The post pandemic tours keep rolling in. Tonight I was lucky enough to catch River of Snakes, up from Melbourne at a FREE gig at the Union Hotel in Newtown, with the stereophonic No Cake and whimsically dark The Walk on By.

The Walk on By

First up were The Walk on By. A four piece from Sydney who have been skulking around the underground music scene for quite a little while now.

While definitely some sort of post punk, there is plenty of dark, ambient thrash exuding from this band. A steady, keeping the cool, train track of a drummer, takes a few side trips into jazz territory and lays down a solid base for the rest of the band to push some boundaries.

Guitars transgress from repetitive, hypnotic jangles to manic, screamy riffs, with vocals equally matched, from a lulling throaty siren song, to an in your face, manic attack of jangled screams.

There was plenty of movement around the stage with guitars and bass prowling their quarters and even an excited leap into the crowd, sending leads, mic stands and equipment flying across the stage on the last song.

Sample their sound here.

No Cake

After a little faffing and drum readiness, No Cake were ready to fill our ears with their electro magic. A 3 piece collaboration, with bass, drums and keyboard/synths and a bit of angsty shouty vocals to fill in the gaps.

Songs are based on day to day mundane adventures, with the synth giving everything a bit of an electro spacey feel under the noisy ruckkus of smashing drums and thumping bass.

The set had a gut wrenchingly seminal feel, like an incessant hammer clanging on sheet metal, hammering the tune into your head, but in a gooey, fuzzy way.

Make some sense of their offerings here.

River of Snakes

A three piece with a CV full of rock cred, River of Snakes didn’t waste any time to put their bass, drum and guitar mash up into a blissfully noisy set to shake the Union tonight.

The live sound was full of snarly, snarly bass and equally intrusive drums providing the rhythm and driving the wall of noise; leaving a little gap for a mess of dark, dark chords and manic, heavy guitar riffs. The final product was a set full of powerful, gritty, hook laden songs that mesmerised like a snake charmer and then dragged you into a maelstrom.

There were shades of tropical fuck storm and sonic youth like, earworms, but oh sooo much darker and more menacing.

Check out their latest release here, but make sure you get yourself to a live show.