Spiderbait are back at it, starting off their tour to promote their latest album Sounds in the Key of J, which celebrates the work of bass player Janet English. Tonight they start the tour at the Metro Theatre in Sydney, supported by Sydney scallywags, Itchy and the Nits.

Itchy and the Nits

First up, Itchy and the Nits are a three piece with drums/vocals, bass and guitar and a three chord snappy song attitude. AND fun.

The band pumped out a truckload of short, fast, pop songs with a punk attitude; all delivered with a cheeky grin – they were obviously having plenty of fun on stage.

Songs were about crabs, nits, dreamboats and bozo’s; but all of them, catchy tunes that got the crowd bouncing on the floor.

Check out their itchy beats here.

Spiderbait

A little bit of waiting around while the guitar techs did their thing and then Kram came out to give us all a bit of a pep talk to rev up the love for Janet and her songs on Sounds in the Key of J. A haunting start and walk on with a very hushed Supersonic Edit and then straight into the fuzz with I Gotta Know, Jesus, Yeah Oh Yeah and Hot Water and Milk.

The band was in fine form and obviously pleased to be back in front of a crowd, with a little bit of chat through the set, even little hiccups and false starts taken in their stride. Kram, pulled out a glockenspiel for Glockenpop; acoustic guitars came out and were shared around the stage for some show and tell about “back to how we wrote this one”, and there were even a few backstories for a couple of numbers.

The crowd was well warmed up and obviously showing a bit of love for the band, especially when they pulled out Fucken Awesome. The set wrapped up with new song, My Car’s A UFO for a bit of a breather, but they were soon back for more with Kram on acoustic guitar again for a subdued, Ballad of Whitby Farm, quickly followed by a noise injection with a raucous version of Footy and Alex the Seal, then topping off the night with Calypso to drive the crowd into a frenzied sing along. Then STOP – nights over.

Get your own Calypso moment here, but have a listen to the long back catalogue that is Songs in the Key of J.