I'd seen Regurgitator a few years ago. I think it was after they released their 'Unit' album back in 1997. Well, it's 6 years and two albums later and Regurgitator rocked the casbah once again. I only vaguely remember that night 6 years ago. This is due to both the lapse in time and 750mls of vodka that I and 5 others sucked out of a bottle. We looked like absolute derelicts, but we didn't care.
I remember standing on the side of the road drinking out of this bottle, and I'm talking large sups, when a car drove by but couldn't get past because one of the guys we were with was in the way. The lady hit the horn and this dude, who I'd just met that day, merely stuck his finger (the naughty finger) up at her. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen. I don't know why.
I also remember convincing some drunk guy at the gig that my friends and I shared the names of the guys from Rage Against The Machine. I also remember a conversation that revolved around 'wangs'.
Anyhow, I seem to have gone a bit too far into the past. Allow me to fast forward to the most recent gig. Regurgitator was supported by two bands; Darth Vegas and Decoder Ring.
Incidentally: The beers at The Metro are $5.20 each. Talk about an anal violation. Fuck the street sign, I'm almost certain that they did me with a Buick.
Darth Vegas: We only managed to catch the last few songs of the Darth Vegas set and we were duly impressed. This might stem from the fact that Darth Vegas are strongly reminiscent of a friend's band called 1000 Slimey Things. Darth Vegas sounded like a weird mix of metal, big band, funk, glam rock. I'd like to say more but I only saw a song and a half. Needless to say that if I have a chance to see them again, I will endeavor to do so.
By the by: 1000 Slimey Things are probably one of the better bands roaming around Sydney (and I'm not just saying this cause I know them either). They are certainly a million times better than the reprehensible Decoder Ring.
Decoder Ring: Suck 8 types of ass.
Decoder Ring are an electronica/rock band.
I'm a fan of both electronic music and rock music and, as such, I believe that, if mixed properly, it has the potential to take you to all sorts of giddy places that have only previously been described in the pages of the Karma Sutra. Unfortunately, as evidenced by Nu-Metal, the reality is that genre mixing rarely turns out well. Decoder Ring was no exception.
I'll describe a song for you and by doing so I will have described every fucking song that they played. It starts with a slow, boring ambient-type introduction. After about 2 minutes of this, it suddenly kicks into a fast/semi-fast breakbeat (the rocking out (bits of which sounded like 80's thrash metal)) after which it subsides into a slow, boring ambient outro.
One song had guest vocals by some guy (a guest, I think) who sounded like he was straight out of the 80's. He ended the song by telling us to go check out the Hopetoun this coming Saturday. I don't know if his band is playing on the Saturday but I tell you this: there's a good chance that I will avoid the Hopetoun at all costs just to get away from that fucker.
I'm not sure when kids decided that adding bloated, pretentious intros to their already bloated, pretentious music would be a good idea. My friends couldn't tell when one Decoder Ring song ended and when the other began.
Oh, look, they've got a new album out. Hooray!
Regurgitator: Before we go on, I'd just like to point out that I've never referred to Regurgitator as 'The 'Gurge' and I pray to one-eyed Loki that I never find myself in a situation where I have to.
Anyhoo: the 'Gurge put on an excellent show.
They punked up most of the songs so that slower songs like 'Polyestergirl' were played damn fast. What made the new renditions of the songs so good is that they managed to keep all of the details of the original song. I don't know if you've heard 'Polyestergirl' but towards the end there's this little solo drum break just before the chorus kicks in for the last time. Well, they kept little details like that in and then they went back to playing 'Polyestergirl' at the faster speed.
Some of the songs that the 'Gurge played were backed up by, I assume, tapes or some other recorded media. During the course of the concert Ben (bass) and Quan (guitar) would put down their instruments and just sing or rap. As such, there where times when both had instruments, times when one or the other had an instrument, and times when neither had instruments. The drummer always drummed.
The new 'Gurge album is a weird mixture of 80's Hip Hop, Nu-Metal pastiche and weird punk-pop. This meant that there would be quite a bit of Hip Hop being played. The 'Gurge pulled it off quite well. My Compadre commented that it 'shits on most Aussie Hip Hop' and I find it hard to disagree. They both have a really decent flow, even if you can't tell if they're being serious or not.
Apparently, they didn't play many songs from the 'Art...' album but I can't speak to that cause I don't own that album and I've only heard it once or twice. The next day, however, I went out and bought 'Unit' and 'Eduardo and Rodriguez Wage War On T-Wrecks'. It's weird cause while I'm looking at the albums sitting on my desk with whatever other albums I happen to be listening to, I regret having bought them. However, when I put the albums on I really dig them. They're both pretty contagious.
After finishing the set with 'Kong Foo Sing' they mentioned that they would be encoring. 30 seconds later they came back out. My Compadre wanted to hear 'Blubber Boy' while I was aching for 'Fat Cop'. The encore consisted of several songs and, happily, both 'Blubber Boy' and 'Fat Cop'. They also played 'I Wanna Be Sedated' by the Ramones which was a thrill even though the Ramones ain't got nothing on the Dead Kennedys.
Of the two 'Gurge gigs that I'd seen, the latter one was better. What can I say, I like the punk rock.
Reviewed on Friday, 10 January 2003