DZ Deathrays & Wax Chattels Team Up To Shred Galatos

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DZ Deathrays & Wax Chattels – Galatos   April 26, 2018

Last night at Galatos, DZ Deathrays tore apart the small venue with their abrasive, hard hitting style of punk enthralling their loyal audience. 

DZ Deathrays are a Australian band from the city of Brisbane who since 2008 have been ripping to venues shreds with there amplifiers set to eleven. DZ’s style of punk can be compared from noise punk to the dance punk stylings of Death From Above (FKA Death From Above 1979).

Despite ten years on the scene now, I had only first heard of the band in 2014 when they made their last appearance in New Zealand, touring with our own noise punk act Die!Die!Die! For me, DZ’s were just another band from the Aussie punk scene that included Dune Rats, Violent Soho, Skeggs and Hockey Dad, who incidentally came to New Zealand recently and delivered a very well received tour. With the release of their album Bloody Lovely this year which I enjoyed very much, I was eager to catch these guys live for the first time.

Notorious for getting their SXSW set cut short due to high volume, I was preparing myself for the night with ear plugs.

Kicking off the night was local Auckland band, Wax Chattels. These three post punkers have been making big waves here at home and overseas with many achievements under their belt, such as an appearance at Laneway, a tour of Asia, getting signed to New York label Capture Tracks (who’s roster also consists of indie rocker Mac Demarco) as well as New Zealand label Flying Nun. Wax Chattels have done extremely well for themselves in the one year I have known about them.

This was my fourth time seeing Wax Chattels and as per usual they absolutely killed it but sadly there was not much of a crowd for them to impress. Unfortunately this would be the ongoing vibe for the night.

By the time DZ Deathrays took to the stage, the venue had not packed up very much and due to the size of Galatos, it left too much space between punters. Perhaps they would have been better to play at Whammy bar.

Before kicking in to the opening track, Shred For The Summer, the lights were at full brightness, almost blinding the audiences. In front of them stood DZ’s silhouettes, including a third member who was recently added to the touring band for more noise.

The guitars blasted loud and in sync with the changing lights and colours behind them. Though the crowd was small, the punters proved to be loyal fans by head banging, jumping and dancing on the spot. This was enough to put a smile on the band while they played, it was clear that they were appreciating the crowd.

Another great thing about the show was the excellent sound, I could hear everything perfectly from frontman Shane Parsons’s roaring guitars and crying vocals to drummer Simon Ridley’s heavy crashing of the drums, they were possibly one of the tightest band’s I’ve ever witnessed live.

I was loving the show and it so was everyone else, but I just could not get past how small the crowd was compared to the large space, they were so impressive but had barely anyone to impress.

The show ended on high notes and everyone left satisfied, including myself. This is one band i recommend catching on their Christchurch and Wellington dates this week, you won’t regret it!

Jonathan Strock

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Ivan Karczewski:

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