By Monk
Life is all about riding the waves and seizing the opportunities that present themselves to you, and it was doing the former that promoter Derwin McFarland found himself also doing the other as it was on a ‘Monsters Of Rock’ cruise that he introduced himself to a band of four Australian brothers and casually invited them to play his little club in the backside of nowhere in the wilds of Norn Iron… it was an invitation the four young lads gladly accepted and so here we are, back in Antrim hills for another night of sold out rawk ‘n’f’n’ roll action \m/
Our support is of a slightly more, shall we say, mature disposition than our young headliners, being made up of experienced musicians who have graced both the stage and the audience of this venue many times – although it is only the second occasion they have done the former as a combined entity… not that you would know it!
Sound On Zero get off to a surprisingly mellow start before slowly building the momentum, their solid, classic-tinged alt-rock vibes, with a sturdy emphasis on melody, combined with tasty hooks and incisive, emotional vocals.
“We wrote three new songs for tonight – but, to be fair, to most of you these are all new songs,” observes the frontman before unveiling said triptych of tunes, with ‘Slave’ and ‘Double Jeopardy’ demonstrating how they can transition easily between subgeneric styles, while last song ‘Building Walls’ is somewhat ironically titled, as these guys should be knocking them down…
- As we went to press it was confirmed that Sounds On Zero would be returning for their first DRC headline appearance on Saturday 10 October.
Given the events which had taken place in this little corner of the Überverse just a few days earlier, the message “tonight we are all united” is an appropriate one to be broadcast by the intro tape, as this fraternal quartet of Melbourne mischief-makers prepare to do just that musically.
Right from the off it is extremely evident that the Mileto musical mafioso are tight as fuck, especially when it comes to their four-part vocal harmonies, something which is a hard art to master but which have nailed to note-perfect perfection, and delivered with positive attitude and panache in equal measures. We’re only three songs in before the sweat starts running down the walls, and Brennan doesn’t even need to try and start a “call and return” during ‘Dancing With The Devil’ as we’re way ahead of him and already screaming the words back.
Even on such a small stage, the brothers come across like huge rock stars, delivering an arena-filling show full of justifiably cocky confidence – as evinced by drummer Bryce going full Tommy Lee by shooting lasers from his wristbands during his solo spot, and beyond. But this ain’t no soulless air-conditioned arena: this is a hot and sweaty club filled with hot and sweaty fans dancing their arses off and singing themselves hoarse. In other words, rock ‘n’ roll the way it should be…
This is the sort of life-affirming evening that proves, as if it needs to be proved, that every day is a ‘Good Day To Be Alive’. When Brennan sings “I’ll take you to heaven if you take my hand”, we gladly entwined our fingers. ‘Welcome To The Dollhouse’ indeed, the door is always open…