LOOKIN' BACK ON 2010

2010 has been a pretty special year for music around these parts. Here are some of my favourite performances I've filmed over the last 12 months. It's worth noting that a lot of the venues that this stuff is from have closed down (The Hangar, Cubby Hole) or are about to close down (Burst City). Keep supporting these bands/venues etc. stupid rant etc.

Grab a six pack of your favourite brew then lets look back on 2010, eh?


DUD PILLS - Cubby Hole (June 5)



Only about 20 people came to this show, and a lot of people seemed to have the attitude of 'meh' towards this depressingly underrated Adelaide band. Not me though, Dud Pills fucking owned.


CIRCLE PIT - Cosmo's Rock Lounge (October 1)



Not many people came to this show either, and considering it was a fundraiser to help Circle Pit tour the USA, well bloody hell. Circle Pit played an awesome fuck off set.


ROYAL HEADACHE - The Annandale Hotel (October 3)



The RIP Society Records Success Summit was the most epic show I've seen this year. Frontman Shogun was apparently on the tail end of a brutal 3 day bender, and whatever was going through his head at the time definitely added to this performance.


FABULOUS DIAMONDS - Burst City (September 3)



Brisbane absorbs the swinging pendulum of nihilistic glory from inner city Melbourne hypnotists Fabulous Diamonds. That there is the lamest metaphoric sentence you have ever wrote Matt but I will keep it here where no one but you will read it.


NAKED ON THE VAGUE - Burst City (July 30)



NOTV hadn't played in Brisbane since 2006, way too long considering how many people love them here. They had just released their already legendary album 'Heaps of Nothing' and things were good. Damn good.


SUPER WILD HORSES - The Hangar (July 17)



'Fifteen', the debut album from Super Wild Horses has been a big favourite at my place, it always gets a play when we're all hanging out on the stoop. This video was from their first show in Brisbane, and it was a very decent set. I think I bought a pie from 7/11 on the walk home.


CHROME DOME - Burst City (April 23)



Every time Chrome Dome appear in my life I know a few more years are going to get cut off of my life expectancy but it's always worth it as I would probably waste those years anyway. Chrome Dome + Burst City was a perfect match.


BOOMGATES - Repressed Records (October 2)



I mostly like bands that have a passionate dedication to getting wasted and live on the edge of death but sometimes you just want one of those other kinds of bands that promote the almost unthinkable idea of optimism. Filming Boomgates at Repressed Records was a great pleasure.


BLANK REALM - Burst City (September 3)



A massive year for Blank Realm, and no doubt they will be filling stadiums by the end of 2011. I was completely trashed at this show and I think they were too, hell I think everybody was. Burst City.


MEAT THUMP - Alloneword (September 12)



Members of White Cop / cult zine writer form a new band in the shitty outer burbs of Brisbane, lug their shit into a shitty Fortitude Valley venue to play a shitty show on a shitty Sunday afternoon to a bunch of shitty people and the result? total transcendence of said shittiness. Meat Thump's shit is pure and this live debut was nothing short of brilliance.


WHORES - The Annandale Hotel (October 3)



It's hard to write about Whores, they're a band that just make sense to me. I filmed a few of their sets this year and they were all great but this show was perfect.


ABSOLUTE BOYS - Cubby Hole (June 19)



Absolute Boys make me wish I actually spent time trying to learn music, at least enough so that I could 'funk it out' or whatever you kids do. Their first time in Brisbane, and the first time I realised my camera had a motion sensor thing that seemed specifically designed to bring the head nods.


ALPS - Newcastle house show (April 16)



Alps put on a guitar and played a solid set of noisy folk tunes on a Newcastle patio. Reminds me that it's sometimes good to get out of Brisbane. Actually it's always good to get out of Brisbane.


SKY NEEDLE - Burst City (July 18)



Sky Needle sound like a band that prehistoric humans from thousands and thousands of years ago would have created if they had been visited by aliens, harnessed the awesome power of electricity and then invented a foot pump related musical instrument to annoy the moon. This afternoon set at Burst City was great.


