Review: Cosmic Psychos at Rosemount Hotel
Cosmic Psychos at Rosemount Hotel
w/ Lonesome Dove
Thursday, November 27, 2025
Hot on the heels of what may be the most signature song of their career, I Like Beer, The Cosmic Psychos are back out West necking amber fluid and damaging eardrums.
Local talent Lonesome Dove opened the show, revealing a real melting pot of indie rock, power-pop, and punky post-grunge influences—too many to delve into here. Waifish singer/guitarist Nici Ward is a scion of local rock royalty—daughter of Boyd Wilson and Denise DeMarchi—and has a dreamlike vocal style reminiscent of the glory days of nineties indie rock (think Liz Phair, Juliana Hatfield, et al.), whilst singer/guitarist and husband Ben injects a bit of grit into the mix.
Their songs are all catchy, infectious, well played and enjoyable, and if there is an ever-so-slightly generic quality to them, it’s generic of a vibe rather than any specific artist. With a third album in the can, the new songs played tonight warrant keeping an eye out for that release when it hits the stores.
Cosmic Psychos are so down to earth they’re practically made of dirt. Ross Knight wears his farm work clobber as always, despite being on the other side of the country playing a gig, with a shabby and faded baseball cap and his sunnies on his head. Mad Macka is equally casually dressed and sports enough grey facial hair for us to wonder if he’s ready for a casual job as Santa during December. In fact, only drummer Dan Peters of Mudhoney fame appears to have made an effort to dress up, sporting a fine hat atop his head.
Starting with subject matter close to their hearts, these blokes you can trust let rip into Pub, Nice Day To Go To The Pub and Rip n’ Dig, already a considerably louder proposition than their support act.
New tracks 10 Can Trip and Don’t Feed Me Jelly stand proudly next to old faves Custom Credit, Dead Roo and Go The Hack, whilst I Like Beer features Macka’s relentless Accadacca riffs and simple-yet-effective soloing over Knighty’s hypnotically bludgeoning fuzz drone bass. You may think this stuff is pretty basic, but there’s real talent in crafting a song this simple, this catchy, this enjoyable, this intoxicating. Talent enough to see where The Chats, Amyl & The Sniffers and the like picked up a few ideas, that’s for sure. It’s the catchiest dirge you’re likely to hear, an alco’s nightmare and a mantra of piss-loving intensity. A monolith of amber-fuelled, pub-celebrating rock.
Macka’s Fuckwit City gets everyone singing along, which they continue to do right through the mighty Lost Cause (covered by both L7 and The Prodigy) and the hilarious closer, David Lee Roth.
We can’t help but grumble at the short set—a scant hour from top to tail—but at the same time nobody would claim it was anything other than full-on from start to finish. Maybe it is better to leave ‘em wanting more, but a couple more tunes wouldn’t have hurt, if only to prolong the good, good times and share another round with these hard-arsed rock legends.
SHANE PINNEGAR
Photos by Karen Lowe
