A backyard, and some gigs

In an occasional series on backyards I have known... I present Matt's backyard. Isn't it lovely? Just what I like to see in a backyard - lots of green, overgrown-ness, plenty of clotheslines and some alternative exits. You can never have too many of those.

There've been a few changes on the home front of late, with the departure of one member of the household and his apparent replacement by a whole extended family of visitors. It's quite nice having a gang; it increases the chances of there being people about the place at any hour of the day. It quite made my evening to find a good half a dozen peeps scattered about the place on my return home circa 3am Sunday morning following the A Low Hum gig at Indigo. Speaking of which, it's true - Disasteradio stole the show. Notable performances also from Goldenaxe, the Chandeliers, and Phelps & Munro. Notable absence from Cassette :(

As for the D4/Fanatics/Accelerants gig - good times! Following assurances that the gig would run to time, I arrived at a crazy ten-to-nine and checked out the scene at Room 101, the downstairs extension to Bodega. There were a few Radio Active djs spinning New Zealand sounds as part of NZ Music Month, and I was overjoyed to find plates of asparagus rolls and lamingtons strewn about the place.

After a bit of faffing I returned to Bodega and found the Fanatics in full swing before a solid crowd. They played all the songs from their excellent self-titled release, including Snapper's Buddy, and they also did a very cool cover of Cortina's I Am Not An American. In spite of the destructive efforts of one over-zealous fan, the band pulled off a sterling set complete with David's questionable singing and Tom's irreproachable hair-tossing. Ah, curls...

The Accelerants took the stage next; a late addition to the bill. With their lineup now including guitarist Graeme Cummack, it was full swing rock'n'roll with a good dose of the blues scale thrown in and some great vocal harmonies from Marty Squire and Leo Francis. I've been listening to their long-awaited debut, Blood And Bones, a lot lately and it's pretty cool... more on that later.

I didn't watch the D4, mostly because there were these really annoying flashing lights behind the stage, and because I was happier to sit downstairs and chew the fat with Ange. Mmm, fat.