Paying a flying visit to Sydney on the back of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s Gizzfest in Melbourne, The Mystery Lights put on a mid week 60’s fuzz filled show at the Oxford Art Factory in Darlinghurst with The Living Eyes, The Dandelion and Los Tones.

Los Tones

It was an early kick off to the mid-week school night with Los Tones cranking out their usual raucous tunes revving the venue up into a garage frenzy. The crowd dribbled in from work, school or bed; immediately being transported into what was forming into a wild night of psych, mess and noise.

By the end of their set the room was starting to fill and smiles were starting to form from a nice mid-week kick of fuzz and growly vocals. Such fun!

Get more of that Los Tones sound here.

The Dandelion

A quick respite and then time for Sydney’s The Dandelion. A slight change of pace with the sultry hypnotic vocals of Natalie de Silver taking us back to a bit of a Haight Ashbury world.

They weaved their dark arts into an infectious groove that you just could not help but move to. Keys, theremin and guitar kept driving the melodies while the engine room of drum and bass kept the train on the tracks.

Get their latest offering here and keep an eye out for live gigs before they take off on their European tour in 2019.

The Living Eyes

On came four young lads from Geelong and immediately changed gears for the night. Banging out some loud and brash punk rock, these guys play straight up guitar driven garage that brings back the short songs.

They smashed through the mess of songs that was their set – some small technical hiccups, but nothing was going to stop them from powering through. Their raw sound and straight up delivery of no nonsense rock left a buzz in the brain and a ringing in the ear.

Sample the roller coaster that is their music here.

The Mystery Lights

Back to the 60’s garage theme with this five piece from New York who cranked out some heavy fuzz laden 60’s psych.

Through the whole set, heavy, loud bass and drums kept the groove moving with keys and guitars providing the fuzz attack. But the action was all with the vocals and guitar of Mike Brandon, jumping and whirling like a possessed dervish, aiming kicks at the front of the stage like punctuation marks to the music. The man had more energy than an energiser bunny with ants in its pants.

From the start you could tell that this show was going to shake the middle of the week. The set was explosive, combining raw power and catchy tunes. Amps and guitars were punished and pushed to the edge, slapped about and encouraged to give up every last drop of tone and screaming tremolo.

You can sample their sound here, but a live gig is the real deal – just don’t stand too close to the stage or you may end up wearing a boot print.

The Brown Note was definitely lurking in the bass amp tonight, it was cranked to almost destructive levels.