Live Review: Violent Soho, Straight Arrows, Gunns

Well it was lock-out at Amps, and with a surprisingly fast-moving line, punters who tried their luck getting tickets at the door were turned away as tonight was a complete sell-out. Kicking off the night's proceedings were Perth four-piece surf rock/pop group Gunns, who put on a pretty impressive set to the growing crowd; their songs are well constructed and definitely won over some new fans. Next up were Sydney psychedelic punk (is that even a genre?) band Straight Arrows. Their style is fast, upbeat and all over the place. They seemed to lack a bit of polish, but that was probably due to the band running around stage like mad men. Their sound is very unique and they offered a nice build-up for what was to follow.

Before Violent Soho began their much-anticipated set guitarist James Tidswell took to the stage and told the crowd frontman Luke Boerdam had lost his voice at Thursday night's show. “Instead of cancelling, we're gonna do something we've never done before: It's gonna be Violent Soho karaoke. You guys feel free to jump on stage and sing with us,” Tidswell said to a thunderous rapture of applause. They started the set with the first track off their 2013 album, Hungry Ghost, with Dope Calypso setting the tone for what would become an intense and chaotic hour-long set. The band performed with high energy and countless numbers of punters were jumping on stage to help frontman Luke Boerdam, who battled through the set gallantly but was clearly in some discomfort singing. They focused on songs from Hungry Ghost, including favourites Saramona Said, Covered In Chrome and In The Aisle. The scenes on stage were becoming more chaotic as large numbers of people began swarming it and bodies were flying everywhere. Guitarist Tidswell even had his hat stolen by a dude who jumped on stage, which clearly infuriated him, telling the crowd: “Send my hat back, cunt. If anyone sees a cunt with a black Passport hat – bash the cunt!” The amount of people jumping on stage resulted in three security guards taking up permanent residence on stage to try and keep things under control. The standout song of the set was an older track, Muscle Junkie – with the entire crowd chanting along to the lyrics, “Fuck you! Fuck you! I hate your face,” as if we all pictured that one person we would love to scream those words to. Members from Straight Arrows also jumped on stage to help the Violent Soho guys out, and even defunct Perth hardcore band Break Even frontman Mark Bawden jumped up to sing a few songs. They finished their set with Jesus Stole My Girlfriend, in what was one of the most intense and enjoyable shows I have ever witnessed.