Brisbane’s pop-punk upstarts Two Times Shy are soaring lofty heights as they let loose their …
GOOD RIDDANCE with Driven Fear & Fake News
Crowbar, Brisbane
Friday 20th April, 2018
After alternating between stupid hot and sticky humid for the better part of a week, we’re thankful that Brisbane’s weather has settled on ‘just a tad wet’ for this Friday evening. After wiping down tables and finding seats that won’t soak our arses at the pub around the corner, we descend the Crowbar stairs with our compatriots-in-beer-and-bad-decisions in tow, for an auspicious line-up of three-chord, punk rock revelry.
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From the line at the bar, we watch as Gold Coast group and leading Cheeto-fascist slogan Fake News rip into a set of no-frills melodic punk. Using our keen sense of observation, we apply the tried-and-true formula of ‘What band shirts are the band wearing on stage?’ to hazard a guess at discerning their sonic wheelhouse, which yields results as follows: Pennywise; Toe To Toe; Jungle Fever. Between songs, the group’s vocalist explains that tonight is only their seventh show, and yet here they are supporting greats like Good Riddance. Now, one might immediately think that’s a boast, before old mate quips that it must have been a ‘clerical error’ at Resist Records, which pretty much sets the tone for their entire set: light-hearted and self-deprecating banter (dad jokes, turning-30 jokes, asking punters to buy them drinks to fuel their own alcoholism etc.), along with tongue-in-cheek track titles like A Trip to Toowoomba To Get A Cat and Backwards Hat. Musically, the band is tight and reasonably well-polished for a bunch of up-and-comers, with a sound that’s clearly 90’s Fat Wreck/Epitaph inspired, almost like a reductionist NOFX with shades of Sick Of It All, Lifetime and early Saves The Day.
Fake News // By Andrew Vaughan
Fake News // By Andrew Vaughan
Next-up are Brissy hardcore-punk veterans Driven Fear, otherwise known as Queensland’s answer to Miles Away. The boys are clearly stoked to be here tonight (as evidenced by their crew posting up at the bar before and after their set), and there’s quick mention of looking after your mates and speaking out if you’re having a rough trot mentally; Shane Collins Forever indeed. Once the quintet gets fired up, it’s business as usual with frenetic bursts of punk riffage, bouncy beat-down sections and frontman Tim Hyde’s punctured mid-range bark. Cuts from 2016’s Freethinker record get a look-in, along with brand new track Rhythm Sense, which Hyde remarks the group decided to release after taking time off “to have kids and shit”. Most tracks are very mosh-friendly, with a healthy throng up front giving it a red-hot go, but Hyde makes it clear that there’s no room for pit-beef tonight, encouraging everyone to get up the front, get loose and have some fun.
Driven Fear // By Andrew Vaughan
Driven Fear // By Andrew Vaughan
Moving in to the main event, we switch to the waters because–much like Murtagh–we’re also getting too old for this shit, before positioning ourselves in front of the sound desk for a better vantage point. Lights dim, and there’s a vaguely familiar, almost flamenco overture playing through the P.A. that we just can’t quite place, before Californian melodic punk luminaries Good Riddance take to the stage to a chorus of enthusiastic cheers. With a career spanning eight full-length albums and more years than we’ve been on this earth, there’s plenty of songs to choose from to kick things off this evening. Thankfully, the quartet select three dead-set bangers that highlight strength after fist-pumping strength. Opening with Last Believer from 1996’s now-classic A Comprehensive Guide to Moderne Rebellion, the Crowbar crowd is a raging sea of old punk heads, nonplussed girlfriends and young hardcore types. The sing-alongs are so loud that vocalist Russ Rankin could very easily let everyone take over acapella-style, which also goes for follow-up track Disputatio off 2015’s stellar Peace In Our Time, with it’s mammoth chorus and blistering percussive tempo from a sweaty and shirtless Sean Sellers. Showing off some diversity early in the set, the group then moves into the emotional Letters Home, with chugging riffs from guitarist Luke Pabich, which gets phones thrust in the air and heads rolling backwards in emphatic synchronisation.
Good Riddance // By Andrew Vaughan
Standing up the back of the room, Rankin comments that the band “isn’t getting any prettier,” and we think that also extends to half the punters in attendance this evening (including yours truly). Tonight’s crowd likely grew up ditching school for the surf and bouts of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, swearing by a life soundtrack of Punk-O-Rama’s (Volumes 1-7; the rest can obviously get fucked), and now they’re all looking down the barrel of mortgages, children and paying $11 for a tinnie of JD. We see a group of dudes clearly pushing 40, standing around sack-wacking each other with a soon-to-be scuffle no doubt imminent, but hey, that’s what punk rock is for, right? What’s the point of youth if you can’t waste it? Roaring through a 20-strong, 90’s-heavy track selection, Good Riddance are playing tonight with more energy and gusto than band’s half their age, and it’s a little awe-inspiring to watch a group this lauded and influential fire on all cylinders. Picking choice cuts from 98’s Ballads from the Revolution and 99’s Operation Phoenix, it’s clear why the band returned to the stage in 2012 after a well-deserved five-year break: they’ve just got more punk to rock—it’s that simple. And tonight, Brisbane is more than happy to thank them for their efforts.
Good Riddance // By Andrew Vaughan
Good Riddance // By Andrew Vaughan
Catch Good Riddance at the following remaining dates:
Sunday 22nd April // Cambridge Hotel // Newcastle with Hack The Mainframe & Rage
Wednesday 25th April // Amplifier // Perth with Alex The Kid & Castle Bravo
Thursday 26th April // Enigma // Adelaide with w/ The Lizards & Thrashboard
Friday 27th April // Corner Hotel // Melbourne with Cold Ground & Judas Wolf
