It’s great to see new venues popping up, especially when they are breathing new life into an old abandoned pub. The House of Music and Booze is on the Princes Highway in St Peters; formerly the notorious White Horse Hotel, now notorious for, well, music and booze. There is a cranking band room inside and a cellar door shed out the back where you can sample or guzzle locally made Doom Juice wine. Tonight, the Hard Ons get to strut their stuff in the band room and clear the cobwebs out of our ears, supported by Particles and Nancy and the Jam Fancys.

Nancy & the Jam Fancys

These 5 lads from Moruya on the NSW south coast have made the trek up to Sydney to play us what can only be described as pub rock, chiselled from the emerging Sydney punk scene of the 80s. And that’s a good thing.

There are guitars, bass and drums; and a frontman that pulls out a shouty, blues voice that bounces from shades of Jim Morrison to Goose from Box the Jesuit. The combination of angry, quirky, guitar riffs and a bluesy vocal just confused me for a bit, but it worked.

Check out their wares here.

Particles

Particles are Dan D’Arcy on noisy guitar and Skarlett Saramore on flailing drums. The band has been quiet for a bit, but are now crawling out of the plague years with a vengeance.

From the start of the set, the bluesy, heavy riffing guitar dripped fuzz and darkness; all rounded out by an almighty thunderous drum sound. Together they filled the room with a visceral, raw sound that altered heartbeats around the room.

Hear them for yourself here and chase them to their next live gig.

Hard Ons

When the Hard Ons hit the stage, everyone within 4 blocks knows it. And tonight was no exception. With amps cranked to eleventyhundred and drum skins set to snap, crackle and bang, they proceeded to attempt to peel the fresh paint off the band room walls. The sound was a bit washed out for the first part of the set while the room adjusted to the volume, but by mid-set everything was back on track – or we all went deaf – one or the other.

There was plenty of flying hair from Tim, Blackie and Ray, with heads gyrating like bobble dolls, just exuding the ROCK. And of course, the obligatory shirts off after a couple of songs to show off a bit of skin and ink.

There was no slowing down through the set – the only breathers were Tim having a little banter and man crushing on the rest of the band. There was a mix of old and new songs, with a solid dose of older tunes scattered in amongst a selection from their new album, wrapping up the set with Ray promptly blowing up his bass amp. A little on-the-fly rapid electrickery fix and plenty of cries for more got them back up and running for an epic version of Suck N Swallow that jammed into Let There be Rock for a bit.

Listen to them here – you know you want to.

And that Brown Note – a blown bass amp and a very sticky floor – you do the math.