Some Saturdays the sun rudely awakens your half-naked self on the couch to find a floor covered in mi goreng, and your body aching all over from being beat up by a crowd of flannel clad rockers. Tumbleweed’s Galactaphonic 20th anniversary show at the Corner was the instigator this time, which came with solid support from Batpiss and Hoss.
First up were Batpiss with their raw, doomy punk sound, representing the new wave of Melbourne rockers. Their music’s imperfections and impurity gives them an edge in the current scene, finding an intensity that others have forgotten about and left on the front lawn for hard rubbish collection. Their set was loaded with tracks from their recently released Biomass – The Idiot a stand out. Does Biomass have the potential to have it’s own 20th anniversary show? Only time will tell. But I rate the album, the band, and the name. Extra points for the drummer’s fashion sense, putting his shirt over the back of his head, like a soccer player celebrating scoring a goal.
Hoss’ performance proved that no matter how you look, you can still rock out. The short and stocky frontman Joel Silbersher exchanged some piss-take banter with the crowd, who may or may not have been listening, but it was funny nonetheless. With Dean Muller from Cosmic Psychos whacking the tubs, they brought the grunt of ‘90s garage rock to the stage before Tumbleweed took the reigns.
When Galactaphonic was released in 1995, I was eight, and wasn’t cool enough to be into Tumbleweed. In my late teens, the record was passed my way, and from my first exposure to the riff-driven, fuzz-ridden power of every track, I knew it was a classic. In one-million-AD, if the world still exists, the record will remain a pillar of the Australian rock scene.
Not waiting for the curtains to be pulled back, the ‘90s rock’n’rollers blasted out Hanging Around. Singer Richard Lewis hunched over the mic stand and held on tight as if to stop the wall of sound from knocking him over. It took until the fourth song, Medicine, for the crowd to really get moving, trading bobbing-heads for some chaotic pit action. There was crowd surfing and stage diving, and one punter perfectly pirouetted onto the stage before completing an Olympic hop, skip and jump back into the audience. At one point, there was so much beer on the floor that all-terrain shoes were needed just to stand up.
After playing the album in full, the band encored with a ‘best of’ set, including the ripper Daddy Long Legs and Acid Rain, a tribute to their fallen comrade. It wasn’t sold out, but it was a killer show filled with people who’ve felt the lasting effects of Galactaphonic.
BY LEE SPENCER-MICHAELSEN
Photo by Ian Laidlaw
Loved: Batpiss.
Hated: Not buying a Batpiss t-shirt.
Drank: Mountain Goat Steam Ale with vodka and pepper shot chasers (for Oma).
