Live Review: Step-Panther, Adults, Doom Mountain

Brisbane lads Doom Mountain have a crunchy blend of garage surf rock that is the peer of any Australian classic. Thrill Seeker headed more into the poppier Ramones area, but Washed Out brought it back to Drums-esque progressions and Sidewalk Shakedown threw it out to full-tilt Arctic Monkeys thrash rock. Watch out for these lads, they have the good shit in good doses.

Adults tell us this may have been their last gig. I really hope not. Move to Melbourne, find Buddha, smoke something or lick a toad; whatever it takes just do it, because music needs you. Although some people may lose the true punk undertones through the art-rock façade, that's their loss. Eddy Current are the closest contemporaries that come to mind, but even at their best they didn't come near Rain. The newbie, Can't Remember, is in the surf rock realm of The Break, with a great riff hook. In the immortal words of Rick Astley, please don't go. Don't gooooooo.

Step-Panther still open their shows with Never Again. That song is a ten and the set only gets better from there, right through to the last reverb of the Rock And Roll Alien freak-out. While Young And Dumb and Rock And Roll Alone got all the radio play, the rest of their self-titled debut album is just as killer. Their live show is total party party, including a drum crash that nearly landed out the window. Nowhere, the lead single off their upcoming album, Strange But Nice, plays like a fresh breeze up your skirt before a public rodgering, pleasantly sinister; surprising given the meeker Weller vibes on the recorded version. These guys are Smith Street and Violent Soho wrapped in a blanket of Philly Jays.