Words by Stephen Shelverton
Photography by Elizabeth Sharpe | @ummagummamumma
Volunteering to do a review at the Tivoli due to an insatiable desire to see a support act isn’t uncommon for me. Tonight, it was the power, fury, and lyrical rusty Nails of ARIA nominated Sydney heavy hitters- C.O.F.F.I.N that has me hard on a few pills of Viagra Boys. My puns are gross I know, but fitting in with the lurid dark satire of everyone’s favourite Swedish Punks.
C.O.F.F.I.N loudly jangle the hard punk/rock keys to Brisbane city in their weathered denim pockets. This is deservedly so, after gifting Meanjin the most raucous and righteous hard rock display of power in all of 4ZZZ history, at a carpark show earlier this year. This event has achieved mythic proportions within the Brisbane music community and source of great pride for the surprise cowbell smacker on the day, my great friend Dakota.
In September I was blessed to interview C.O.F.F.I.N drummer, singer, lyricist and talented visual artist – Ben Portnoy, in Melbourne (when stars aligned) with Stiff Richards and Spilt System. Ben’s perspectives on supporting his peers, and providing opportunities for artists to thrive in independent venues to shape positive community culture and identity are on point. This left no doubt in my soul over the depth and positivity of C.O.F.F.I.N are having on the Australian soundscape.
Arriving early to the show enabled a pre-show chat with Aaron Moss (guitar), and the newest addition to the team, the lovable Costy (bass), thanking them for helping me out in Melbourne and congratulating them on the ARIA nomination for ‘Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album’. The pair revealed how much fun they have had touring with Viagra Boys (VBs) and, legitimately, how good it is to be playing in Brisbane again. (Note: This ARIA category is in desperate need of a split representative between: Hard Rock/Punk/Metal for everyone’s sake).
Taking the stage, it’s easy to see C.O.F.F.I.N don’t fuck around; they never do. It’s slapping you in stereo on both sides of your ugly head with a double-ended dildo in cadence to dynamite-encrusted drums from the start. Ben’s signature raspy voice roaring at you, and a wall of guitar keeping your breaths short and eyes watering.
Brisbane crowds usually take a fair bit of motivation to mosh for a support act (except; for hardcore shows that is). No such fastidiousness tonight, however! I told You C.O.F.F.I.N have the hard rock keys to the city, and they used them to unlock the front door, enabling a mosh to spew out, kick us in the gooch and snarl at us from the first song, Cut You Off.
If this was a punter’s first C.O.F.F.I.N experience, any hesitation they may have held was dropped like a bar of soap in a prison shower because they were about to get reamed, with; Give Me A Bite and Done By The Dogs to name a couple. Abijah (lead guitar) is one of my favourite Australian guitarists, he’s a proper shredding machine, he gave it some extra jagged edge on City Sun.
Benny gave a big shout-out to 4ZZZ “They gave us more support than anyone back home in Sydney.” before concaving our ear canals with Lover’s Leash and Fast Love.
It was hard to track the set, as I was lost in the moment; however, the one moment I hoped for was the 2018 masterpiece White Dog. “Fuck Colonialism!” Ben exclaims. This political burner of a track, is pure concrete rage, it induced the mosh to offer up waves of crowd-surfing punters as sacrifices to the C.O.F.F.I.N rock gods.
For the new C.O.F.F.I.N converts (like the ones I met on the train home), be sure to see them again at Vinnies Dive bar 10-year celebration on 21st Nov or the Crowbar Brisbane re-opening celebrations on 20 Dec. https://www.coffinband.com/shows/
Two albums and 5 years have slipped through the Jukebox of time in between Australian tours for Viagra Boys, and tonight’s sold-out show claims the slickest tickets in town. Punters were rewarded for their patience with an 18-song, 90-minute set from the VBs.
These New South Wales – ‘What a Great Punk Episode 412’ informed me that VBs, have spent the week in Australia, drinking aptly named, VB long necks in the Botanical Gardens, dodging tram ticket inspectors, a bit of karaoke, and no doubt sharing their dark humour with C.O.F.F.I.N. Thankyou Todd and Jamie!
