The Metro is packed. It took me about twenty minutes to get a drink and then another
eternity before I could score a spot that would allow me a visual to the stage. I wasn’t
aware how popular these guys were; I had heard Default maybe a hundred times on the
radio and Storm a handful of times, but that was it. I hadn’t heard any murmurs on the
street or on the Internet. I had dismissed them as mediocre wunderkinds.
They seemed to be having some technical difficulties and were delayed, but the crowd
didn’t seem to mind. It was a Friday night, so everyone was in good spirits. Finally they
came on, wearing shirts that I initially thought were identical, but each shirt had a different icon. Tommy Grace expertly mixed the synth operator for the first three songs. I was
really impressed by these four lads from Scotland, and they genuinely seemed to be having
the time of their lives, with massive grins, like they couldn’t believe they were living the
dream.
I was also pretty stoked to see that they were using a wide range of percussion instruments,
even the humble cowbell made an appearance. I hadn’t seen any of these instruments since
I was in primary school; its nice to see them regain validity amongst musicians. After their
third song they said their hellos and announced that it was their largest gig in Sydney yet.
Throughout the gig the band members switched instruments and themselves around: the
bassist (Jimmy Dixon) joined in with the drummer (David Maclean), Vincent joined Tommy,
Tommy joined David, and Jimmy joined Tommy. So everyone was in on everyone else’s
business.
The energy levels were quite stable, but after a while you could see that the crowd
were starving for their hit single Default, and they delivered. It was such an energetic performance, you could see that the lads were dripping. Either this was the hardest they had ever played or they hadn’t adjusted to the Australian climate yet. The last four songs were in the same league and they ended with “Wor”. They did the obligatory encore, and
luckily they didn’t leave the crowd hanging: all those under-age patrons could have torn the
place down.
They have only one album out but already they’ve sold out the Metro and have a broad base.
These guys cannot stay away from the Australian shoreline for too long, it would be cruel to
their fans.
