We Review Deep Sea Arcade - Oh Hello - Brisbane
WHO: Deep Sea Arcade
WHERE: Cobra Kai @ Oh Hello – Brisbane
WHEN: June 21
Thursday night was nostalgic, weird smelling and influenced no real element of dislike. Making the transition from the frosty winter air to Oh Hello’s colourful stuffiness, one was greeted by retro popcorn and cotton candy machines. Crowded with punters trying to get their free fix of salt and sugar, the combination of popcorn and alcohol did weird things to both the air and my nostrils. Although still uncertain if the smell was good or bad, the machines were fun none the less and rekindled all those childlike feelings we all keep somewhere in our anatomy.
With everyone rolling in, Woe & Flutter kicked off the night with some fun indie-punk vibrations. For myself, the band was the highlight of the night. Impressed by their sharing of vocals, polished togetherness within their energetic sound and of course this little dash of Nirvana they seemed to posses. The band was a perfect warm up to uncage the audience’s energy and send the night in the right direction.
After a short wait spent staring at Oh Hello’s lantern roof and retro cartoons projected behind the bar, The Cairos we’re welcomed onstage to a rather energetic crowd. The band played a fairly hypnotic set, with tajority of the audience either nodding their heads or swaying. However I felt the band losing their connection with the audience at times and once found myself watching Pikachu and He-man’s pecs being projected on a bartender’s face. But if they did lose anybody, they more than likely got them back with their popular tracks ‘Shame’ and ‘We All Buy Stars’. They even threw in a cover of ‘Bette Davis Eyes’, which seemed to work for the Brisbane crowd, once again leaving them in an energetic mood.
But when Deep Sea Arcade appeared the crowd was definitely happy to see them and the band sure were happy to be there. It seemed that the second the band began to play, the audience slowly got lost in a trance. Either the massive trance between Deep Sea Arcade and everyone in the club, or in smaller ones of their own. Brisbane’s energy certainly didn’t disappear either when vocalist Nic McKenzie decided to photograph the crowd, in which raised forearms and glasses engulfed any view of the stage. McKenzie replied with a simple “ Fuck Yea Brisbane, you’re hot!” before continuing to rouse the crowd with hits like ‘Girls’ and ‘Lonely in your arms’. After appreciative cheering, Deep Sea Arcade closed the show with their debut title track ‘Outlands’ which seemed a rather fitting way to finish the night.
The show could possibly be best described as a little nostalgia trip, in which I am sure would have been easily enhanced under any influence, even the salty popcorn. Each band possessed an element of an era long passed and both supports seemed to complement Deep Sea Arcade’s traces of psychedelic and nostalgia.
Kirsten Sullivan- AAA Backstage