SCIENCE - Brisbane house show (January 26)



A show from the beginning of the year, Science (later they changed their name to Psy Ants and became a 3 piece and still haven't released anything and haven't played in awhile) playing in a lounge room in Paddington, down the road from my house. Cops came and shut the whole party down soon after this set.

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That's it for 2010. Thanks to everyone for taking an interest in this blog. I haven't updated much lately as a large amount of beer was spilt on my laptop a month ago and you'd think that shit would be easy enough to fix but no.

FABULOUS DIAMONDS / GUY BLACKMAN / SURF CITY / CRAYON FIELDS / HIGH PLACES AT FRANKLY! POP FESTIVAL 4-09-10

Still feeling messed up from the night before, I stagger through Brisbane's public transport system half dead trying to make it to the Brisbane Powerhouse in time to see Fabulous Diamonds play at 1:30pm SHARP (this is a very professional event). I arrive just as they start and someone remarks to me about the cold atmosphere of the place. The sound is clean, inoffensive and at a ridiculously safe volume. The stage and lighting give off a vibe of distant sterility and I wonder how any band could make a lasting impression with their audience in an environment like this. Putting my personal thoughts aside though this was definitely a fun afternoon out of the house and for the casual gig-goer it would have been fantastic.


FABULOUS DIAMONDS





Melbourne's Fabulous Diamonds play a nicely contrasted set to their one the night previous, playing today to a laid back afternoon crowd of beverage sippers compared to the self destructively brutal yet downright glorious hedonism of Burst City. A truly great band will easily put on a good performance in both of these scenarios, and Fabulous Diamonds do just that.


GUY BLACKMAN



Melbourne legend Guy Blackman, known mostly for his great record label Chapter Music. Breezy lyric driven pop.


SURF CITY



I don't get to see nearly enough NZ bands which sucks because they rule at music. Auckland's Surf City were an enjoyable highlight for me.


CRAYON FIELDS



Another Melbourne based band, Crayon Fields played technically proficient pop at it's most thoughtfully adept.


HIGH PLACES





Somebody a few years ago gave me a burnt CDR of High Places (hailin' all the way from LA) and I remember putting it on my mp3 player and listening to it on the bus a few times etc. so I was fairly interested to see them live and yeah, it was pretty alright. There's another american band that's kind of similar called Reading Rainbow, I like them heaps, check 'em out.

BLANK REALM / FABULOUS DIAMONDS AT BURST CITY 3-09-10

I know most of the shows I've filmed over the last couple of months have been from Burst City and it might seem a little repetitive but that's because it feels like the cosmic centre of Brisbane music right now. A show with a great lineup like this was going to be awesome no matter what venue it was in, but this was something else entirely. Feathers, Deadnotes and Slug Guts also played amazing sets that I wasn't able to film due to the dark lighting. Audio recordings of the whole night should be available at Turnitupto10 pretty soon I reckon.


BLANK REALM



Wow. There was something otherworldly about Blank Realm's set, a complete transcendental bliss that only this band can achieve. I was pretty out of it and can't really remember filming this but watching it back made me realise how much I fucking love this band.


FABULOUS DIAMONDS



Fabulous Diamonds are one of my favourite bands. This is the soundtrack to get wasted to and forget about your shitty life. They last played Brisbane a year ago supporting Pink Reason and were unfortunately mostly overlooked, but here they return and this time play a much deserved headline set.

PINK REASON / SLUG GUTS / FABULOUS DIAMONDS / BLANK REALM AT THE STEP INN 10-09-09

The lineup was mindblowing, I haven't looked forward to a show as much as this one for a long time. Pink Reason was the best thing I've seen in ages. Great fucking band mate.

PINK REASON:



SLUG GUTS:



FABULOUS DIAMONDS:



BLANK REALM: