As we sit reviewing film footage and photographs, shot by ourselves and others, it’s hard to imagine this had been one incredible long weekend. It felt like so much more than just four days.
Destination: Sydney
Deeming the night prior to The Deadvikings’ arrival as a social media-free night, we happily took our time pottering around where the most strenuous activities included ensuring all backlines and gear were organised, undertaking a final inspection of home comforts (you know bedding, food, sorting out merch per gig, final vacuum yadda yadda yadda), what time we needed to be up in order to await their arrival of their flight at said airport. We also decided to turn off all electronic media and have a somewhat early’ish night given the next four days would be tumultuous and exhausting.
What that also meant was that we were entirely oblivious as to what would occur. With their flight cancelled, The Deadvikings were up-graded (courtesy of our very own flying Kangaroo): this meant no lay-over in China and a direct flight to Sydney arriving exactly an hour before we were had set our alarm to get out of bed. Yep, there we were, taking our sweet time in arising, having shower, not wanting to go online if nothing other than to avoid the deluge of messages, requests, potential “we can’t play” (need we remind you of our Palmerslum boys visit?) ….you can see where this is going already right? But at some stage we elected to actually behave like adults. We switched on that bandwidth and BOOM! Yep. Predictably messages came in but from totally unexpected quarters.
The Deadvikings had landed literally 5 hours ahead of schedule and were enjoying the delights of Sitting Around International Airport Life. Panic stations!
No time to lose we bolted out the door, luckily missing rush hour traffic, got to the airport there at record speed and then (as per their wish) promptly guided them in taking public transport to their chosen abode which we call The Turbo Nun Encampment.
It must also be noted that during their bus ride they encountered a gent we shall name Dallas Man, who apparently had worked with some major bands and insisted on talking to these poor jet lagged boys the entire journey. Whether they understood a word of what he said we will never entirely know for we literally tried to block the “noise” out ourselves. But politeness prevailed with nods, smiles and a quasi-acknowledgement given for the entire 30 minute journey.
Home at last and after a quick stop off to get a slab of beer and some more food, their endless travel time had finally come to an end: albeit for only a few hours. Sleep desperately needed, everyone (including ourselves) had some quiet replenishment in preparation for what lay ahead.
Gig 1 – Manly
After massive push of promo with posters having been put up slapped up literally covering major areas of the Northern Beaches (huge shoutout to both Tshitaki and 4 Barrel hemi. for a stupendous effort), a HUGE word of mouth campaign, the mandatory social media onslaught and of course digital editorials, refreshed we all headed off to the Old Manly Boatshed for the beginnings of The Deadvikings Invasion 2018. With the crowd started filtering in early the venue quickly filled up with fans of all three bands playing including venue staff who were there for one thing and one thing only: a great night of local boys pumping out their punk and The Deadvikings bringing what they bring to every gig: an experience like no other.
As always, Manly Beach was the sweaty, drunken, opening night it has always been as Tshitaki and The Deadvikings joined 4 Barrel Hemi in a sodden celebration worthy of New Year’s Eve. Beer, coffee, dancing, hair flying everywhere, merch was frantically bought by all and sundry with vinyl lovers getting in early for the limited edition pressings, it was a sweaty, drunken, opening night. It was with utter delight we observed locals who had been to their 2017 gig show up and were greeted like old friends. Tshitaki and The Deadvikings joined 4 Barrel Hemi in a sodden celebration worthy of New Year’s Eve.
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Gig 2 – Paddington
After rest and recovery (and lunch) we headed into the wilds of Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. Intent on travelling like locals, we piled on to the bus gear and all for our journey to the city. Friday night in the city is an interesting one at best. As we walked up Martin Place we were greeted with sidelong glances, observed many a post-work reveller attempting to navigate quite steep steps and encountered an amazing man of the street “WORK. I AM LOOKING FOR WORK. OH! A BAND! DO YOU NEED ME TO WORK FOR YOU? I HAVE A GREAT VOICE”…yep we know. We heard you for 3 blocks over the noise of traffic, pedestrians, shrieking Friday pub noise, and he did have indeed vocals that could literally bring a house down.
