Live Review: Royston Vasie

Gun Fever are behind the scenes of a lot of worthy bands, including the local bands Dead Owls and Mezzanine. As well as releasing some records, they hold music gigs for some great Australian bands willing to make the trek to Perth. On this particular night the Newport stage was graced by Royston Vasie free of charge.

In previous interviews the band have discussed other Melbourne bands that they like, such as Twerps, Eddy Current Suppression Ring and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. Another to add to the list is the sweetly honest Courtney Barnett, who has been playing around Perth with the band on their national tour. The genre similarities between Barnett and the band have made it an easy transition to a live setting, as her addition on guitar made for an enhanced set. In turn their love of Australian rock and interaction with other local bands have influenced the sound that is now known as Royston Vasie.

The first song of the night, That's My Girl showed straight off the rasping scream of the co-vocalists. Those vocal styles added to four-chord guitar strums – a sound reminiscent of the catchiness bands like The Dandy Warhols have mastered. The introspective All The Little People was thrown in the centre of the set, with eerie distorted chords in the intro to a resounding chorus. Likewise, the rest of the crowd was getting into the slacker garage band sounds. During All The Little People an unknown man had struck up a conversation with my friend, admitting he didn't know who the band were and had just come in since he heard them from the bar. It didn't even take a full song until he was nodding his head to the catchy melodies. Although there are major resemblances with chord progressions through many of their songs the variation lies within the dynamic wandering bass, making each of them memorable. After playing Pop Boutique they threw themselves into the familiar You Want It Now, a surreal feeling as it was one of my favourite songs of 2012. With the exemplary country foot stomps and head shaking it was hard not to remember the first time I heard this track or saw bassist Brad Hardingham's little shimmy at the end of the accompanying video clip.

The night was a brew of long hair, Chelsea boot stomps and talented friends who had just tagged along for the tour. Gun Fever had once again put on some cool rock to finish off the weekend – just enough to give you some tunes to hum on your dreary Monday morning.