gig review teen jesus and the jean teasers

Last night was my first time at Sebright Arms, I knew it was a pub but I was still surprised how small the room for the event itself was. It reminded me of the dark upstairs club part of a pub I used to go to many moons ago, but smaller than that. So the gig would certainly be intimate, the only problem was that it was almost impossible to get decent photos unless you were right at the front, and I wanted to see if there were going to be any mosh pits first, as I’m not really a mosh pit girl!

I’d had a very brief listen online beforehand to the support acts, and to be honest I’d thought neither of them were really my thing on a rather artificial listen. But to my pleasant surprise, the first act Pacific Avenue were better than I expected. They started off with a few technical issues as I couldn’t really hear what they were saying over the microphone at the start, they began to play the first song and the sound proceeded to cut out completely! But once they got going properly, the Aussie band got the night off to a funky start with a sound that was as if Wolf m other and Kasabian had a lovechild together. Music to dance to with a rock n roll attitude. For the final song, the bassist (I think I got that right, do comment and correct me if you were there)! came into the audience and walked through the centre of the crowd right to the bar at the back playing from there. Then they ended with a big finish, and had certainly got the night off to a good start.

The second support act was a completely different sort of band. Snayx (pronounced snakes) were of a heavier, punkier persuasion. The music had taken a decicedly darker turn as the music was a sort of hybrid of punk, metal and rap. They were not really my sort of thing, but the packed audience seemed to lap it up and now there was a full on mosh pit, so I was glad not to be at the front!

Finally main headliner Australian grrrl band Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers came on stage. I couldn’t really see them very well but the music spoke for itself. The set was a relatively short one, at around 45 minutes with no encore, as the band is too new to have enough music for a longer set. They joked about this at one point, saying they were about to play a long song to fill the set up a bit, but it was actually less than a minute long. The band has been compared to Riot Grrrl, and although I could definitely feel the ethos of riot grrrl, the music was more catchy singalong rock/punk/pop. Despite the brief headlining set, the room was packed and nearly everyone was singing along to every word. I felt like I was witnessing a band on the rise. A Siouxsie and the Banshees style performance with unique feisty songs that will stick in your head for days as soon as you hear them. I’m sure we will be hearing much more from them very soon.

If you haven’t heard them yet, and you love your grrrl rock, I highly recommend you get their EP ‘Pretty Good for a Girl Band’ from their bandcamp, and you’ll soon be waiting for the full album as well like I am!