Live Review: Honeyblood, Twin Haus

After a rainy week topped off by most of the Fortitude Valley entertainment precinct closing due to the havoc of ex-cyclone Debbie Downer, Brisbane hits back in force with a packed-out night across some of the Valley’s most prominent venues, including The Brightside, which tonight hosts Glaswegian goddesses Honeyblood.

The night starts off young, with local psych-rock group Twin Haus. They wander onto the stage and set up quickly, with the crowd barely having enough time to realise that they’ve started before they fill the room with a heady mix of synth and drums. Normally a four-piece, drummer Nicholas McMillan is nowhere to be seen — instead being somewhere in Melbourne for the night — and the collective instead make smart use of a drum machine, which, although not as good as McMillan’s regular percussion, does the job. Frontman Daniel Grima can be seen crouching by his pedals as he creates a flux of different sounds from his guitar with a few touches, and bassist/synth lord Iti Memon creates of myriad of music from his multiple instruments. Guitarist Zachary Degnan has a look of concentration on his face as note after note blends into each other and the three musicians create an eclectic and mesmerising concoction of music.

We soon find ourselves in a throng of people all jostling in front of the stage, excitement running high as Honeyblood start their first song, Justine, Misery Queen. As the first words leave the lips of guitarist Stina Marie Claire Tweeddale, the room becomes a frenzy of movement and shakily sung-along lyrics. Drummer Cat Meyers sings along as well, never missing a beat as she plays with a passionate frenzy. Love Is A Disease plays next and, starting out slow, it gets the room swaying before erratically shaking to the chorus. Between songs, the girls throw out some chatter and talk about how great it is to be in Brisbane (aw, cute, thanks for coming), even going so far as to say we could be better than Sydney (thanks, we know).

After a few minutes of chat, Tweeddale announces an old song, Choker, and the frenzy repeats. They bang out Sister Wolf, Cruel Kids, and Hey, Stellar perfectly before launching into hit single Sea Hearts and most recent album title track Babes Never Die. They finish off their set with Super Rat and Killer Bangs, but not before passing “Gary the GoPro” to the crowd to film themselves while they play. It’s all a pretty fun time, with fan after fan passing Gary around and filming themselves, each other, the band, and before long it’s passed back up to Meyers and the two ladies depart the stage to raucous and uproarious applause and shouts for an encore.