Climbing aboard the bus to our second destination, it was filled with the idiosyncratic personalities that only Sydney can bring. Wanting to ensure our boys were comfortable in their surrounds and not have anything “lifted” by the curious onlooker, we elected “flank” them (if that is indeed possible on the blue mercedes). Oxford Street navigated and with time to spare, a cleansing pre-gig ale was partaken at the Taphouse before walking to our destination: The Captain Cook Hotel. Looking up there we saw it… our boys were in lights
Being the first to arrive, we set up the merch stall and waited for the other bands. Slowly, everyone started turning up. But it was one person in particular that had Shogo literally jumping over his bandmates with a smile that would melt even the hardest of rockers. Nick had befriended them during their 2017 Blitzkrieg at the Bondi Gig. A gentle soul with a love of music, a man who stood there with his phone shooting footage not knowing then that a beautiful friendship was about to be born between this unlikely duo. Nick’s friends who accompanied him, told us that his excitement was so palpable they too were totally amped to see what they had missed out during The DV’s first tour of Sydney.
Not used to needing somewhat “larger” t-shirt sizes for our Aussie physiques, the boys ensured that this year they would have sizes to fit all. We made it our mission that Nick was at last able to adorn a tee with pride. As apparently was the chef at the bistro. Swapping 4 burgers for tshirts our boys were fed, gained new fans and were ready to go.
RK Ally opened the show with the same intensity and landslide of sound we had seen at their last show. Black Knuckles were next, ripping into a set of tracks from their soon-to-be-released album. Black Heart Breakers followed slamming out a set as a medley, running the last track into the next, making the most of their set time. Then, it was The Deadvikings turn. They slammed out their tunes to old friends and new with the razor sharp precision we’ve come to expect, vocalist Kensuke jumping into the crowd at one point and moshing with the throng. This time they threw in a killer rendition of ‘Sonic Reducer’ by the Dead Boys.
Group photo taken (thanks Damo cause this really was one of THE best suggestions ever), it was time to navigate the streets of Darlo and given the time, a 5 block walk gave them a constant show of drag queens, drunken teens, ambos flying around, and bouncers adorned with garlands of flowers. After asking which suburb we were in, our reply was thus “Oxford Street. It doesn’t need to be defined by post code for it was and will forever be known as Oxford Street”.
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Gig 3 – Newtown
Tonight brought us to one of ours, and The Deadvikings’, favourite Sydney rooms. Yep The Townie. Spoken of quite frequently and more than fondness during our 2RRR “Timeslides” segment where we were joined by Will from Eightball Junkies two weeks leading into the Invasion.
As is now tradition, Ramen was consumed (or more accurately “inhaled”) at another fave Japanese eatery in the city, where we were joined by a new family of 3 one of whom had met our boys when on tour of Japan with her Bass playing Bunt father. Allowing for exhaustion, 3rd psychological preparation, food comatisation, seeing Hiro’s face when realisation hit with whom exactly he was talking to was totally brilliant. Jaw literally hitting the floor and then a face lighting up to the a point that would put any lightshow to shame, the pure delight of a connection with the past was one to be treasured and honoured. Farewells duly said, we then headed in for the Saturday show. A late start as always we spent a bit of time simply chilling post mandatory security check waiting for the go ahead from Sound Chick Extraordinaire, Sally.
Nerves tingling, adrenaline pumping: would it be as big as last year we silently questioned each other.
Seeing many of the Captain Cook Crowd rock up (including some from the previous night’s line up), merch literally flying off the table it was time. Final sound checks done, Bone taking up his usual spot at the front so as to absorb what was to become, Buckshot jumped on stage and opened the show, performing the best gig we’d seen them do. They slammed it. Tight, confident, nip slip by Jojo (and yes we have the photo to prove it!) this band is force to be reckoned with. Particular shoutout to Kain who called us “the tits”…man what’s not to love!
Eightball Junkies, dead keen for a spot on the bill, ripped into the set that had the whole house jumping. As an aside literally the minute we announced The Deadvikings 2nd tour, we received a message asking could Eightball be on the bill. This coming from a band who had played with Dead City Ruins, having been featured in major publications such as Overdrive. So it was with a little apprehension we replied “sure” but also stating as the final line up not yet decided, this powerhouse of a band may possibly be opening. To our surprise a definitive “we don’t care, we just want to be on the bill” returned and for that we thank them.
When we say a ‘huge’ crowd turned up we are not exaggerating. Well-established figures in the Sydney music scene, punters from the previous 2 nights’ shows and were back for more, others we had met at gigs we had attended in the weeks leading in to the Invasion turned up, all nodding to us with appreciative smiles. In fact we know folk who had travelled from as far as Newcastle and up from The Gong to see these four boys from Kobe such is their performance drawing power.
