READERS’ CHOICE (KINDA): THE PERTH EDITION

This is my hometown of Perth. On the odd chance that you’ve heard of it, it’s probably as the home of Bon Scott, Sam Worthington (actually, both went to my high school), or (eeeeeew) Pendulum. As you can see from the above diagram, it’s pretty far away from anything that isn’t the Indian Ocean. In fact, we’re a full 2,104kms (1, 307 miles) from the nearest major city, making us the second most isolated city on earth. Because we’re so far away from everything, a lot of smaller bands don’t tour out here, and guitars and drums cost a shitload extra because of the shipping costs. But we do have a lot of sand. And rocks. And coastline.

Anyway, I thought this would be a cool opportunity to share with you guys some of the better heavy bands from the rapidly-evaporating cultural oasis that I call home.

Now Vince has already sung the praises of Karnivool, so I’m going to skip them right over (sorry boys, other bands need the press more than you do!) and cut straight to what has to be my favourite Perth band ever, Eleventh He Reaches London.

Eleventh have been doing the rounds since 1999, first as Our Lasting Loss and then becoming EHRL in 2002. Their roots lie in second-wave screamo and draws inspiration from the textures of post-rock, but these guys aren’t just another ISIS clone with clean vocals, they’re something much more. EHRL’s compositions are grand and measured like prog, but honest and direct like screamo. There’s no instrumental wank to speak of, with a delicate three-guitar interplay favouring interlocking textures and nuanced beauty rather than fist-raising guitar solos. Yes, they owe a debt to the soft/loud dynamics of Neurosis and the manic confessionalism of Circle Takes The Square, but no other band anywhere have managed to make the alchemy sound as natural as Eleventh.

Because they’re such a rad bunch, five of Eleventh He Reaches London’s tracks (including ‘Say You See Why So’ and ‘Swarming’, the opening goods off their why-isnt-this-a-classic-yet debut album ‘The Good Fight For Harmony’) are available as free downloads on their Last.FM. It’s also worth nothing that Eleventh share a bassist with self-describred “Industrial Cruise Ship Jazz” merchants Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving, who have an EP going for free here.

Moving on, grind and powerviolence fans might know of the now-defunct Rupture, who in their time did splits with the likes of Brutal Truth and Spazz, or the less infamous but equally punishing Hailstones Kill 200, but there’s plenty more where that came from, most notably Extortion.

It’s slightly iffy to call Extortion a perth band these days, as they all upped roots and took off to the east coast last year, but there is no denying that their legend was born here through the strength of their live shows alone. Frontman Rohan Harrison is about three seconds off becoming the most in-demand cover artist this side of John Baizley, and their latest album, Loose Screws, features guest vocals by some guy called Barney Greenway (hey quick – if any of you have a copy of Time Waits For No Slave  within arms reach, crack open the booklet and have a look at Barney’s shirt). Long story short, Extortion are still pushing the envelope of speed and hostility in grind, even today, and if you’re not onboard, it’s your own damn fault.

Now with Extortion grinding up Melbourne, the new undisputed kings of Perth powerviolence would have to be the mighty Suffer.

Not to be confused with the one Swedish and four American Death Metal bands of the same name, Suffer infuse their balls-out brand of blastbeat-driven hardcore with massive slabs of doom riffage, creating ample suffocating room within their traditionally short-running Blitzkriegs. Their live show is beyond compare (especially if you’re fortunate enough to catch them on somebody’s kitchen floor) and their debut LP ‘Lone’ is out now through Midnight Funeral. Their singer Mickey also plays guitar for amp worshippers Drowning Horse, which brings us conveniently to the topic of Doom.

Perth has a few awesome doom bands, including the aforementioned Drowning Horse and bell-bottom slingin’motherfuckers Atollah, but in the local scene, there is no one band as simultaneously adored and despised as Cease. A two-piece drum-and-guitar core with a rotating cast of guest musicians, Nick Odell and Andrew Britton have cleaved a line down the middle of the perth scene with their improvised brand of doom – ranging from punishing 40-minute noise dirges through to gorgeous Jesu-esque shoegaze, depending on what night you catch them on – and their tendency to play gigs in women’s underwear. But for anybody who gets a kick out of having tinitus for three days, seeing Cease live is a must.

Prog metal lovers, rejoice! Perth has a veritable smorgasbord of long-haired proggy jams to feast upon. Unfortunately for prog fans, I’m not a prog fan, and as such I won’t be writing about prog here.

Anyway, this is just a small tasting plate of the interesting music that comes from my ‘hood, which I guess still really isn’t enough to make up for plaguing the world with Empire Of The Sun. But still, at least we’re trying, right?

PS – I almost forgot! Perth-via-Melbourne label Aniseed Records have just released a split between AC4 (featuring David Sandstrom and Dennis Lyxzen of Refused) and local punkers Surprise Sex Attack. Don’t be a dick, be a dude and pick up a copy here.

-Crack Hitler