It was a night of bitter sweet sentiments as punters flocked to the East in droves to enjoy one last drink at Brunswick’s best live music venue. The atmosphere was electric as the beers flowed and the revellers got loose, determined to make the final night at the East bandroom one of the best of their lives.
In true Brunswick style, the venue celebrated their night of nights supporting independent home grown talent, with this reviewer arriving on time to take in the sounds of the shambolic four-piece The Parking Lot Experiments.
I first saw these guys back in 2010 when they scored a Yeasayer support slot and their sloppy laptop beats were less then impressive. I am happy to report that their live show has improved ten fold since then. The Parking Lot Experiments are what you get when a gang of lovable nerds decide to put down their Magic the Gathering cards and start getting freaky with a synth and drum machine.
Their set was high energy mayhem with the boys going off onstage, arking up to one another and proving to be incredibly entertaining both musically and with their hilarious banter that kept the crowd amused during a slight technical oversight that saw their lap top battery die mid set. Their awkward presence was just fantastic as the boys asked us to ‘take this time to reflect on something that went wrong in your own life, and then imagine your Mum was watching’. The general manic vibe of their performance was bliss. I look forward to seeing more of this lot. Their live show was endlessly fun.
One thing I learnt from Oscar ‘N’ Martin is that hipsters cannot dance. Period. The awkward convulsions of the sold out crowd were liable to cause injury as the fans got freaky to their opening track “Recognise”. I really enjoyed Oscar ‘N’ Martin’s sound pre-For You and while their latest work is terribly glitchy 90’s r’n’b mashed up with island beats which is not to my taste, there is no denying the obscene levels of pleasure they give to their fans with a gaggle of girls standing nearby to me seemingly orgasming with how exciting they found the music to be as Oscar Slorach-Thorn encouraged us all to have a good time even though we were out celebrating ‘something that’s about to die’.
They have a very serious presence when they perform which was perplexing given the fun nature of their music, but their set was enjoyable regardless with the addition of Hazel Brown on vocals for a few tracks being a very pleasant surprise. Highlights of the show included grand renditions of “Chaine Maile”, “All I Think About” and “Do The Right Thing”. When the 11:30pm curfew kicked in the boys stopped and asked ‘who wants to storm the stage?’ before partying on with their fans and ending the night with a cover of Prince’s “I Wanna Be Your Lover”.
And with this security blew us all a kiss as they closed the stage curtains, the house lights came on and the venue emptied to the sounds of Crowded House “Don’t Dream It’s Over”.
So long East Brunswick Club. Thank you for the memories.
