Concert Review: Whammyfest 2019, Night One – Whammy Bar, October 25, 2019

Boasting 27 spine-tingling performances across two nights, the first night of Whammyfest 2019 crammed 13 magical misfits into back-to-back performances over six spooktacular hours, packing in more musical styles and genres than a trick-or-treater’s loot bag.

Imagine my utter undead joy when I was given the opportunity to review Whammyfest 2019, a two-day annual event filled with a menagerie of my favourite musical ghouls and goblins, in one of Auckland’s coolest concert crypts, Whammy Bar.

Descending into the decked-out darkness of Whammy Bar, the event space was filled with all manner of spooky decorations; cobwebs coating the stages and speaker systems, pillars bound in bright-yellow ‘CAUTION’ tape, monstrous masks trophy-mounted on the main stage, strings of champagne fairy lights, and a giant, dominating mirror ball above the Circle Room stage.

With the first band, Ripship opening at 8:30 p.m. on the Circle Room stage, there was an eerily small number of people gathered before these two apocalyptic space cadets. Clearly acknowledging that they were going to treat the early arrivals than waste time suffering in silence, they shook the cavernous room of Whammy Bar with bone-rattling drum beats and the distorted roar of electric guitar, beating their instruments into submission song after song.

Guitarist Callum Lincoln looked the vision of Jack White during his sharp guitar solos, while one of the best drummers I’ve heard in recent times, Eva-Rae McLean, gifted the small crowd one infectious drum beat after the other. McLean’s beautifully apocalyptic spoken word poetry prefaced a Cradle of Filth-inspired heavy doom number, masterfully fluctuating tempo before ending their set with Lube The Cube – complete with blood-pumping guitar riffs reminiscent of early Rage Against The Machine.

Ripship are a band I will absolutely be seeking out for a repeat performance, and perfectly set the tone for both the event, and many of the musicians that followed.

Vincent HL took to the Main Stage only a moment after, diving in a mish-mash performance of bass-heavy country sounds, crudely groovy vocals and dirty psych guitar riffs. Part Pixies and part Rolling Stones-meets-Dandy Warhols, their sound took me back to the filthy dive bar, Deschler’s, filling their set with punchy guitar and massive walls of sound. Finishing with an upbeat, foot-tapping tune that seemed to also lure in lingering crowds from the streets above, I wondered how the impressive momentum of the event could continue for another five-plus hours.

Unfortunately, both Heavenphetamine and Kane Strang – who followed on the Circle Room stage and Main Stage respectively – anaesthetised the crowd and the venue with performances that seemed muted and a little flat in energy.

Hailing from Japan, Heavenphetamine were consistent with their clean, dreamy guitar, sweet vocals, and style that blended the best parts of Radiohead and Muse. While their performance was beautifully precise and flawlessly executed, it almost seemed a little too polite, with each build in volume falling into an anti-climax that left the crowd politely enjoying the set as though they were listening to the radio.

They were followed by Kane Strang, who I was excited to see following rave reviews but seemed to exacerbate last night’s ‘Slow Hour’ with admittedly lacklustre energy. It’s always a risk playing solo with just your guitar and voice to capture a crowd, and the high-energy momentum produced by the earlier bands dimmed into a kind of repetitive softness. It wasn’t bad music, just bad placement, with the moments of silence between songs hemorrhaging the adrenaline from the crowd as a whole. One of his closing numbers, Two Hearts and No Brain managed to inject some energy into the crowd as they sang along with enthusiastic participation – though it felt like they were really just desperate to join in on the event again.

Back to the Circle Room, 5-piece Auckland band, Dick Move, dialled the energy and intensity back to its former level with fast and ferocious lo-fi punk, performing a short-but-sweet set that balanced a playful sound with loud, hard punk-rock numbers which had much of the crowd moving and shaking again.

They were followed by another highlight of the evening, 3-piece attention-magnets and crowd-control wizards, Hans Pucket. Loud, bold, and oozing confidence, the trio were entirely responsible for uniting the crowd and raising the temperature in Whammy Bar to a steaming-hot level. Stunning harmonising in their vocals blended with crisp guitar and slow-building riffs – just the right balance of 70s pop-rock and surf-rock to match their joyful energy.

