ding dong gig review

wooohooo.. so those who come to our shows know we love to dance like idiots.. luckily for us, this time round, the crowd joined in.. a review from Faster Louder of our gig at the Ding Ding Jan 25th is below.. enjoy

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A muggy Melbourne night at the Ding Dong Lounge, licking your chops at a veritable smorgas board of local talent with Red Ink topping the bill. What better way spend an Australia Day Eve, we ask you?

Unfazed by the serious partying to be done the following day, punters flocked to Ding Dong early on to soak up an energetic set by Mercury White with their piano-inflected brand of indie rock. Honourable mention goes to their generous use of the keytar, always a sight to behold.

Boasting a more extensive list of exotic instruments were Melbourne’s favourite crockery-inspired folk act, The Good China. The troupe whipped out banjos, ukuleles, xylophones, maracas and even a melodica at one point during their delightful set.

Less about extraordinary instruments and more about extraordinary heads of hair was third act for the night, Neon Love. Hot hair and the vocalist’s striking resemblance to Prince aside, Neon Love kept the standard of local talent on show pegged high. With a sound that deftly bridges pop/indie rock/post punk divides these four boys from Ballarat are well worth keeping an eye out for.

Headliners for the night, Red Ink, then took to the stage. Sporting an Aussie-flag T-shirt with the words Blame On! scrawled in black texta, charismatic vocalist John Jakubenko said a few quick hellos to then kick off a set that literally swept the crowd up off the Ding Dong dance floor.

With vocals that swoop and soar over steady layers of pop-rock rhythms and spikes of ska-like guitar riffs, Red Ink certainly know how to weave a soundscape that envelops a crowd and leaves them literally buoyant.

Kleptomaniac starts off dark and punchy but then forks off into dreamy interludes, only to pull you back into the same driving pop beat to keep you on the dance floor. Floatier but still packing power-pop punch is the track Audrey, with reggae-like off-beats keeping 80s rock angst-ridden vocals upbeat.

A spot of crowd-surfing broke out towards the end of the set, despite the small size of venue, with the crowd happily keeping the lone surfer afloat as confetti rained down from the stage above.