It was April 1990, I remember it well, D-A-D has made a bit of a splash on the charts with Sleeping my Day Away, and Girl Nation, and my 2 housemates were off to see them play at… I want to say it was at the infamous Cobra Club in Parramatta, but I could be wrong (hey, it was thirty bloody two years ago), anyway, I passed. ‘Nah, they’re a one trick gimmick band, not interested’ I proclaimed. Over the years since, I’ve certainly learnt to eat those words. D-A-D certainly have many more tricks up their collective sleeves… and gimmick bands, don’t continue to churn out fantastic tunes, and killer live shows for nigh on 40 years, so I certainly was NOT passing up the chance to see them at the manning this time!
First up tonight, we had Vermantics from Melbourne. Opener Mortality starts out shuffling like Zeppelin’s Good Times Bad Times, before shifting into top gear. The next tune is much more metallic… (Although, all dressed up in White shirts & Black Jackets, they looked a bit like they were playing a wedding). Next is a cover of Joan Jett’s I Love Rock & Roll, which I thought may have been a case of ‘Popping your cork’ a touch early, but it did the trick as is got the crowd down the front dancing. New Single Rome also goes down well.
Later on, we had a guitar solo followed by a cover of the Kinks You really Got Me, which I’m sure I’ve seen somewhere before… (I can’t quite place where).
Fresh from a tour with the Screaming jets, Vermantics are certainly tight & well drilled… and they sure can play, but I feel like they need some more shows to figure out what works in their set.
From Nitocris to the fabulous Fyreflies (as well as and plenty of other vehicles), Jess Finlayson has certainly made an indelible mark on the Sydney Rock scene, so I was really interested to catch her new band Raising Ravens. Careful What You Wish For is a great opener with its driving riff, followed by I Don’t Look Good on Paper and In My Room the manning is warming up nicely.
New single Vexed, (which they gleefully recount shooting in the Parramatta Jail) is a highlight! The Bands sound is Jess’s signature hard hitting Rock / Punk given a new lick of paint, Bass Player Tara Doyle’s vocals also add much to the sound. It’s a trap is another standout song, while the set ends on another a high note with Evil On Calls marching beat & huge chorus. Raising Ravens might well be the best thing that Jess has done yet, I highly recommend that you check ‘em out
The big backdrop said it all DISNEYLAND AFTER DARK! The Carny music intro makes way and the band slam into True Believer. Through the smoke & red light, you can see that Bass Player Stig Pedersen is already perched atop the drums, his see-through Perspex bass with inbuilt flashing lights cutting through the haze. We then get Burning Star from the new album A Prayer For The Loud. It’s a bit of a left field comparison but D-A-D are one of the few bands who have the twinkle in the eye, the tongue in the cheek and the hit like a sledgehammer hammer of old AC/DC. With that, we get the one two punch of Jihad & Girl Nation, Stig now toting his Iron Cross Bass (if you’re not familiar with the phenomenon, spend some time perusing his bass collection online, you wont be disappointed).
A Prayer for the loud, and Everything Glows come next before we Grow or Pay from Riskin’ It All, this song with its unmistakable riff courtesy of Jacob ‘Cobber’ Binzer is a personal favourite, (more so with its extended jam and Stig dancing in the middle section).
Riding with Sue from the first album (Call of the Wild 1986) is next, with vocals from Stig (and Its fairly bizarre storyline). Point of View is next, with its timely lyrics, which seem to have predicted the polarization of society back in 1989.
“Yeah, I’d like to share your point of view, As long as it’s my view too. Can’t win on a comprise, I’d rather lose on my own…”
Then another favourite, “They throw the Best Damn Parties at the Rim of Hell”.
D-A-D are pretty good at throwing parties anywhere, the Manning is certainly pumping at this point. Reconstrucded & Monster Philosophy add to the fire before I Want what She’s Got raises the temperature to critical mass, with Jesper is in the crowd encouraging some “Multitasking”, changing the lyrics to “I want what Laust’s Got” in appreciation of the “new” Drummer (Laust Sonne has been in the band since 1999), then scripting a new tune “on the spot”, singing Come on Laust, Kill those Drums”. The main set ends kicking & screaming with Bad Craziness.
Clearly this was never going to be the end. However, with a catalogue like D-A-D, they’re always going to leave some songs out, and from the recent sets, these are Evil Twin & more devastatingly I Wont Cut My Hair. But to focus on the positive, the encore is an acoustic Laugh & a half, the familiar ringing chords usher in the inevitable Sleeping my Day Away…. “Tomorrows a day off… you don’t work on Saturday! What are you gonna do?”
Then finishing with a wonderfully melancholy It’s After Dark.
It only took me 32 years to make up for the folly of missing then in the first place, but D-A-D sure made it worthwhile! Perth & Melbourne… don’t make the same mistake.
Photos by Adam Sivewright || Review by Biggs
D-A-D
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RAISING RAVENS, VERMANTICS
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