"This jumpsuit was a real bad idea for a Brisbane show," Party Dozen saxophonist Kirsty Tickle told the crowd.
Standing on the stage at Brisbane's Black Bear Lodge (6 October), Kirsty panted, her brow dripping sweat. Tickle explained she should have known better, having grown up in Toowoomba and lived in Brisbane for a time (during that time, she was a member of indie pop band Little Scout).Behind her, drummer Jonathan Boulet's white shirt was drenched and strands of his long hair stuck to the sweat on his face. That intrusive moment of humid reality was quickly drowned by Jonathan's chest-thumping kick drum and piercing stabs of Kirsty's sax.
Since exploding from the underground with their 2022 third album 'The Real Work', the Sydney duo have only gotten bigger. The pair have toured hard, both here and overseas, supporting the likes of Regurgitator and Amyl And The Sniffers, and collaborating with rapper Billy Woods and dark prince Nick Cave. Rather than rest, Party Dozen have released a fourth album of skronking jams, 'Crime In Australia', which they're celebrating by sweating through jumpsuits across the country.
A pair of lights bobbed in the darkness. Moving closer to the stage, those lights were revealed to be the Brisbane duo Lunar Dirt, who have wrapped their heads in fairy lights.
Drummer Kurt Read bashed out a massive groove, while Louise O'Reilly hovered over her synthesisers. She moved across her station, twisting knobs until her machines bleeped and whirred. The combination of electronics and live drums rumble through the floors, keeping heads in the early crowd nodding through their electric opening set.
"Guys, has anyone lost their socks because they've just been rocked off?" asked Platonic Sex guitarist Jane Millroy. The Brisbane band are the odd-ones-out on this line-up, being the only band to feature more than two members and also featuring guitars.
The band have been on a steady rise, releasing excellent alt-rock singles such as 'Melon' and 'When I Come Home, I'll Find A Hill To Die On', both of which the band blasted in their support set.
The heat began to be felt, with bassist Jess Cameron fanning herself when her hands were free, but that didn't stop vocalist/ guitarist Bridget Brandolini bouncing across the stage, fuelled by her sugar-sweet melodies. The band also announced their debut album is close to being finished and due for release next year, which will surely attract tonight's crowd like ants to honey.
A sampler sitting on a stool next to Jonathan Boulet played the fuzzy bassline for Party Dozen's opener, 'The Worker'. As he played a roll on his thighs, Kirsty Tickle raised the bell of her sax and yelped into the microphone inside, her voice distorted and echoing. After one last yelp, a cavalcade of drums and long blasts of sax stormed through the venue.
Jonathan is a giant behind his kit, his frame towering over it. During mid-song pauses, he raised his arm high in the air, only inches from tapping the lights above, before slamming his stick down and making his snare rock.
While he was confined to his drums, Kristy dominated much of the stage. She covered the territory, marching and hopping across it all while sounding her horn over Jonathan's funk groove.
"Alright, that was probably our toughest song," Kirsty told the crowd after the heavy metal thrash of 'Sports Authority'. "Now it's time for our dumbest song." She may have crowned what came next the dumbest, but it still sounded tough to the ears in the venue.
Jonathan's kick drum jackhammered inside chests and Kirsty thrashed across the stage, punching and high kicking against the punishing heat inside. She made her way to her pedal board, rocking her foot on her wah pedal and warping her horn blasts into discordant noise.
The primal sound made fans in the crowd lose control, turning into a mass of shaking and screaming bodies. Kirsty stood above the sweating frenzy, raising her sax high above her head, breathing in the Brisbane humidity.
