Our mate Dozer enthuses about the Garageland gig at the Grand this Saturday night. Take it away Dozer..
There’s only one lap to go and the chequered flag is in sight!
Garageland at The Grand hits full throttle this Saturday for a day long celebration of live music – over 2 stages for our final show of the year! We’re kicking things off just after my late Saturday breakfast at 1PM and its the best $15 you’ve ever spent at the door*, so lets make a day of it and bang some heads people \m/
We’re kicking things off with a bit of class too, Wil Carroll of Jobstopper is in pole position on the front stage to get us started with an acoustic blend of solo work from his upcoming debut, mixed with his take on a few punk classics and lesser known gems. I’m sure we can persuade him to rip into a couple of Jobstopper favourites as well if we’re good. Then we’ll put him to work in the bottleshop.
As Buzz Aldrin will attest, second comes right after first! On Saturday, Rum, Forest, Rum will follow Wil, kicking off the back stage shenanigans with an early afternoon helping of pop punk/hardcore as a precursor of the heavier night session to follow. You really can’t lose with pop punk and sunshine people!
Next on the grid is the bearded enigma that is Oakshott.
Appearing backed with full band on the front stage, i’ve often found it hard to pigeonhole Chris Oakshott and his bands music. In fact I don’t think I’ve seen him/them play the same gig twice. Sitting somewhere between folksy/post-punk/rock/troubadour, Its as if the mood of the day dictates the set. I can’t wait to hear what they have in store for us as they play Garageland for the first time.
Now, sometimes you don’t even need to hear a band to know that they are gonna be great. Just like that first time you picked up the Ramones debut record and was like “yep, these guys are gonna rule.”
Thus is my experience so far with Cooktown’s very own, Barefoot Belles. I’ve never seen them live but if you get onto FB and stalk their photo’s, I think you’ll agree – we’re in for a good time. The second furthest travelling band in the lineup, lets show them some Garageland hospitality as they rock the back stage.
The Kroovs are, in their own words, a Port Douglas based duo act featuring Seamus Lunt and Stacey Brown founded in 2014, after spending almost 12 months playing hundreds of shows and festivals with a folk band. The Kroovs are bound to get your feet moving and delight your ears with high energy guitar, piano, violin, mandolin, flute and percussion. I saw The Kroovs in Port Douglas and knew straight away we needed them on an afternoon slot to close the front stage, so don’t miss their fantastic drinking music!
This is where things start to get amped up just a notch…
Ending a however long hiatus, one of the regions favourite bands Peyote make their well awaited return to the shores of gigdom, kicking off the night session on the back stage with their trademark brand of sludge-y stoner groove rock. It’s been way too long between drinks for these all round nice guys, get your epidermis out for them!
Next up are Cairns thrash metal legends in the making – Odius.
Taking the Garageland stage for the second time, their emergence and performances this year have been a definite highlight of an action packed year for me. As we all await their first EP with baited breath, get the horns up and see them rumble the walls of The Grand Hotel -because who knows – things might change for these lads after the e.p. drops, it’s apparently pretty good.
Swamp Donkey are a 4 piece swamp rock/grunge/shoegaze outfit from Cairns who have been turning in stellar performances all year. Their set comprises mostly originals with a couple of thoughtful and intelligent covers woven in for good measure. I’ve never seen them play as loud and as driven as they have in the last six months, they really are in top form.
The mighty Meat Bikini, NQ punk/hardcore stalwarts, have just finished their first film clip for crowd favourite Shitkicker and are really finding their groove now after the departure of Joel Goodman earlier this year. Guitarist Pidge, has them stripped down and sounding meaner than a high school bully and Rob Eakin as always is drumming like a man possessed. Kane Raybould is seeming timeless, still raging after all these years – he can draw pretty good too!
He did a magnificent job on our poster!
Just when you think you’ve had enough and the blood starts seeping out of your ears Melbourne’s most game show winningest band (look it up) Clowns will take the stage and turn the pub into a ferocious melee of hardcore punk! Appearing in Cairns for the first time, these fellas dropped one of the most memorable debut Australian punk albums in recent memory last year with “I’m Not Right” and have toured the guts out of it all over Australia. Now its our turn to ruin our lives with them! With a new album expected to be finished very shortly the boys are very excited to take a weekend break away from the hustle and get sweaty with all you mob, so lets show them a good time!
2-4-1 basics between 6-8 and hey we’ll even chuck on a barbie seeing as you’re gonna be sticking around all day.
It’s $15 on the door and we kick off at 1PM.
Get in early because there are a limited number of wristbands to sell as we can only fit so many sweaty bodies in the old girl!
Don’t be disappointed!
DJ Grizzylox from Port Douglas will be spinning tunes in between bands and I’ll be your master of ceremonies for a jam packed day of musical mayhem to celebrate our final show of 2014.
We decided not to do a Christmas show.. because well… The MOFO christmas parties are usually all my liver can handle!
Also just a big thanks to everyone involved this year, you know who you are and you keep this beast rolling!
Even bigger and better things are in store next year at The Grand, keep getting out there and supporting live music – whatever your flavour!
Love, Dozer x
*Best $15 you ever spent may vary.
Not a guarantee.
Consult your own life experiences for more information.
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