Candy Shop TV - Live Review 08/05/12

SpitFireLiar / Hard Ons / SixFtHick

P.O.W. Nundah - Sunday May 6th

REVIEW #2 - SPITFIRELIAR The crew at Candy Shop TV covered another incredible gig last Sunday night, having ventured all the way over to Nundah to watch SpitFireLiar perform as part of Punkfest at the Prince of Wales Hotel. By day a popular... local hangout and sports bar for locals and passers-by, had on this particular night played home to lovers of the garage/punk rock sound of bands involved with Punkfest. Not going to lie, I admit that I have no clue what the punk scene is like in Brisbane, but Punkfest is obviously a hit, with a decent sized crowd coming along to watch the gigs. But my problem was the space.

Don’t get me wrong, the Prince of Wales hotel is a fantastic venue for a beer and to chill with some mates after work. But in this chick’s humble opinion, it’s a shitty venue to play punk music in. The sports bar in which the bands played was just that – a sports bar. This venue was not designed for that kind of music and I feel I would have gotten into the gig so much more had I been at a different venue, where the crowd could gather and mosh their hearts out without being blocked by a metal partition at the front of a tiny stage. Of course I realise venue choice all comes down to budget and what’s available first and foremost, but was a thought worth noting all the same!

Now to the good stuff, the band itself – I kinda like punk, but honestly haven’t listened to much. I love, love, loved SpitFireLiar’s sound and energy and it was exactly what I expected from a punk band. Just from seeing them hanging around before their set, it was obvious these guys were nuts – in the yummy, chewy caramel kind of way. The tiny stage didn’t appear to faze the band as Mouldy, Eddie, Mung, Toddie and of course the best tambourine player in the world, Seamus, bashed out a highly energised and ear-splitting set. The songs had names like “Alcohol” and “Boobs”, which just goes to show how awesomely juvenile and carefree the boys’ attitudes are (hehe, boobs).

Mouldy’s vocals were incredible and I loved his relentless energy and interaction with the audience – it was hilarious and really cool to see tipsy audience members hug him around the neck and shout the vocals with him into the mic. Eddie didn’t miss a beat on the guitar and he powered through some incredible licks like he was buttering toast - though I wish I could’ve seen more of him (damn those big-ass foldback speakers at the front of the stage blocking the view of short people like me!). Watching Mung on bass guitar was like being back in the 90’s – his Mohawk was rocking and he totally owned that stage, not faltering once during the set (even when lying on the floor at one point, which was equally awesome). And Toddie, that guy’s freaky good. I have never seen someone play drums live with such accuracy and intensity, it was impossible not to look at him bashing the crap out of his kit with the best punk rock face I’ve ever seen. Of course, Seamus’ incredible tambourine skills and ability to pull the ladies was tops and the whole band looked like they were having the time of their lives doing what they love for a bunch of super passionate punk rock fans.

Overall, this punk newbie was impressed – I love the energy and craziness that comes with punk rock and these guys embodied all that perfectly. Especially considering this was their first show back after a 5 month break, the boys rocked it and were an absolute delight to watch. I happily award them 4 out of 5 lollipops and hope this bunch of incredibly funny and talented mates continue to rock people’s worlds.

Candy is dandy!

