Bleeders and More – Galatos: May 12, 2023

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Bleeders, a product of West Tamaki Makaurau, have kept (are keeping) the tradition of punk and metal-influenced bands (think The Henchmen, The Warners, Blindspott and dare I say Bird Nest Roys.) alive and trumpeting the West, as they once again reform for a third time since 2009.

They are yet another band impacted by the covid impacted saga having had their tour for the release of the 2019 Delusions EP stunted and have been traversing Aoteraroa celebrating 20 years of skin in the game by performing a show around their debut release, the 2003 A Bleeding Heart EP.  

 

Sadly, I missed the first of the three support acts Stacked. Apologies. I’ve seen their name around town, as they’ve played with acts like Cutie Cooties and Melanie. I promise to be better organised next time the opportunity to see them avails.

 

Melanie are already onstage in the packed room (which like The Studio) has an awful bottleneck around the bar/toilets/merch table, so while it’s sardines around the back, there’s a prairie size space up front. But the punters here tonight are polite, and I tunnel my way forward (almost) and discover an old-school mosh/slam pit, which makes me hold my beer a litle bit tighter. The singer from five-piece Melanie cares, cares enough to encourage the slambodians to take care of each other and the people standing on the edges. Then they erupt into more high energy and I cop a hand in the face, but as i said, this is a polite crowd and the perpetrator is apologetic with people around asking and steadying me (importantly I didn’t drop my beer) 

 

Melanie’s high-energy sound is hardcore-based, but also has a SST (as in the record label) tunefulness and genre-stretching sound. I hear elements reminiscent of a punky Dinosaur Jr, and I make a mental note to see these guys again. Mentioned must be made of the shaggy-haired-vaping bassist, he is spectacular.

 

Next on are Flirting With Disaster. The singer/guitarist looks like a young Billy Idol it’s the hair totally! Confident onstage, the three-piece blaze through a set of complex, perhaps too complex arrangements, but maybe that is the genre ‘pop-punk’ There is good repertoire with the audience, and their set of punk hat-tips the era of Blink 182/Offspring/Green Day It’s still energised, but the lack of brashness in the guitar sound is noticeable. Perhaps this was Bleeders management’s purpose, to lull the audience before the coming onslaught.

 

In the intervening gap, the PA blasts old-school hip and alike Tone Loc’s Wild Thing is a delight, as the roadies and tech’s and band members set up. As a five-piece, the stage is pretty crowded, but as the onslaught, wall of punky-hardcore starts, very quickly vocalist Angelo Munro dominates as the creature of the stage. 

 

The sound is magnificent, Munro‘s voice sounds clear and upfront, and the clearness of the rest of the band is heavy and balanced (much credit to their sound guy) As touted, this is a celebration of 20 years since Bleeders released their debut in 2003, A Bleeding Heart EP, and they perform their way through 6, 7 if you include the intro, songs from it. Looking a lot bigger and hairier these days, the stand-out performances are Cast in the Shadows led by a Munro reference to the ongoing challenges of mental health today, and a (the) crowd pleaser All That Glitters, (after a stuttered start, ‘eventually’ says Munro) that creates a mayhem up front, of stage diver(s) and crowd surfing.

 

‘Do you people like the Dead Kennedys?’ as Bleeders launch into a mid-set cache of their favourites (well some) The version of DKs Nazi Punks Fuck Off is brutal, followed quickly by Bad Brains Sailin’ On (so good!) and a couple of others (which are a secret for only those that went to a Bleeders show) oh, but I’ll let you in on the cover of Danzig’s Mother, which includes a bit of a jam somewhere in there.

 

Bleeders are not alone onstage, inviting guest vocalists, sadly I have no idea who they are, being lost in the moment, Munro’s introduction was also lost on the hearing-damaged, but did they add another facet of intricacy to the night’s show visually and audibly. 

 

As the third part of the night continued to (punk) rock The Galatos, the band pulled songs from 2006’s As Sweet as Sin, 2008’s Bleeders and their 2019 EP Delusions. But this reviewer had to retreat from the Church of Hardcore as the 8am copy deadline loomed and the clock ticked three score past the witching hour. Magnificent!

 

Simon Coffey

 

 

Simon Coffey
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