Masses

Masses/Vaarallinen, Oct 7th 2013, Northcote Social Club
We had a sneaky/surprise daylight savings change at the weekend so this was the first time this year I have left for Monday night mass in the daylight .. ok I got there 15 minutes early but that's not the point.


Masses..yesterday.

Masses are Sexy post-card-crust-Goths playing not-quite Xmal keyboard driven pos(i)t(ive) punk....sounds like it would be right up my  alley don't it? it wasnt.
All the songs were nice and short.. but something didn't gel,  singerBoy: overDelayed, bassChick : overFlanged,  synthGirl: overDressed, drummerBoy: overBandana'ed and ultimately the sum was less than its parts. Missing that vital ingredient ....

You'd park them in the same vacant lot as Adelaides Rule of Thirds and like them they are in dire need of RACV assistance before they find themselves up on bricks, with stereo and number plates liberated and nothing much to look forward to other than being torched by 13 year olds in expensive trainers.

....later that night...after a couple of Carltons finest....

So (screeched in a belligerent rant) Where did this term "finnish style" of punk come from? isnt it fucking old skool ENGLISH punk rock? VAARALLINEN have a Finnish name , are from Singapore and play Finnish Punk...and ...I didnt want their set to Finish!! ha ha : its the way I tell em.....

There was a decent crowd and heaps of chaos happened: I never thought Id see (or be an unwilling participant of)  a circle pit in the social club, on a Monday night...but it happened , I know 'cos I was there, in fact I was  knocked off my feet, I lost my glasses and smashed my camera to bits ..and I was just watching!!!
The camera survived but unfortunately the video clip didn't...I spent a couple of hours trying to download something to fix the file but the closest I got was an app that teased me by showing the salvaged footage then demanding payment to save the repaired file..b'stards.

The band really kicked it, supporting my pet theory that good music only comes from cultural (and/or economic)  constraints..have you been to Singapore? Clean, great food, warm, zero unemployment....a living hell.....the anti-Finland I guess!
I cant offer a better genre description (maybe Norwegian? Danish perhaps?) but it reminded me of that time  just before things got all GBH/Discharge but just after they were all Crass/Subhumans... a couple of grind bands  played on the night as well but I hate that shit and it just reinforced how good REAL punk rock can sound.
Top night out.