Seeing a band at Spectrum kind of feels like watching a band play in a garage. With a bar. The stage is small and only just above the ground, there are a few seats on the sides and there isn’t a lot of light. It’s a cool place and really adds to the garage/indie band feel of tonight.
The Upskirts are late on stage but make up for it by playing with a lot of energy as they fly through their support set. They start things off by playing the wrong song but this is the only mistake to speak of. The sound is clear, but not too polished, and their catchy guitar riffs are a lot of fun to move along to.
They get through their songs quickly, but there’s a reason, the lead singer says “So we’re just going to power through, ‘cos everyone’s running super late. We can’t talk too much.” They finish with ‘Red Trenchcoats’ from Vacations and this melodic song with a long guitar solo is a great contrast to the rest of the energetic and loud set. They rush off stage and we’re left to wait for Slow Down Honey. We’re treated to The Strokes and Modest Mouse playing over the speakers between bands and as the room starts to fill, more people are starting to dance.
Slow Down Honey are ready on stage after a particularly long sound check and start strong, playing quickly through their catchy songs. They look happy to be there and it’s so refreshing to see a band who obviously love playing live.
There’s some feedback early on, which is quickly fixed, but doesn’t take away from how well the band are playing. It doesn’t affect the crowd’s enthusiasm either; the two girls next to me are grinding each other.
The band are launching their new EP In The Red tonight, definitely something to go and listen to. Catchy single ‘Tell Me What You Want’ features on the EP and it has a lot of people dancing together through the quickly filling Spectrum.
Other songs ‘Hypnotized’ and ‘You Let The Whole World Down’ are just as catchy but it’s single ‘One I Know’ that’s tonight’s highlight. The Central Coast band delivered their fine-tuned and fun pop songs incredibly well tonight. These songs, combined with their enthusiasm on stage, made for a memorable night and I hope to get the chance to see them live again soon.
Justine McNamara 