The Annandale or "The Dale" as it is so lovingly referred to by the regulars, has a solid standing in Australian Rock and Roll history. With simple black and white photographs of seminal musicians from the past few decades. (I.e Richard Ashcroft, Craig Nichols - Pre neurological/narcotic meltdown, The Finn Brothers, Peter Garret - Pre political satan-esque sell out, etc etc), it is one of Sydney's most revered venues.
As it was my first time there, I arrived quite early to peruse the premises and get a feel for the place. To my surprise almost all of the musicians who were playing were quite happy to walk around and chat to the punters.
'Tennis' were the first support band. They absolutely blew me away. The 5-piece from Sydney (who, judging by their demo have recenlty signed to Modular) were very modest and quite happy to play for the 12 or so people in the crowd. I've heard that they have been touring mainly around the usual Sydney haunts and Modular Records being the tour enforcing demons they are will probably have them on a support slot some time in the near future...let's just hope they don't wear them out like Tame Impala.
Listing their influences as Sonic Youth, Joy Division, Brian Eno, Pixies, etc etc it's hard not to dismiss them with the other Sydney indie darlings (Amy Merideth and Mercy Arms anyone?) however, they actually delivered. The lead vocalist demonstrates a perfectly tuned Thom Yorke/Jeff Buckley whaling voice along with some fine guitar plucking skills. Judging by everyones reaction, the crowd seemed to thoroughly enjoy them as well. They ran through about 10 songs and ended with a marathon solo and distortion fest. Expect big things from these guys...hopefully not too big just yet. (R.I.P Temper Trap)
Tennis - Dancing On A Knife (WOW Remix)
Next up was Ted & Francis aka Like Woah!. (One couldn't help but think this was a Kitsune biased gig with Lost Valentinos and T&F both signed to the label). I've heard a couple of their tracks floating around, i.e Kitsune Maison 6 etc and wouldn't really consider myself to be a fan and their performance did nothing to change my thoughts. They failed to continue the happy vibe that Tennis began with and just droned through their tracks unenthusiastically. Their blend of dreamy pop and lo-fi trance did nothing for the crowd either, who were less than impressed.
Ted & Francis - I Wish I Was A Polar Bear(Arctic UrgencyEdit)
And finally, Lost Valentinos. I still haven't been able to find out why they changed their name from "The Valentinos". (There is a pub down the road that is called 'Valentinos'?) These guys have always been rather apathetic when it comes to official releases and track information, having released three EP's, 2 singles from the new album and still no solid confirmation on a release date.
Now, I've seen them twice before and they failed to pique my interest, but I thought I'd give them another chance. They delved into their back catalogue with some of my favourites (Man With a Gun, Rain, Kafka and so on) before moving onto their newer tracks and the crowd reacted quite well. 'Bismarck' and 'Serio' were the obvious stand out tracks. So after what seemed to be years of building a decent rep and recruiting Jonathon Zawada for their artwork and Fan Death for a re-work, they seem to be well on their way to stardom and with the amount of hype "Cities of Gold" is receiving, there isn't too much preasure to deliver... And they had Dave Ma direct their clip, I still don't know how they pulled that.
Lost Valentinos – Midnights (Fan Death Re-Work)
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