~Katrina

The Point Sunshine Coast's Blog - Live Review 03/09/11

SpitFireLiar / Dementia 13 / Phantom Lighters

Kings Beach Tavernl - Friday Sep 2nd

Snack Size Review: Punk in Drublic at the Kings Beach Tavern Finally… FINALLY… I got the chance to see Phantom Lighter Thieves do their thing on a Friday night at Kings Beach Tavern. Totally not what I expected… even better. A skater punk outlook with hefty amount of chunkiness thrown in. Massive sound for a three-piece and they made me want to a) go home and play some old school Tony Hawke or b) download a whole heap of bodyboarding vids from the 90s. Pennywise, Mark of Cain, all those 90s heavier punk bands definitely represented. Dementia 13.. it’s been a while, and you boys still crack me up. Highly entertaining, extremely energetic band as always, mixing up the punk with scatterings of ska and a ‘fuck it, let’s just have fun’ attitude. I overheard the drummer say that you were a bit crusty tonight… didn’t notice, but if you were, it worked. Spitfire Liar. Holy. Shit. Your stage presence (if you can call it that… you guys weren’t exactly on the stage, instead prefering to mess with the soundies and put all your gear on the floor for the full crowd interaction.. fucking brilliant!) reminds me a little of Eddy Current Suppression Ring. This shit was short, fast, loud and awesome (though I swear you guys borrowed a guitar riff from Refused… but hey, I love that band and it worked). Jumping up on tables, moshing with the crowd. Frenetic. Funny as shit. Rocked it.

Rave Magazine - Live Review 14/03/11

D.O.A. / Mouthguard / SpitFireLiar / Plan Of Attack

Prince Of Wales Hotel - Sat Mar 12

Driving out from the city in search of Nundah’s Prince Of Wales Hotel, one cannot help but reminisce about Wayne and Garth’s Delaware bit; and what has veered Canadian hardcore legends D.O.A. this far away from the CBD. But the drinks are cheap and the turnout doesn’t appear dissuaded by the commute.

The suburban setting is congruous with openers Plan Of Attack’s sound. Rooted in the tradition of working class punk music, the lads work barrel-chested rhythms around their driving riffs to create an undeniably brutish noise with efforts such as Just Because You’re Paranoid.

Spitfireliar are concerned with getting the crowd sufficiently crazy for tonight’s headliners, ‘it’s fucking D.O.A.’ as vocalist Mouldy astutely points out, so the four-piece blast through a string of up-tempo rabble rousers like I Want To Eat Natalie Portman’s Poo. Drawing the crowd away from the bar and towards an increasingly sweaty mosh pit, Spitfireliar eschew technicality for energy while remaining cohesive onstage.

The crowd jostles with excitement as tonight’s main support, Mouthguard launches into their set. The four-piece’s addition to the bill is a real draw card, and their performance tonight doesn’t disappoint. Working with elements of retro punk and ‘80s hardcore, Mouthguard fashion their music into a weapon, and the band’s performance of cuts like Stand Strong Walk Tall and Siege Mentality prove that Mouthguard is adept in wielding their weapons.

After an extended intermission, D.O.A. get up on stage at The Prince Of Wales and all eyes are on Joe Keithley. The frontman pilots his three-piece through punk relics like I Hate You and Waiting For You like a class act. Keithley leads the room head on into a storm of minute-and-a-half punk classics, only to have his audience emerge on the other side, relatively unscathed and smiling uncontrollably.

TOM HERSEY

Rave Magazine - Live Review 30/11/10

Numbers Radio / Spitfireliar / Fushia

The Tempo Hotel - Thu Nov 25

The Valley ain’t a nice place off your face. Sober it’s even worse; flitting between the blood, shit and vomit as riot vans roar down Brunswick Street – barely a moment elapsing before an ambulance blazes down the same trail. At The Tempo Hotel a small but motley mix of punks and unionists accompanied by the odd twee girl seem largely unperturbed. Swilling beer, they listen nonchalantly to Dido and Maroon 5 mixed somewhere between Queens Of The Stone Age and indiscernible hip hop tracks. Against such a setting, fresh-faced local quartet Fushia take the stage with an unfaltering energy and enthusiasm. They take the cries of ‘You’re shit!’ with a “Thanks, man!” before dedicating their next song to the heckler. Their set is an eclectic mash of mod-ish rock, indie and electro-pop with day-glo keyboard sounds meeting ‘La la la la’ choruses in virtually the same instant.

Eclecticism then makes way for the brutal with the Disrupt Youth-esque hardcore punk of Spitfireliar. A side project of Butterfingers’ frontman ‘Evil’ Eddie Jacobson, the band thrash out a hard-hitting, chaotic set of songs largely about substance abuse and fucking. In point, Spitfireliar prove that wherever angry youth exist there will be punk rock.

