Amyl and the Sniffers + Nick and the Delinquents + Viral Eyes

Botany View Hotel

Saturday 27 January 2018

Review by Derek J. Huckel

Viral Eyes came on about 8:30 and the place got jumping straight away with their garage 60’s rock fuzzed out sound. Their first number was cool, ‘Buzzkill’, it and ‘Goon Sack Blues’ with the next few numbers rocked out! The following few numbers did also but with more psychedelia. This four-piece had to break up, as it were. The stage was too the small for them all so while three (drums, guitarist, and bassist) shared the stage, the cross-dressing, dressed for bed, tambourine-ist who smacked the piece all over themselves was relegated to the floor. The Viral Eyes set had some new tunes and closed with troubled titled number ‘Louis Vuitton Colostomy Bag’. They had a good solid beat throughout, switched female, male vocals, with a sound that veered between influences spanning 50/60s bands like The Sonics, 13th Floor Elevators, The Kinks and the Pastels, to present day acts like Thee Oh Sees, Wavves, and Ty Segall.

Nick Nuisance and the Delinquents hit the stage next to warm up the crowd for Amyl and her boys, which wasn’t necessary. The room felt full to capacity already and I think Amyl and the Sniffers could’ve satisfied the crowd alone, but these two bands suited the bill for the night very well.

I heard Nick and Delinquents start while still at the crowded bar and the song I first heard, ‘Out The Window’ I think, was like, for the uninitiated, a rawer version of The Doors, bastardised, ala ‘Light My Fire’ with more edge - and not quite the same voice as Morrison's’. Taking their sound from bands like The Gun Club, Missing Links, Stooges and The Pixies, they smashed through about eleven songs in a brief time with titles like ‘Pinball Discussion’, ‘Your House’, ‘Skimming Through Town’, ‘Country’, and ‘1993’.

People had poured in in a steady stream earlier but it was now down to an occasional dribble but they kept coming. Amyl and the Sniffers broke their cherry tonight at the Botany View Hotel with ‘Starfire’ so I was told but next was ‘Not A Loser’ that I first instantly recognised. The room was absolutely heaving! Sweating was obligatory – the heat was unbelievable, and crowd surfing, though optional, kicked off virtually from the start of these mullet wearing minstrels hitting the stage! The small room simply lapped up Amyl’s brand of Aussie hard rock, punk, blues boogie / 70s sharpies type-tunes.

‘Westgate’ and ‘Mandalay’ followed and kept the crowd hyped but their cover of AC/ DCs ‘Dirty Deeds’ followed and sent the mood over the top!! Amyl’s version totally ripped, sped up from Bon’s 1976 original, and the chorus was even more cranked. The crowd went totally nuts and I was in love! Covers are often boring, but these guys simply owned the song, morphing it to their way and slammed-it-out!! ‘Balaclava Lover Boogie’ and ‘Pleasure Forever’ closed the show. It was a brief though about ten songs were crammed into the show, as tightly as the crowd in this room, but the guys and Amyl had another show at midnight at the Lansdowne! It was an amazing gig but, as the cliche says is a good thing, Amyl and the Sniffers left the crowd wanting more…

Amyl and The Sniffers - 'I'm Not Loser'

Nick Nuisance & The Delinquents - 'Out the Window' 

and Viral Eyes bandcamp