Rock Against Work at the Tote

Rock Against Work at the Tote

I hadn't planned to go see 50 Kaintenz and Mach Pelican until the weekend, but last week Ilana asked me to the Zombie Ghost Train gig and offered to drive me home that night if I came to take photos of a band her friend was playing in.

After arriving late last time, I went straight from work and arrived about an hour before the doors opened. I did get to say hello to Toshi before then and tested the new lens for my camera I purchased that afternoon (see if you can guess which photos I used it on.)

Even though there were not that many that people in the room when they started, I thought Three Chord Disasters played well and it would have been great for them to play on such a good line up. There were a couple of problems at the start of their set, but they got over them.

For some reason I thought Mach Pelican would have gone third, but they went well in the second support spot. My friend arrived during their set, so she didn't get to see them. I did introduce her to Toshi after the show and she wants to play Mach Pelican on her show. They played great as always and I am sure their new album will do very well if the single 'Radio' is anything to go by.

The Sin Shifters played very well I thought. They are a combination of a rockabilly and harder rock band and the guitarist looks like a metal-head. During their set they kept wanting people to come up the front and slam dance, and then went in the crowd themselves to encourage it. 50 Kaintenz, WOW! I was expecting them to be good, but they were so far past my expectations that I want to go see them again as soon as possible. I wouldn't say 'best gig of the year' like I heard - the road trip to Adelaide with the Twits is my favourite so far. They are definitely a band that you should make every effort to see live as they are so happy and energetic and jump around the whole time. I ran to the merchandise stand at the end of the show and luckily picked up the last copy of their CD (they signed it.)

I am going to try and go on Saturday as they are playing a very small back room at a pub in North Melbourne (Town Hall Hotel), with Dollsquad. They will be able to bounce off the walls and be on the tables with the audience as it is such a small space. After that they go to Pony in the city for a 2am show, that will certainly wake everyone up. I will see how I go with that one...