Live Review

Dune Rats – The Shipping Forecast, Liverpool

• 3rd Apr 2015

“Dunies! Dunies! Dunies!..”

And so rang out the bottom deck of The Shipping Forecast on this most good of Good Fridays in Liverpool. The basement of the bar was tonight host to Dune Rats, 3 stoner pop-punk rabble-rousers from Brisbane, Australia. The band taking a break from their jaunt supporting The Subways to play their first ever UK headline show. This young band are just starting to build their reputation after the recent release of their self-titled debut album, following on from a string of eps, and their bong-ripping viral video hit ‘Red Light-Green Light’, which first gained them some notoriety.

First up though tonight were alt-rock funksters Native Kings. Playing to a half-full room, their earnest falsetto vocals, slap bass lines and heavy ‘rawk’ riffs seemed like a strange fit for the more loose, garage-indebted stylings of the headline act. Their set was very slick and polished and there was some undeniable musicianship but there just seemed to be that certain something lacking, that element of danger, it all seemed a little too…safe. Their closer ‘The Sound of Victory’ contained a “detour” which allowed each member to show off their chops and they left to a warm round of applause from the crowd out in front. On a bill with like-minded bands I’m sure these lads will do really well, but as it was tonight they stuck out like a sore thumb.

The room started to fill as Halifax’s The Orielles took to the stage. Sisters Esme-Dee Hand-Halford and Sid Hand-Halford handling bass and drum duties respectively, and Henry Carlyle Wade on guitar. The band launched straight into a Link Wray-inspired surf groove and the crowd were visibly enlivened. Surf beats, bright guitar arpeggios and Vivian Girls-style garage girl-group melodies were the order of the day here. Esme-Dees’s vocals giving off an aura of effortless, detached cool, despite the band looking like they wouldn’t be allowed up this late on a school night. The band has a real star in Carlyle Wade, whose wind-milling hair and tendency to venture into the crowd, all whilst seemingly not missing a note, was a nice counterpoint to the more static sisters. Closer ‘Sugar Tastes Like Salt’ was a multi-part surf epic, drenched in feedback, and left the room buzzing. This young band really got the night going and it will be exciting to see where they go in the future.

This night was really only about one band though, the visibly fired-up crowd rushing the front of the stage as Dune Rats launched into their first song. Single ‘Superman’ was next and all hell broke loose, the band giving the crowd all they have in the terms of energy and the crowd dutifully responding. Band and crowd alike were a mess of flailing limbs, The Shipping Forecast becoming a sea of crowd-surfers. They may have come from the other side of the world but this Liverpool crowd treated ‘The Dunies’ like homecoming heroes. Jangly riffs and chants of “Marijuana!” had the crowd singing along and pogoing all the way. It was refreshing to see band and crowd alike cutting loose and just having so much fun.

The between song banter was largely unintelligible to these ears, apart from the most liberal use of ‘the c-word’ I’ve ever heard, but the band were visibly taken-aback by the ferocious reception given to them by the Liverpool crowd. So much so that once they were informed “by some c-word” that they had only time for one more song, the ruefully dejected singer Danny Beus informed the audience “let’s all pretend these last 3 are one song eh?” with a wry smile. Closer “Red Light-Green Light” turned the crowd into tornado of bodies, screaming the call and response of the chorus loader than anything else heard tonight. The “Dunies” chant started up as the band left the stage, leaving this crowd wanting more on a Good Friday to remember.

– Michael Quinlan

Venue: The Shipping Forecast, Liverpool
Support Band: Native Kings, The Orielles