Like all successfully orchestrated nights at The Tote, I ended the evening hogtied with my own t-shirt while a very drunk, grown man shot party-poppers at me then passed out fully clothed. But let’s start from the beginning.
A Very Fang It! Christmas, brought to you by the PBS show of the same name was an evening of relentlessly loud bad-arse rock’n’roll. It was a hazy, sweaty, happy night and a great way to officially welcome the silly season. I rolled into The Tote fashionably yet unprofessionally late, and missed the said-to-be out of control set by local punkers The FckUps, so I helped myself to some Tote-BBQ-hash browns to quell my guilt.
Soon enough the stage was commandeered by SCUL HAZZARDs, the London/Melbourne Noise-Rock trio who almost brought the hash browns back out with the sheer power of their bass guitar. Each member held true to the genre with a serious amount of noisecoming from each instrument, combining with killer melodies and mesmerisingly long hair to put on an awesome show.
Next up were local rockers Mesa Cosa who blasted onto the stage in a shower of fraudulent currency they’d printed themselves, and threw at the crowd whenever they weren’t seriously rocking out – which wasn’t very often. The set was tight, energetic and extremely loud. Always a good time, they screamed, shredded and Spanished their hearts out in a sweaty attack on the senses.
By this point in the night I was sucked into the thrashing mosh pit. Sun God Replica hit the stage and absolutely blew me away. They weren’t quite as loud as the previous bands, maybe only five or six times louder than is necessary and absolutely nailed their set, in my extremely boozy opinion. They’re local legends and deserve the attention.
Last but obviously not least, according to the screaming drunken fans were The Peep Tempel. I can’t really say much except that I consider myself lucky I survived the maelstrom of extremely excited boys in that crowd. And the band fed those animals. They really rocked out. I managed to eject myself from the pit after I watched a dear friend face-plant in an attempt to claw his way on stage. I opted out.
It was a great night. And a Very Fang It! Christmas indeed.
BY JAKE MCGOVERN
Loved: A bassist’s hair that quivers in time to the lurching rhythms.
Hated: Sweaty, baboon-like men.
Drank: Not in a car park. Nope.
