polaroids of androids

Assassination Collective + Ohana + Presseject @ The CAD Factory - 08/02/2008

The CAD Factory doesn't sell beers for $5 in plastic glasses or t-shirts with shit slogans on them. It also doesn't have cunts with collars up getting their once-a-month 'rock on'. Instead, The CAD Factory let's you bring your own longnecks, let's you store your drinks in their fridge and has a friendly guy on the door who later in the night will give you a Tasmanian Bitter cause he has too many of them.

Going along to see a couple of bands play is supposed to be an enjoyable evening out. Somehow the money hungry side of Sydney venues and the boost in popularity of 'Triple J bands' has led to the activity feeling a lot more like a chore. Thanks to the growing underbelly of DIY spaces in industrial pockets of Sydney the fun definitely seems like it's being put back into the word 'gig'.

Due to their lack of accessibility they manage to keep the dickhead factor down to a minimal. They also manage to create an atmosphere where everyone is on the same side, everyone out for the same thing - bands and punters alike. We are all there to get drunk and have some fun.

And drunk I got and fun I had.

I arrived with my two longnecks of Carlton Draught (which I probably didn't need by the stage of the night) and stood in the kitchen area to enjoy the lo-fi electronica of local outfit Presseject. The duo played an entertaining set but were surely outshone by their own menstrual joke when the crowd demanded an encore. Jeez, I love a good menstrual joke.

Born out of the badlands of Wollongong Ohana rock with more passion than most and deliver much more because of it. Their short spurts of guitar punk rock mixed with a more hardcore twist make them sound tortured to perfection. They truly are one of the superior local bands. I thought this before their set and four minutes into their energy driven barrage of what I like to call 'stabbing music' it was confirmed as a FACT. You seriously need to check these guys out as soon as you can.

Assassinate Collective kicked out their party jams to what appeared more like an accidental drunken house party than an organised event. Their energy was an endless, sloppy whirl of enjoyment - occasionally pausing for oxygen before sidekicking the audience once more with wild, unashamed songs of everyday bullshit and mattress fucking.

Their set seemed to be perfectly joined to the unconfined surroundings which they found themselves in. On several occasions the line between the performers and the audience becoming blurred and spat on.

Most evidentially when, after some playful heckles, this guy...

.. found himself taking up part of the singing duties.

I am a sucker for crowd interaction and I don't care how planned it is - it ALWAYS makes the show come alive.

All in all it was one of the more entertaining shows I have been to in some time - partly because of the cosy surroundings but also because all of the bands held absolutely nothing back. I think we all need a show like this now and again to remind us just how much the local scene can come alive when presented in the right way.