Drunk Mums’ launch of their single Plastic was a triumphant celebration of Melbourne’s garage rock scene. So free of pretention was this event that it felt more like a birthday party where everyone knew and loved each other. Flannel, plaid shirts, skinny jeans and obscure band t-shirts was the uniform and pints were the drink of choice.
At the beginning of the night, despite the band room feeling empty, when Rayon Moon began playing their desperately raw and jangly rock’n’roll everyone in the room reported to front of stage and began swaying rhythmically.
WOD aka Weapon of Destruction aka Christopher Breeze is one hell of a frontman and he is backed by one hell of a band. This guy moves like Iggy Pop with a seductive croon to match and the way guitarist Jimmy G(allagher) and bass player Jake Doyle lock into a groove is masterfully compelling. When the band played their song WOD A Drag, there was crowdsurfing and moshing – the popularity of this song was probably buoyed by the fact the band had just released a film clip for it.
Female fronted rock band Miss Destiny played a righteous set with its four babin’ band members channelling L7 and The Breeders.
With Drunk Mums about to take stage, the room was packed but, as asserted earlier in this review, it was a unified crowd with taller punters happily letting smaller people push past. Drunk Mums opened with new song A Gain that had the audience whirring, swaying and stacking with excitement. In a previous performance, Drunk Mums has come across as a band with three lead singers with Jake Doyle (guitar), Adam Ritche (bass) and Dean Whitby (guitar) all sharing vocal duties.
However, for this performance Whitby appeared to be sitting back a little bit a focusing on his fingering while his bandmates took the limelight. Drummer Jonny Badlove was in fine form on the skins as usual although rumour has it that he had only three hours sleep in the previous 72 hours.
The song that was the reason for this event, the rollicking punk rock tune with a huge chorus, Plastic, bobbed up about halfway through the set and the fact everyone knew the words was testament to the fact that Drunk Mums have a passionate following.
With a CherryRock performance and a couple of international support slots to come I anticipate that by summer Drunk Mums will be playing larger scale venues.
BY DENVER MAXX
Loved: The bands’ t-shirts.
Hated: That when I went to Hungry Jack’s on the way home and my credit card declined.
Drank: Beer.