Viagra Boys are an embryotic amalgam of sizzling jazz expertise, lyrical absurdity and frightful self-deprecating wit. The crowd was pent-up, moist and tight tonight. I was unintentionally scratched by a watch band across my face, pushed and shoved, accidentally head-butting my mate Lucas in the process (sorry, Lucas!) The crazy thing is that was just during the erratic opener Aint Nice!
Frontman Sebastion Murphy entertains the audience with his overtly casual demeanour in track pants and socks, letting it all hang out upstairs so we can see the manifestations of his past life as a tattoo artist. He humorously hails the band in short shorts and tracksuits as the “Swedish Young Boys Modelling Association”. Despite Seb’s self-depreciating body image comments and crowd taunts to take it all off he says “wanna see what I got that’s big?” doing his best Alfred E Neuman impression with his ears to the cheer and laughter of the sweaty masses.
The crowd continued to heave-ho like a piano accordion to the next song, Slow Learner. Down in the Basement could be considered the Happy Birthday Song for Elias on keys, Seb tells us he celebrated his 31st with a kangaroo tail pie! Seb then pokes fun at the reservedly staunch European types on the balcony rather than being front up in the pit before him.
The crowd jostled all night with varying degrees of restraint, with the pit smelling like; sweat, a burst colostomy bag, and pineapple… only minus the pineapple. The pungent odour most palpable during Punk Rock Loser, a track Seb admits (in a These New South Whales podcast, ‘What A Great Punk Episode 412’) to hating the lyrics at stages, yet coming to terms with how widely loved it is. This is evidenced by the 5.3 million views of the film clip on YouTube, and the loudest lyrical return tonight confirmed this with “…. I go to the function just to Fuck Shit Up!”
At the risk of sounding selfish, I enjoyed a two-band set list tonight rather than the regular 3 or 4. Likewise, the pairing of the two bands gelled perfectly with aligned social perspectives against far right, racism and homophobia… Just in time to see Donald Trump re-elected, and Seb shared his thoughts on that, ironically followed by the track Trogladyte.
Following an intensively energetic sax breakdown in Amphtanarchy, Seb laughs how hot and steamy The Tivoli is tonight, so much so his sunglasses keep fogging up, continuing to tell us he likes to wear them to hide his insecurities when everyone is looking at him. No such insecurities were evident during Just Like You although Seb details spending $29 a month on Only Fans to see our mums jiggles, perhaps that’s his cure.
An improv instrumental interlude enabled Seb to catch his breath mid-way on the set. He needs this to unleash the next salvo: the disco madness of Aint No Thief, followed by another new un-released track wedged up squarely to Secret Canine Agents with Henrik (bass) and Tor (drums) to jam it out into another improv trip.
Worms was the song that slowed down a hundred hungry helminths, with Oskar changing over sax’s from perhaps an alto to a tenor.
VBs gifted some tasty new tracks tonight, look out for Bog Body, another example of the warped dark humour we’ve come to expect. It was so fucking hot, my shirt was wet through and I was relatively static. This was the warmest gig I’ve been to at The Tiv. Seccies attempts to hand out water didn’t reach far, as the waters evaporated into steam on the first layer of bodies on the cursed barricade. Repeated sets of crowd surfers flailing over the structure made the seccies night even hotter. I think this is why Seb was squirting water from his mouth on the crowd!
Seb tells us he is so good at cricket, so good he can smash a cricket ball 100 miles off his arm and stick an entire rugby ball up his arse, and no blood would come out. This meant it was definitely time for Sports to be played!
My notes were mostly unreadable and useless from this show due to the heaving mass of a pumped-up crowd, so I just tried to roll with it. The majority of the Brisbane punk movement was present. I have had many tell me it was their favourite gig in 2024, and the influence VBs have had on their own musical development made tonight all the more important to them.
An encore ensued, although I’m not telling what it was, only to say it was an unexpected treat to see Seb playing guitar.
I wish all the best to the Swedish punk pros, may short shorts, shrimps, sports, karaoke, tattoos, house browns, and house yellows rain down on them, but come back to Australia before too long. Keep an eye out for Seb fishing off a QLD beach this week, and I hope he is using his best Frog Strap, Shrimp Shack, Creepy Crawlers, to get into the South African Fly-Fishing Magazine…Trust me just listen to the These New South Whales Podcast.
Thanks to Frontier Touring