Keeping the crowd entertained and hanging on their every word, this group was absolutely hilarious in the best way, instilling a sense of fun and spooky humour into every crowd-address. Harsh guitar feedback and metal riffs led to heavy, rolling drums, before the title song from their EP Jalapeño had the crowd irresistibly dancing along despite the rapidly rising temperature, with its Franz Ferdinand beat weaving funk guitar into a wild and manic finale. With the crowd cheering and howling along with each technically brilliant guitar solo, this trio were absolutely brilliant – don’t miss out on catching them next time.

A ten-minute break encouraged the sweltering crowd to find some air and hydrate, before the punk-anarchy sound of Unsanitary Napkin burst from the Circle Room with unrelenting, ultra-high energy screams, rapid-fire drums and pure, raw punk brutality. So gloriously furious in their opening number, the band apparently blew the hell out of their instruments. With an emergency sound-tech resuscitation bringing the group back to life, they wasted zero time before diving right back into that same harsh and furious sound – nothing less than stunning, volatile mosh-pit fuel for the audience.

Closing the Main Stage and Circle Room of Whammy Bar were the powerhouse performance match-ups of BOZO and Contenders, with the former distilling every terrifyingly macabre and ghoulish vibe of the evening into their set, and the latter pouring their trademark, unforgiving hard-punk magic all over the eager crowd.

BOZO took to the Main Stage at midnight, with Echo Ohs spook-queen Yolanda Fagan delivering a mesmerising vocal and physical performance alongside fellow Echo Ohs member, Guy Forks, and met with equal grim energy by Hariet Ellis, Durham Fenwick, and Mason Fairey. The 5-piece embodied the energy and atmosphere of the event, with heavy bass and dark guitar riffs competing with the sharp, sustained vocals of Fagan and Ellis. As blood-red lights bathing the stage led into flickering strobes, this was a psychedelic horror rock sound that paid tribute to its midnight-hour performance time, closing with a Twilight-Zone guitar riff amidst growling, howling vocals. Absolutely hypnotic in every number, the only task left was for Contenders to raise hell as the closing set on the Circle Room stage.

And oh my Dark Lord, did they conjure up something special. Contenders are a hard, harsh, thrash-punk band from Hamilton, taking the catchy punk riffs and lyrical patterns of The Lillingtons and injecting their sound with pure monster venom. They are so good they deserve the only non-name use of bold in this review, with vocalist Cilla Kinnaird epitomising energetic punk rage. Lively, fearless, and absolutely stunning in their distorted guitar riffs and floor-shaking drum rolls, Contenders barely finished their second number before Kinnaird was tearing down fairy lights above her head, wrapping them around her neck in an expression of auto-gothic asphyxiation, and pressing herself to the ceiling while screaming into the crowd. It left the crowd, and the floor of Whammy Bar, absolutely soaked.

With so many bands playing back-to-back on the Main Stage and Circle Room, I barely had a chance to dive into the neon-pink hellscape that was Whammy Backroom – filled with pounding, ear-melting drum ‘n’ bass, it was everything an electro vampire could wish for. Tomorrow night, I’ll be making sure to drop by and take it all in – but for now all I’ll say is that I’m one damn happy little zombie, and everyone who attended the first night of Whammyfest 2019 will be sure to agree.

As a special, standout mention, Whammy Sound Technician, Mark, deserves his own section of praise, for not only managing the balancing act of so many bands while in full costume, but for also being an absolutely life-saving wizard in the face of technical issues. It’s these moments that can absolutely break an event like this, and ruin the experience for a crowd, but he saved the night and the momentum of a performance by jumping into action without hesitation. The team at Whammy have created something truly special this year, terrifyingly spooky, and simply just one hell of a damn good time.

Click an image to view a gallery from Todd Buchanan.

Vincent HL

Bozo

The Contenders

Dick Move

Hans Pucket

Heavenphetamine

Kane Strang

Randa