As a Blues fan, obviously not. But Meanjin/Brisbane based band Radium Dolls sure give it a red hot crack.
Fresh off the release of their full length debut, ‘Legal Speed’, the Dolls marked the fourth show on their blitz of an East Coast tour, stopping in at a sweaty Vic on the Park on Saturday night.
Fronting up were Newcastle based opener Fungas, warming up punters with some King Gizzard-esque psychedelic riffs and reverb-laden vocals. A surprise for fans of Newy surf rock group, Rum Jungle was the driving presence of Frazer McDonald on the drum kit, gigging with his second band while the outfit gears up for a UK and Europe tour commencing in May.
Then came the main event. The crowd had dissipated somewhat between sets, as they pushed back towards the bar waiting to suss out the headliner. The towering frame of lead Will Perkins took the floor followed by the rest of the band, Bryce (drums), Ewan (bass) and Tom (lead guitar), who after a brief introduction, cheekily called out the sizeable gap at the front with, “what the fuck is this?”
Despite the still warming crowd, the Dolls hit their first few songs energetic as anything, with ‘Wandering Eye’, an ode to the mysterious queen of the river city, ringing out into the beer garden. Then came one of the standout tracks from their new release, the hilarious ‘CIA’, where Will’s lyricism and punky spoken word delivery came to the foreground as a tribute to the ultimate self-confidence provided by a pair of wicked sunnies. The shades leave him feeling “federal”, as he recounts lowballing strangers on internet marketplaces and the tribulations of drive-through fast food.
The band pushed through two broken strings and a dodgy spare guitar, and by the middle of the set the mosh pit began to come alive, with a couple of stray elbows surfacing in the process. The highlight of the night for me was the gem of a song ‘NAA (Not At All)’, a triumphant breakup track full of driving guitars and lyrics that stick in your brain like “cant climb a hill ‘til you get there, get to the base first”.
The set then crescendoed with crowd favourite ‘Tractor Parts’, a slow burn that exploded at the finish as Will disappeared into the mosh.
Despite the rapid demise of the Australian festival circuit with the cancellation of cultural staples including Splendour in the Grass and Falls, the rise of the Dolls and fellow Brisbane cult favourite groups like Full Flower Moon Band show the scene is a long way off dead in the river city. It’s pumping.
Radium Dolls kick on their Legal Speed tour with dates in Wollongong, Bangalow, the Hunter Valley, and the Sunshine Coast before a homecoming show at the Zoo on May 5th.
Photography: Clancy Gleeson
