Show Review : Daniel Striped Tiger, Circuits, To The North, No Anchor (The Step Inn 7/5/2009)

Nothing gets me excited more than a show with a good line-up. Daniel Striped Tiger were playing 2 shows in Brisbane and i couldn't be more happier with the supporting bands since i considered them to be some of the best bands Brisbane has to offer at the moment (No Anchor and To The North on the 8th of May and Tear Gas and Quiet Steps on the 9th) . I got to the venue at about 9 o'clock, and to my surprise (and relief since the fliers says the door opens at 8) there were only a few people in there and no band has played yet.

Fifteen minutes after stepping my foot into the Step Inn, No Anchor was set to open the show. No Anchor is a 2 piece band - drums and bass/occasional shouts/vocals. I believe the drummer used to play in Look!Pond, another awesome band. To describe No Anchor sound would be quite a task. Just imagine a fuzzed out rock with Sabbath/Melvins riffs meets Boris stretched out into an affair of droning mess. Their set that night consisted of all songs from their new album Steam if I'm not mistaken, my memory is a bit fuzzy (pun intended). I managed to get my hand on a copy that night. The packaging is quite unique and cool, just like they did with their debut Fire Flood And Acid Mud. A lot of thoughts seemed to be put into the artwork to reflect the band's aesthetic and sound which is something i really admire.

No Anchor website
No Anchor myspace



To The North were up next. The venue was a bit more filled by the time they're about to play. For those who aren't familiar with the band, think of Kinsella's bands (especially Owls and Ghosts and Vodka) meets Hot Cross with some jazz tendencies and you're somewhat close. In my opinion, these guys mashed their influences pretty well and turned it into something refreshing and relatively new. With only an EP and a 7" split with Ohana in their back catalog under the span of 3 years, they have managed to sustained a small group but loyal following. Their set consisted of mostly new songs that they have been playing for a while now except for "We Are Not Ashamed "which can be found on Face First Compilation (www.myspace.com/facefirstcomps). Their new LP should be out in a few months.

To The North myspace
To The North blog



Up next is Circuits, from Melbourne who happened to be Daniel Striped Tiger national support for this tour. I had heard a few tracks on their myspace prior to the show and they didn't sound too bad. It turned out 3/4 of the band are also in Majorca with the chick who runs Yellow Ghost Records on vocals and ex-bassist of Quebec. Straight off the bat, they launched into song after song with very manic and enjoyable performance. The music itself has that thrashy screamo vibe to it with a lot of melodies and octaves. I could definitely hear parts that reminds me of His Hero Is Gone and more current bands like Ampere. Some parts are really cool, and some are just downright sloppy. It'd be interesting to see where they would go from here, after all they're still a young band.

Circuits myspace

Daniel Striped Tiger were the last band to play and it's no secret that i like their music a lot (see a few post below). They launched into their set with "Dawn Flared Into" off the Desert Bird EP and their set that night pretty much consisted of a few songs from each releases plus a new track, Was It? which will be on their upcoming split with Teenage Cool Kids from Texas. Singing along to "Untying Knot" is still the highlight of the night for me as it's probably my favorite Daniel Striped Tiger song. At the end of their set, the crowd asked them to play more songs. And they did!

Overall, it was a really good show although the turnout is somewhat disappointing. There were maybe about 40-50 people tops. It might have been because the show was on Thursday night. Whatever. They've missed out on a great show!

Daniel Striped Tiger myspace

Tear Gas

I've been listening to a lot of Japanese hardcore lately. And i gotta say, as a fellow Asian i have to give them massive props for making such ferocious music...................and Godzillas. One can't help but notice that Japanese hardcore has a fairly distinctive sound. It's usually fast, raw, thrashy and features (if any) guitar leads/solos not unlike a lot of 70's/80's rock/metal bands. They seemed to take a lot of influences from heavy/thrash metal, UK d-beat and glam/death rock (G.I.S.M?). Another thing i couldn't help but notice is the impressive chops that these guys have when it comes to their ability with music instruments. While it is normal for most American hardcore bands to change their sound or move onto something else after getting better at their instruments (see : Black Flag, Fugazi, Die Kreuzen, etc), Japanese tend to stick to hardcore while at the same time implementing a lot of advanced techniques and skills they can bring into the band, resulting in a more complex, modern, epic sound (Paintbox, Etae).

Why all the Japcore talk? well, this post is about a band called Tear Gas who very much play this style of hardcore with maybe a bit of Poison Idea thrown into the mix for good measure. The vocals delivery are gruffy, pretty similar to Bastards/Septic Deaths. Hailing from Brisbane, Australia these guys have been around for maybe about a year or two? I'm not too sure, but from the countless times i have seen them, they've managed to get good reactions and thus made a name for themselves in the local scene. They also have opened for bigger bands such as Extortion and Trash Talk (USA).

Tear Gas put out a demo tape sometime last year and all 200 of them have sold out. I believe there's also a 10" bootleg floating around somewhere? Don't quote me on that one. One of the members have put up their demo up for grab on a few local message boards, so I'm simply just passing it along. Unfortunately it's pretty hard to get more info on these guys since they are too punx for myspace kekeke. Anyway, enjoy the demo.













Tear Gas Demo (2008)

We Followed Tigers

We Followed Tigers myspace

I don't know much about these guys but their music ruled okay? I found out about them through some message board on the internet 3-4 years ago. They're a 3-piece from California and they, unfortunately were only around for a short period of time because they had to go separate ways for school and shit. They managed to put out 2 Eps, And Then We Were Killed (2003) and So Much For Summer (2004). I'm not sure if there were ever hard copies version of these releases. The band decided to put up their entire music on the internet for free.

And Then We Were Killed showcases We Followed Tigers ability playing a brand of instrumental modern rock that incorporates post-rock elements and mathy/modern-post hardcore stuff. Imagine a mix of early Thursday with Tera Melos, Explosions In The Sky melodies and a superb songwriting. It's no doubt that they are clearly a bunch of talented folks. They somehow managed to use a lot of qualities and dynamics that post rock bands tend to have and use it in a more straight forward rock approach with a good amount of technicalities and changes to keep things interesting. So Much For Summer is way more straight forward than ATWWK and the first two songs on it are probably the heaviest songs they have ever done. In my opinion, it's not nearly as good as ATWWK.

FYI, members of the band are currently involved in these 2 projects :
www.myspace.com/atmnl
www.myspace.com/wkndlfe

Below are links to both Eps and the only 2 videos of them existed on the internet showing they're practising songs in a garage.

P.S. The bass solo in "Ronnie Beck, Former Child Star" still gives me goosebumps every time i listen to it.


















And Then We Were Killed
So Much For Summer

WFT Jam

We Followed Tigers - Ronnie Beck