Live Review: The Volcanics, The Piankillers, Maurice Flavel's Intensive Care, Nerve Quake, The Secret Buttons

The Bakery is composed of sea containers outfitted with pretty sweet little rooms and chill-out areas.

First off the bat was rock trio The Secret Buttons, with their hard, grungy edge mixed with a deep, rough vocal giving off that Pearl Jam feel. Jiah Fishenden’s guitar is pretty cool with its modernist touch adding to the ‘90s grunge rock element. Bassist Jade Ikin and drummer Dave Brockwell both sync up pretty well with their fast-paced beats and rhythms.

Next up were the dark ‘80s new wave meets Joan Jett five-piece, Nerve Quakes, who played some droning and powerful songs filled with clever bass lines and synth elements. The vocalist, Caitie, produced a raspy tone unlike any other female vocalists I’ve seen.

Consisting of eight members, Maurice Flavel’s Intensive Care were welcomed by a growing crowd. Flavel’s vocal is smooth. Three permanent female backing vocalists really took the sound up a notch, the harmonies nice and mixing well into one another, while the Pink Floyd-esque sound is one to admire. The four-piece ‘60s-style folk/rock band, The Painkillers, gave off the Bob Dylan meets Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers vibe. The vocalist was pretty inspiring, with some of his melodic phrasings and his sagacious take on lyrical elements. What better than a hippy-thriving guitarist wearing flares and a colourful vest with shaggy hair to top off this band’s cool performance?

Last but not least, The Volcanics, a band people were really keen to see. Facing a large crowd by this point, the trio… I mean four-piece, starring special guest…  I couldn’t really figure out what they really were, they just kept changing their members in a comical fashion making for good entertainment… but they were great at performing smoothly and had a celebratory feel about their stage presence rather than a serious night of rocking. Once they got rocking though, you couldn’t stop these guys. Their punchy steam train-driven riffs filled with intensity swallowed the room of punters up in their own world, a lot of them dancing to their own rhythms.

Special guest, Wayne Green, certainly gave the lead vocalist a run for his money, his David Lee Roth-style vocal smashing the high notes like drinking water. This band harnessed the power of stadium rock antics and left us inspired.