Live Review: Hockey Dad, Step-Panther, High-Tails

High-Tails gave us the rawness and easy-listening of pub bands that we all know and love. The sounds were enjoyably unpolished. Bending Over Backwards was the most together of the bunch of tunes, with its '60s-inspired riffs.

Guitarist/vocalist Steve Bourke and bassist Zach Stephenson of Sydney trio Step-Panther began by play-fighting, using their instruments as body shields. This gave an elongated intro into Rock & Roll Alien, a song that featured those four words repeated over a series of clatters and clashes. Repetition of phrases was a common style adopted by Step-Panther — their lyric-writing may need some consideration. They sort of made up for it with their ability to get the crowd moving.

Zach Stephenson, frontman of Hockey Dad, surprised us all when he opened his mouth to reveal really nice vocals after providing pretty mediocre back-ups in Step-Panther. The Hockey Dad duo wonderfully prepped us for the warmer months to come with their surfer-garage-summer-rock sounds. They played Beach House and other glowing track Mr Sunshine early on. In the middle of the set Stephenson experienced some technical difficulties with his guitar. He spent some time fixing the problem and joked that the error would flesh out the set to fill the full hour time-slot they had. Stephenson's tipsy banter kept us entertained, though we were glad when the set was back on track. A new tune had all the right elements to be a fan-favourite with its catchy light-hearted riff and sweet melodic "oooh"s. The punters, however, were disappointingly tame — lacking in energy and perhaps suffering from a case of Terrible Tuesdays. Hockey Dad saved their most well-known three for last; Can't Have Them eased into I Need A Woman and they polished the set off with Seaweed, engaging the crowd in an adoring singalong.