The Prize had their album release show at the John Curtin Hotel on Nov 15, 2025 for their incredible debut album called “In The Red” (read my review of it here). They brought their friends Aardvark to open up for them. A little bit of a mismatch, as Aardvark were full on ’80s underground metal and The Prize are garagey power-pop (I like to say they’re a cross between the Buzzcocks and Cheap Trick).
There was going to be absolutely no way I was going to travel halfway across the world and not see The Prize if they were playing, so we left the River Rocks 2025 festival in Geelong early so we could make this.
Aardvark, as I said before, were full on ’80s metal. And when I say “80s metal”, I’m not talking Twisted Sister and Motley Crue. I’m talking Running Wild and Praying Mantis. Or if you need a more popular band comparison, maybe Bruce Dickenson singing the first two Iron Maiden albums. They had the look too: metal studs, handcuffs, leather. I totally thought I was back in ’81 in the UK. Pretty good! There’s a strong NWOBHM influence going around Melbourne, and I like it!
Then The Prize were up! A band whom I just love. This was their album release party for their soon to be classic album, “In The Red”. There’s a few interesting things about this band that shouldn’t work, but somehow does. First of all, two singers who basically split the songs. And one of them is the drummer! I don’t know about you, but I could barely keep a beat (my attention span isn’t that great) and even if I could, I wouldn’t be able to sing at the same time. And then bang my head when not singing!
Their stage setup is also interesting. 5 people. Drummer in the middle, two mike stands to her left and right for a guitarist (one who played a few notes of “Riff Raff” while checking his guitar) and the bassist. Then two other mike stands for the two other guitarists who are further out. So it kind of formed an upside down V. Yeah, I said “two other guitarists”. They have THREE guitarists! Now I love guitars. It’s the reason why I listen to music. It’s the most important thing to me. Ever. But three? Usually when a band has 3 guitarists, you can’t hear one or even two of them and/or it sounds muddy. Not the Prize. They know what they’re doing! At various parts of various songs, when it came to leads, guitarist 1 & 2 would do some twin leads while 3 played the rhythm, then another song, guitarist 1 & 3 would do twin leads, then another, 2 & 3 would. What I’m trying to say in my amateurish non-musician way, is that it totally worked and was magic. And they all traded off on background vocals.
The songs are amazing. The band is amazing. Top album of the year, unless someone else miraculously at the last minute puts out an album that’s one of the best to ever exist. I was talking to one of the guitarists between bands, I guess this album took a TON of work and a lot of time to do, but whatever they did, they did it right. They got half of the next album already done and hopefully will be out next year. Smart band! Strike while the iron’s hot!
Here’s a video I took of their song “First Sight” which is one of many potential hits off their new album. Pictures below that.
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