We even had a punter who had run the entirety of King Street in a blind panic grabbing our photographer by the arm “god I haven’t missed them have I? The Deadvikings? Have I missed them?” once assured he literally pulled out his phone, dialled his mates and shouted “get here! they haven’t started yet”. And yes, they danced like no bunch of guys have ever danced before!
The Deadvikings got on stage to a colossal pack of punks and head bangers, all cavorting away, with some even singing along to every word of every song. There was even a brief stage infiltration as a punter jumped up to sing backing vocals to Motorhead’s ‘Ace of Spades’.
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A night to remember.
Gig 4 – Sydney CBD
It was a late rise as the pace of the invasion was beginning to understandably take its toll. However, when we awoke it was not necessarily due to the smell of food being cooked in the kitchen. It was a curious sound of a bottle opening. Knowing a second slab of beer had been bought, even we thought “for breakfast? surely not”. Going out to greet them on this final morning, it was indeed established that yes, they had elected to have a beer with their bacon. Or as Shogo stated “only one!”
It must be noted that our Japanese comrade from 2017 had returned to provide some language relief for the boys for Gig 3 and turned up again for Gig 4 to take them on a cultural experience of the city … if nothing else than to possibly see how vast our city really is and no matter where you go, you will always but always have an incredible view of our harbour. We elected to meet them at the final gig destination: the iconic Frankie’s Pizza. Having liaised with 3 out of the 4 bands playing on the bill via social media, it was great to finally do a proper face-to-face with them. What was also cool was for the boys to be back in venue that they were familiar with and safe in the knowledge they would get pizza and beer to sustain them through their final night.
Stu G’s Cloak and Dagger opened the show. Since The Grand Union folded, Stu has put together a strong, three-piece with himself as the guitarist/vocalist and has been going from strength to strength. It is a unique and tight sounding unit and one that really has a definitively strong persona. An extraordinarily talented balance of guitar, bass and drums delivers a sound that you can’t help but be caught up in. Joined by ex-Grand Union guitarist RS for three songs Stu G’s cloak and Dagger are making waves and are playing the massive Resilience Festival come 13th October.
Lord Dodongo: a band of which we have heard and seen much of but not experienced live. Hailing from the Northern Beaches with a heavy old school psychedelia their set was intense, rhythmic and somewhat hypnotic. It reminded us of the early days of Tamam Shud in the late sixties and early Hawkwind. They have a clear solid following and much movement, swaying, singing was observed as was their utter delight in performing. These guys don’t love playing, they love what they play and they play hard.
So here it is: the last set for The Deadvikings 2018 Invasion is now upon us. As with last year, the boys were shattered. As with last year, they dug deep and found an energy that came from somewhere so deep we are still in dumfounded and confounded. During sound check we noticed that Nick had made his way to see his beloved boys one more time. Shogo once again bounced from the behind the curtain to greet his friend and most likely could have quite happily stood there chatting with him all night but for the fact that he was indeed, part of the band and therefore had to return to stage.
Hiro’s bass hit the auditory canals first and with that the crowd moved closer and closer to the stage. Those who were eating were drawn in to their final night. The cover they played was in honour of their friends with whom they played on their first Aussie tour but had played with in Japan many times before. Bunt had 3 band members in the audience and the chosen song was “Sonic Girls” where it was even noted that “shit! they make it sound really good!” being overheard by the TNEG photographer! Also we were stoked to see people from every gig they had played turn up: some even returned to shoot what was surely must be the highlight of their 4 day Invasion.
Time was not on the Turbo Nun’s side this night: with another meeting we had to go to, we had to sadly leave Frankie’s meaning we missed out on the final band of the night. But our boys were on fire as were the venues and the punters.
Looking back, this whole experience had been an exciting circus of underground music. The bands we knew well, the bands we’d discovered earlier, and the bands we’d never seen before made this an exhilarating trip leaving us with the overwhelming urge to get them back in 2019.
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A massive shoutout to all who helped make this tour what it was.
The Bands:Tshitaki, 4 Barrel hemi., RK Ally, Black Heart Breakers, Black Knuckles, Buckshot, Eightball Junkies, Stu G’s Cloak & Dagger, Lord Dodongo
The Venues: The Old Manly Boatshed, The Captain Cook Hotel, The Townie, Frankie’s Pizza
The Radio Stations: 2RRR, UUU Yeah, FBi, North Side Radio – The Devil’s Jukebox
The Vinyl providers: Savage Magic Records, Zodiac Killer Records, AM Records
The punters
THE DEADVIKINGS…..stay tuned. Cause we reckon 2019 will have a little surprise or two
