As a repeat attendee of shows at The Brightside, I knew that we were in for a bright and very loud night. What I am sure no one expected to see were Spirit Bunny taking the stage with 4 keyboards, a mixing board and a drum set. They pushed the boundaries of what hard-core drumming, synth keys and a whole load of wacky dance moves could do. Spirit Bunny were loud, exciting and led us to half an hour of cable mashing goodness.

Before anyone would have known, Ultra Material emerged on stage and swiftly cruised through 30 mins of their own ultra-songs. If you have ever had a dream where you were floating and a hazy realm of zig zag reverb then this is exactly what it feels like. As the crowd grows coming closer to DEAFCULT, the 80’s sounding rock band helped everyone warm up through tremendous powers of distortion and hypnotising vocal work. If you like long drives at sunset, put Ultra Material on until you forget about all your worries.

Following the same theme so far, Pleasure Symbols flowed out with some deep bass tones, skilful keys and one awesome drummer. Preparing the crowd for the headline to follow, they coated the small Brightside venue in delayed licks and “kind of new one” tunes. Bringing out the dancing shoes in most of the already present crowd, they vibed through a much darker undertone, preparing the ears for what was next.

The long awaited, highly anticipated DEAFCULT make their way on stage sporting 5 front guitarists and a drummer. Pause while everyone clapped and waited for the very thick, angelic wall of noise to make its way to bless our ears for the next hour. Touring for their second record AURAS, the hometown band wasted no time rocking out in front of friends, family and dire fans. Starting off with some oldies from their debut DEAFCULT EP they showed everyone just how loud the eleventh notch on a speaker was with Akira and Throwing Sparks. Short queues from their Scottish vocalist not only added charisma but helped everyone fall deeper in love with them while trying process the show so far. The combination of distortion, reverb and each guitarists part in forming the sonic masterpiece was astounding to watch.

The band held the crowd in a mild trance as they blissfully cruised through bangers from the AURAS. At this point the crowd’s heads were banging and bodies were moving instinctively to Brisbane’s finest shoegaze rock band. They excited the crowd in allowing us to swim through a heavy pool of saturated, raw, dreamy tunes that no one could help but to rock out to. The 6-piece band tore up the small stage while jumping into JUDY and LEMONADE BEAUTY while carving the show to a close. With barely any room on stage the band took The Brightside on a journey with a surprising mix of the DEAFCULT EP and AURAS. Leaving nothing in the tank, they pushed it to the max and helped us head bang through BEEMOMUG, an old favourite.  

DEAFCULT is a vital, refreshing reminder of the vast amounts of talent that flood the Brisbane rock music scene. If you are thinking about seeing them live at any venue, say a lovely goodbye to your ears and hello to a profound appreciation for shoegaze rock. Bless you DEAFCULT.

Lachlan Eunson