I rocked up to the UniBar’s Open-Mic around quarter to ten all tired and jaded, but walking into the UniBar around this time was the kind of electric shock needed to make anyone jump out of their skin and bask in the sonic swirls that remind you why ancient cultures worshiped gods of ritual madness and ecstasy. No, don’t do drugs, but let’s just say attending Open-Mic on an otherwise sombre Tuesday is kinda like that special feeling. Let it in.
The act I was to see was called Eastwood, but I rocked up before them to see a crowd of buzzards-in-arms and on fire under flashy lights and . . . no it cannot be . . . Hugo! Of a certain hard-rock band I saw on O-Week, Echidnacia, Hugo is the Noel/Liam Gallagher reincarnation on lead vocal with that thing we all love, and an excellent Alex Turner-esque voice to boot! Here he’s on duo with a guitarist of another band I didn’t quite catch the name of because the crowd, I swear, was crying with joy, and Hugo’s outspoken personality was the perfect thing to feed it. Some originals, an early-Beatles cover, and then Hugo roars “Fok-en noin-ties!” into a, you know, spot-on Oasis cover. “Fok-en O-ay-ses yeaaah!” Fok-en legend.
Eastwood was up next. A full-on four piece of Mollie (lead vocals & rhythm guitar), Jett (vocals & lead guitar), Christo (Mollie’s neighbour and on the drums), and Marty who hooked himself up to an epic combination of keyboard and bass guitar which I was beyond excited to see in action. Jett had some interesting things to say in setup: ‘Oi!’, ‘Yeah’, ‘Aw fuck’. But then the band just launched into their first song with bright sparkling guitars and passionate vocals from Mollie. A certain shoegaze-y but upbeat surfy punk sorta thing, and the next song had Jett’s vocals move in reminding me of the British band, Ride. The drummer’s solo in the bridge is a hint of things to come, and, oh my god, Jett & Mollie’s vocal duo is the beautiful kind of dreamy apocalyptic resonance of the Aussie band Tropical Fuckstorm. “The air you breathe is not so free”, as the song’s lyrics go.
Mollie: “I wrote this next song about my ex, I was hoping he would break up with me before I had to do it” and the notes of the lead guitar go blazing in between and behind the sound of the band before the bridge explodes into a WTF amazing key and beat change, and down to a stomping Led Zeppelin hard rockin’ outro. The bands movement here was amazing, and I wrote down: actual Talent. The (second) last song, ‘Cowards Lullaby’, was a darker piece that grooved into ominous piano and echoey guitars, sailing into its airborne chorus. I couldn’t keep my ears off this drummer though, his giddy rapid-fire on the snares and drum patterns that arouse the body’s desire to keep up.
Crowd: “One more song!”
Mollie: “That wasn’t planned!”
Crowd: “One more song!”
Mollie: “Okay, this one’s called peppermint tea.”
It must be noted that Mollie had the most adorable stage presence ever.
Do check out Eastwood on Instagram
Image provided by: Illawarra Music Foundry
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