Words: Tracey Moyle {Music Maven Events}
Photography: Matt Davis {Imagine Pixels}
Last Sunday night, Brisbane/Meanjin showcased some of the country’s best local alternative music with four bands from four states celebrating their split EP with a huge final night of tour.
Meanjin’s Talk Heavy, Sydney/Eora’s Great Job!, Melbourne/Naarm outfit Bukowski and Adelaide/Tarntanya’s Oscar The Wild all joined forces to celebrate their joint EP with a tour that brought some of the country’s most exciting live bands to their faithful audiences.
The bands came together to release ‘An Open Gate Spit EP’ on September 16th via Open Gate Records, each band contributed a track to the record, with Talk Heavy offering Slow Motion Exit, Bukowski bringing their single Gone, Oscar The Wild sharing Let It Out, and Great Job! rounding out the line-up with Suck.
The four bands took over popular Fortitude Valley dive bar Tomcat, carrying an energy of unity and power with each band performing their own distinct brand of alternative/punk songs fully charge and ready to bring the party to the fans.
Oscar The Wild opened the night paying their respects to Meanjin’s traditional owners before breaking into what is best describe as an infectious pop/grunge fusion. Lead vocalist Ruby Gazzola’s onstage banter was infectious and engaging and reflected a group of friends completely comfortable together on stage.
Their music style merged indie, pop, rock and grunge. Their upbeat track Sunrise brought a bit of indie-pop sunshine into the dark dive bar. In contrast followed by the alt-rock/grungy Ghost, to my ears, capturing an essence of Say It Ain’t So by Weezer. The Tomcat stage is small with with four bodies on it, but bassist Lucinda Lake made the most of the small area, she was the energetic spark on the stage that night.
Their EP feature track Let It Out gave these young musicians the chance to show off their skills with this slow and heavy, grunge track. Ruby explains the track was written for a friend going through a hard time, encouraging the crowd to reach out and put our arms around our friends.
The band have played together for around eight years and their combination of genre diversity, skilled musicianship, heartfelt lyricism covering social topics and conversations that matter, alongside the evident love of what they do, had them winning over any fans in the crowd not already familiar with their music.
Personally, I’d love to catch them again, on a bigger stage!
Bukowski hit the stage hard with the melancholic belter I’m Alone, from their 2025 album ‘I Don’t Wanna Live, I Don’t Wanna Die’. The band hit the stage hard and completely owned the moment. The mood changed and the crowd fully engaged with the emo/pop-punk declaration of love in Til I’m Dead, followed seemlesly by What Do You Want Me To Be, capturing very the essence of this much-loved genre. The crowd embraced the mood with the growing numbers jumping about devouring each track.
They called Talk Heavy’s drummer Beej Vaughan on stage for a cover of the New Found Glory track Hit or Miss (in a tribute to the recent passing of NFG frontman, Chad Gilbert), before launching into their EP track Gone. Their contribution a punchy blast of modern emo-punk. Like all their music, it’s nostalgic without being retro, this being the thing Bukowski does brilliantly with a mix of genres. They aren’t trying to recreate the 2000s emo/pop-punk that strongly influence their sound, they’re taking the emotion of that era and putting it into a contemporary Australian punk-rock setting and a 2026 temperament.
A micro mosh starts up with the bands passionate punk/emo track Twothousandandseven. Vocalist James Karagiozis has the perfect vocal style for the emotional weight the songs require. Next, Superweak. This has become my favourite Bukowski track; Karagiozis openly talks about anxiety, maintaining the classic emo/punk feel.
Their set ends with Sow taking us from Superweak to ‘super heavy’, a pounding track that encouraged some head banging from the crowd.
Bukowski wear their influences on their sleeves, bringing together the raw energy of pop-punk, the vulnerability of emo, the rebellious spirit of punk bound by the energy of rock.
If this is your genre, or genres, then Bukowski is a band not to miss out on.
Continuing the line-up Great Job! brought a new level of playful energy to the stage. It exciting watching bands who look like they are having as much fun as the crowd, sometimes more. They drew the crowd into the fun they were having on stage with punters dancing around and bantering with the band.
Where Bukowski draws strongly on 2000s emo/pop-punk nostalgia, Great Job! feel more like a modern Aussie emo evolution of it. Vocalist Charlie Hollands’ distinctly Australian vocals are less polished, almost conversational but his self-aware and DIY alt/garage-punk attitude is full of emotional honesty and home grown familiarity.
Early on in their set, Bukowski frontman, James Karagiozis, joins them on stage for a song, the energy is electrifying.
There’s a big Smith Street Band feel with a little more raw spontaneity. Indie rock number Wasting My 20s had the fans singing along. Their EP single contribution, Suck, brought a garage punk burst to the room with the band working the crowd hard. The dive bar energy was cheerful and playful with a few people from the crowd getting up on the small stage to join in.
They covered Your Graduation by American emo icons Modern Baseball with a rush of people from the back heading to the front to sing along.
Their connection with the crowd was something special, leaving everyone on a happy high. They have such an authentic Aussie garage rock essence. Take Your Meds, with its melancholic, story telling showcased Hollands’ ability to move from high energy playfulness to raw and lyrically emotional vocals.
Hollands’ unique ability to be both hilarious and heartbreaking, wrapping anxiety, heartbreak, loneliness and self-doubt in infectious melodies and self-deprecating humour with a distincly Aussie flavour has created a brilliant basis for our own reimagined brand of emo/alternative/punk music.
They played through their set ending on the popular Break Up With Your Boyfriend, encouraging crowd participation. A little low key mosh even broke out in the front. This band is awesome fun.
Finally locals, Talk Heavy, had their time in front of their home crowd. As soon as they hit the stage you knew you were watching seasoned artists do what they love and do best. Before Talk Heavy formed in 2022 , 3/4 of the band were known as Brisbane rockers Walken, and the band have maintained a steady fanbase throughout their metamorphosis.
They opened with their melodic emo/pop-punk leaning song Something Cool, the crowd immediately opening up and joining in.
The night had brought the crowd alive, with Talk Heavy now on stage, they were at their peak.
They opened up into the fast paced banger Die 4 U with raw punk energy, throwing out infectious pop-punk hooks for the crowd to consume.
Frontman Matt Cochran thanked the home crowd for coming out in support of the night, before taking the pumping venue into the popular The Song That Plays (When Marissa Shoots Trey). The energy and pace of the track spread throughout the room. A salute to the tracks title with a sneaky riff thrown in from the song California by Phantom Planet, the theme songs from 00’s teen drama, The OC.
They played through popular tracks old and new. The Tomcat crowd may be small but their vocals are massive. The love from the crowd cementing the band’s local legend status.
They brought out the fast-paced skate punk cracker, I Wanna Skate Again, with the crowd singing along and bouncing about. The momentum continued on with the high energy Hoping The Middle.
They took out their set, the night and the tour, with their EP contribution Slow Motion Exit, ending the fun on a rapid paced energy burst from the band and the crowd.
The last night of the ‘An Open Gate Split EP’ tour saw all bands return to the stage for group shots and fans hanging around to talk to the artists and enjoy the night a little longer.
We have an incredibly strong local alternative music scene in this country and the four bands on this line-up hold the bar steady for others to get out there, form bonds, release music, tour and connect with fans.
Remember music lovers, get out there and support our absolutely amazing local scene.
Thanks to Bigmouth PR
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