Friday 20th May, 2011 – Amplifier Bar, Perth – Review by Chris Martin

With festival season over, all eyes are now aimed squarely at the local scene. So it’s the perfect time to release an EP. THURSDAYS PAGE took full opportunity of this to unleash their second EP, ‘In The City Tonight’.

Hitting the stage first was CAT BLACK and there’s only one word that can be used to describe this band; LOUD. Ryan Nash’s guitar dominated the mix, so much so that it was difficult to make out the vocals of Emma M. Heath. What Cat Black does best is feral garage rock, but they can play slower numbers such as ‘The Vincent Gallows Song’ and the throbbing ‘Beating chest’. Barely stopping to catch a breath throughout the set, the group still had trouble engaging the small audience. Even so, make no mistake, this cat can bite.

Next up was, PALATIAL DIGS who really know how to work a crowd. Songs like Nothin’ On Me’ and ‘Tumour’ were just built to dance to. The best song of the set though was the frenetic ‘Hoborockabilly’ which was simply riveting. If you haven’t seen Palatial Digs’ mix of rock, blues and funk, then get down to one of their shows – Fast.

At 10:00pm on came the band that had their Facebook page deleted because of their controversial name, THE FAGS. They opened with ‘Dog Town’ which set them off the leash immediately. Manic antics aside, these guys are able to play slow, swampy blues rock but generally speaking there’s nothing complicated about The Fags’ sound – just turn it to 11 and let her rip! They finished with ‘Freedom Fighters of Love’ to cap off a raging blast of rock and roll.

Finally at around 11:00pm Thursday’s Page hit the stage. Opening with ‘Number One Machine’, the band then tore into a frenzied set. The progressive undertones that were all over ‘Beyond Paradise’ are still on ‘In The City Tonight’ but they’re definitely not as obvious as can be heard on ‘Mystic Road’. Old favourite, ‘Disbelief’ was also brought out for the diehards. Of the new songs, ‘Picnic University’ looks like it has Triple J airplay written all over it with its massively catchy chorus. Singer Jake Hoskins seemed to borrow from the book of Red Hot Chilli Peppers front-man, Anthony Kiedis throughout the set – in particular on ‘Long Lost City’ and ‘Shivering’. The band finished with ‘People We Know’ and before we realised, it was all over.