Tropical Fuck Storm @ Rock Rover
w/ All The Weathers, Surfbort
Friday, October 25, 2019
Tropical Fuck Storm’s return in support of second album Braindrops featured some impressive supports. The night started off with three piece All The Weathers, who hail from Hobart. A rough and tumble sounding group, the band sprayed energy on stage. Each member was hard to tell apart from the other, all with the same variations of curly brown mops. Playing tunes off their latest LP For the Worms, which came out January of this year, their track Borders filled the footy function room venue with clunky garage rock for a rowdy Friday night. All The Weathers were a full forced meld of psychedelic pop and surf rock.
Named after a sexual position, Brooklyn based four-piece Surfbort, hit the stage and their sound just took over. Not the most typical looking individuals, lead singer Dani Miller was rocking a mullet, a triangle bikini, missing teeth and eye makeup that Debbie Harry would approve of. The animation of Miller as she screamed out their 2018 single Slushy, lit a spark amongst the crowd and the belly of the mosh started to turn and tumble.
Surfbort have been active since 2015, with countless different members but the current set up has stayed the longest, with Dani Miller on vocals, Alex Kilgore and David R. Head on guitars, and Sean Powell on drums. Their brand of 80s surfpunk seems to hold a distinct place within the modern scene. Miller brought her chaos into the crowd during Hippie Vomit Inhaler, circling through the crowd ferociously. Her ability to debunk the concept of feminine sexuality through her feral attitude, whilst wearing a bikini, was pretty mind-blowing.
Tropical Fuck Storm shuffled on stage, looking like it was the day after a big night. Opening with their most popular track You Let My Tyres Down, from their 2018 album A Laughing Death In Meatspace, the crowd seemed to be gripped by the group’s severe atmosphere and strangely beautiful melodies. The setting could not have been more appropriate, an old footy rec room pasted with memories of the 80s; and 80s punk had trickled through each band’s set, culminating ferociously with Tropical Fuck Storm.
Erica Dunn took over the lead vocals for Who’s My Eugene, a track about Brian Wilson and Eugene Landy off their latest release Braindrops. Liddiard let loose on his guitar tossing it all over the stage with violent hilarity. The four-piece destroyed Rock Rover and tied the night out with an encore playing a personal fave from Braindrops, Paradise. A bitter pill of a love song, it showcased some of Liddiard’s most poetic moments and some seriously wacko guitar.
The cursing violence of Lauren Hammel’s drumming, Fiona Kitschin’s dark eyes looking crazily out from behind her bass, Liddiard’s chaotic cursing and Dunn’s eerie winding guitar knocked the crowd into fanaticism just as the show came to a close.
EMMA PEET
Photos by Linda Dunjey
