The next few show review posts will be about Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders as we follow them around most of their Melbourne dates. Tons of great bands they playing with and Friday Nov 8th at the Tote Upstairs was no exception.
Got there right when The Poppin’ Mommas started and of course they were playing some AC/DC riffs to make sure they got the sound right. AC/DC is worshipped in Melbourne and probably influenced every single band here in one way or another. Bars have posters of them on the walls, they’re on the jukebox, people wearing shirts, there’s an AC/DC lane with tons of tourists going on it non-stop. This is the way it should be. Everywhere.
Poppin’ Mommas were a lot of fun. Loud, obnoxious, in-your-face punk rock. Some funny self-depreciating in between song banter from the singer, and some good natured hecking between the singer and audience in between songs. And some talk about River Rocks 2024 in Geelong the next day. “There are only two types of bands: Those that are from Geelong, and those that want to be from Geelong!” Talking to one of the guitarists after the set, most of the set was covers, but I didn’t recognize any of them except for “Rocking Is My Business” from the Four Horsemen. As I’ve said before and will say again, Melbourne knows how to rock! And they’re hardcore rockers. This may be my new favorite city. Big review (or two) of River Rocks coming soon!
Here’s some pictures of The Poppin’ Mommas (hope I got the spelling right; I’ve seen it spelled a number of different ways):
Blowers were up next. They were having fun. I think. But pissed off fun. Buzzsaw guitar with a softer guitar to counteract it. Really good lo-fi garage punk. They just seemed like they were playing, then in the middle of the set when they played a song called “Hate That Shit”, the singer/guitarist went mental. He gave me a look then flipped me off. Then threw a beer near me. I don’t know if he was pissed off at me for taking pictures, or if he was just getting into the song. After that, I did lay a little low, so these are the best pictures I could get. Good band. Recommended. Check them out here.
After that, it was Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders! Completely packed house for them. So nice to see! And it was great to see everyone so into it. They had quite a bit of feedback at first which was frustrating to the band, but once it all got sorted, it was a very solid set. I think they had to cut out some songs where Pat played the acoustic guitar (not that that would’ve slowed them down) because there was just too much feedback. But that didn’t stop them from ripping this joint. Pure, energetic rock ‘n roll at the highest quality. So many people were stomping their feet on the ground and dancing to the music, the floor was bouncing up and down! A great night and much more to come.
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