Hard rocking trio Numbers Radio are a different deal altogether. As they launch into their set, the chaos and general confusion of the Valley (magnified by tonight’s bizarre billing) is suddenly jolted into rightness by a clinically tight rock show. “It’s 2010…” remarks one incredulous punter as the band rip into the full-throttle pop-punk of Final Day, the title track of the trio’s EP gaining officialdom tonight. In many ways he has a point – Numbers Radio are hardly the edgy, artful rockers of the zeitgeist and something about songs like Payback, Josephine and older single Come On smack heavily of the late ‘90s. With that in mind, the trio don’t mean to be edgy or artful, and as far as Australian hard rock bands go, Numbers Radio do it better than most.

JACK LANGRIDGE

Scene Magazine - Album Review 05/03/10

Spitfireliar - Spitfireliar
(Bewilderbeats)
Butterfingers front man Eddie Jacobson took on a side project and associated nickname early last year when he assumed the
guitar duties for Brisbane hardcore punk outfit Spitfireliar, under the moniker 'Evil Eddie'. While the sound may have changed,
the lyrical themes won't take Jacobson far outside of his comfort zone (not that he's doing any singing here) with the thrashing
four-piece revelling in shock-comedy themes mercifully obscured by vocalist Mouldy's screamo voice. Titles like 'Mum I Like
Your Lingerie' and 'I Want To Eat Natalie Portman's Poo' are sure to keep them off the playlist of most radio stations bar 4 ZZZ.
Typical to the genre, the album is a series of short, high-intensity tracks belted out unceremoniously - similar to hardcore acts
like Agnostic Front and Toe to Toe, but without the idealism (not that there's anything wrong with that).
Oliver Hildebrand

The Dwarf - Album Review 17/02/10

Spitfireliar - Spitfireliar
If I came across this album as a teenager I think that Spitfireliar would just about have been my favourite band. Their sound is a nice mix of the punk, hardcore and metal sounds I grew up on in the late nineties/early noughties. That’s probably not what many reviews of this album will focus on though, and with a quick browse through the track titles there is a little more interest. Titles such as 'I Want To Eat Natalie Portman's Poo' and 'Mum I Like Your Like Your Lingerie' are invented to gain attention, so let’s give them some. Three songs in we hear of a mum who enjoys breastfeeding long past the point of social acceptance, followed by an ode to boobs including, you know, all the good ones like “Chai boob, high boob, pearl necklace sticky boobs” (huh?).
The logical next song would of course be a warning about global warming. 'Omen' is a track which may have lead to a different result in Copenhagen if Mouldy (vocals), Evil Eddie (guitar), Mung (bass) and Toddie Spitfire (drums) had been invited along, with the world’s other leading minds, to last year’s climate change conference - “Ignorance is bliss until your home is under six foot of water”. They speak the truth, man. Then we arrive at the very punk and very touching tribute to actress Natalie Portman, “Born in the year 1981 from the town of
Jerusalem. Acting debut when you were eleven. Look at you now, sent straight from heaven. Natalie I wanna eat your poo”.
I was looking forward to stumbling through Youtube to find that someone had cut this track into the famous scene from Garden State, where Portman tells Zach Braff that he has to “hear this one song, it will change your life”. Alas, no one has done it yet. From that shit loving song we head back into political territory with 'Right Wing Clipped', a lament at the mainstream’s apathy towards corporate greed as white
collar types “get the golden handshake we get the golden shower”.
Yes, the lyrics are always juvenile and only sometimes humorous. Yes, the political messages are poorly executed and the rhymes are awkward, but despite this the teenager in me thinks that is all part of the fun. This is an album that doesn’t want to be taken too seriously, so perhaps don’t expect to have your mind blown by any brilliance. If you are like me ten years ago though and are looking for some stupid/brutal/punk fun, you’re gonna fuckin’ love it.

Matt Stewart

Rip It Up - Album Review ???/2010