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Deerhoof at Transit Bar

Nothing happens in Canberra on a Monday night, right? Wrong! In fact one of the loudest, rowdiest gigs I’ve been to in a very long time occurred last month on a Monday night at Transit Bar.

Internationally renowned ‘noise band’ Deerhoof are completing a quick four week tour of Australia, and on their way to Sydney, they decided to make a one night stop-over in Canberra, to the delight of fans and curious newbies alike.

The night kicked off with some support acts, each with their own particular flavour.

First up to warm the room was Golden Blonde whose heavy metal was seriously loud. There were three guitar players crowded onto the stage and you could truly appreciate the skill and calices required to deliver such a sound.

The bar itself was fuller than I had expected, and though no one was brave enough to dance yet, there was a growing crowd standing and admiring the Sydney band.

Golden Blonde’s set was short and sweet and once our ears had been given a moments recovery, a new band took to the stage.

TV Colours were armed with a keyboard, drums and two laptops. A complete contrast to Golden Blonde; TV Colours played psychedelic tunes with minimalist vocals. Their songs stretched and merged into another, taking you on a journey with synthesizers and hypnotic bass.

As the bar filled up, more and more people were standing or swaying to the music. TV Colour’s set was certainly less metal, but it was distinctly louder. Though I would soon find out that things could get a whole lot louder in Transit Bar.

I spoke to the Bar manager about the rather sizeable crowd and he modestly agreed it was a “pretty good size for a Monday.” Slight understatement I would have thought.

Fan of Deerhoof, Christine Scanlan was stoked to be seeing one of her favorite bands here in Canberra.

“I have been counting down the days until tonight, as soon as I heard they were coming to Canberra I bought tickets then and there!” Ms Scanlan said.

After being informed of how amazing this band was, finally Deerhoof’s set began. A strong bass reverberated through the club. The lights were shaking in their fittings. The furniture vibrated as each chord was struck. A crowd seemed to surge forward out of nowhere and before I knew it I could no longer even see the stage, just a mass of people.

That’s when things got louder. To describe Deerhoof’s sound is almost impossible. It was heavy and metal but also quite bass heavy and dreamlike in some instances. It seemed to jump from hardcore guitars to psychedelic intervals. The drums were loud and the beats not quite normal. Lead singer Satomi Matsuzaki may be pint sized but she sure can sing. Her high-pitched vocals carried over the band right through to the back of the room.

The crowd loved every minute and were dancing and cheering as they began each new song. There were guitar battles, microphone feedback and malfunctioning lights which all made for an amusing performance.

When Deerhoof left the stage at the end of their set, the crowd managed to coax them back out for an encore that left my ear drums reeling for days afterwards.

So what did you do last Monday night? If you go

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looking, Canberra has some great things on offer every day of the week. You just have to find them.

Recent Comments

1

Hey mate, FYI: TV Colours were first (they are local Canberra boys), and Golden Blonde were second with the laptops etc!

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