bend backwards while playing bass. They played all of my favourite songs and did a cover of Jet by Paul McCartney & Wings, honestly coolest cover of that song ever, it was just so great. The Lockhearts album, Americana Doom Fuzz is brilliant and I highly recommend you get yourself a copy as soon as possible.
The Lockhearts play at Mo’s Desert Clubhouse in Burleigh Heads on Sunday the 13th of May and you can also catch them at The Meltdown Festival at The Bald Faced Stag in Sydney on the 19th of May.
You can check out all the bands and follow them here:
Atticus Chimps:
www.facebook.com/pg/AtticusChimps/about/?ref=page_internal
www.instagram.com/atticuschimps/
Ellis Dewald:
www.facebook.com/ellisdewaldband/
www.instagram.com/ellisdewaldband/
Street Pieces:
www.facebook.com/streetpieces/
www.instagram.com/streetpieces/
The Lockhearts:
www.facebook.com/thelockhearts/
www.instagram.com/thelockhearts/
Images: Elizabeth Sharpe @ Ummagummamumma – Live Music Photography