Returning to our shore for an east coast only tour is Heartsounds, this four-piece hail from Oakland California and they play straight up ripping fast, melodic punk rock, with heavy-metal inspired metallic riffs and they’ll be doing this tonight in Sydney at the Fusebox.

Now the Fusebox is the smallest venue-sized room at the Factory Theatre which is such a versatile venue that the place had another two gigs running simultaneously to the one I had come to see tonight. The room may be small but that didn’t stop the band from filling up every square inch of it with bodies and their big sound. As they open things up with a ‘Fuck Donald Trump’ statement I often find a common sentiment in the punk community and then just let the music say it all. Crowd favourites like Drifter, Unconditional Love and Slave to The Heart start it all going off. They give a much well deserved applaud to local band Nerdlinger who opened for them, these guys are well known in the local punk community and deserve all the props they get as for they are a shining light in the local punk scene and according to Heartsounds own Guitarist/Vocalist Laura Nichol, their infectious melodic hooks just get stuck in your head which is true and they are very hospitable when it comes to sharing the weed.   

I feel we are only a few songs in when frontman Ben Murray asks us what we want to hear first ‘the good news or the bad news?’ We opt for the bad news and that is that they have only two songs left, the good news is one of them goes for 20 mins. Some of us laughed but I knew they weren’t kidding, as for back in June the band released an LP titled DUALISTIC NIHILIST which is “a 20-minute-long epic journey into the depths of mental collapse” to quote the record label they are signed to, Creator-Destructor.  

What follows next is one of the most prolific displays of awesome musicianship and punk rock I have ever seen as they carve up the stage and deliver a song that is not only musically freaking awesome but lyrically unreal and deals with issues so many of us out there can relate to. If you missed this live performance you missed something unique and well done, in fact after the last song was played the crowd stayed and started chanting one more song even when the house lights were on. Laura had to grab the mic and tells us the truth, that Ben had broken his arm and they had a fill-in guitarist nicknamed Hollywood playing for them and that is literally all the songs he knows, one of which he only learnt today. Wow! That just made what I saw even more amazing and they promise us they will return and when they do I encourage you all to make sure you get to see them. In the meantime, if you haven’t already done so, then go listen to the LP DUALISTIC NIHILIST and make yourself ready for their return.

 

Review – Chad

Photo Gallery – Christian Ross