The Dacios

A steady line of punters snaking their way from the band room through the front bar and out onto Johnston Street. This was the view from halfway up the Tote stairway at 8:30pm on Saturday night for The Dacios’ LP launch with Deaf Wish, who I somehow managed to miss, and “Dean Mercer Corruption Society”. The latter are a complete Eddy Current Suppression Ring rip off right down to their singer wearing the same gloves as Brendan Suppression.

OK, so by the time they took the stage, the “secret band” wasn’t such a secret anymore. Still, Eddy Current (yep, the real Eddy Current) brought a swag of news songs tonight. In fact, with the exception of ‘It’s All Square’ from their self-titled debut, the entire set was new. For most bands as popular as ECSR, this would be gig suicide, but even though they played under a different guise, the audience loved every minute. There are few bands in Australia who can build the same amount of anticipation and buzz.

Brad Barry was owning his side of stage with his powerful bass lines, Danny Young was doing his job behind the kit and Brendan – as always – was the entertaining showman. During a song called ‘Tuning Out’, he joined guitarist Mikey Young at his speaker amp and started punching the mic down on it, Iggy style. One of the more interesting songs tonight was a longer, droning jam called ‘Second Guessing’, made extra hypnotic with Mikey on keys. The songs may be new, but the band remains the same: unpretentious, solid and inspiring.

I’ve heard the only time Danny ever called a radio station to find out what song was playing was the first time he heard a Dacios track. Songs such as ‘Liberty Lovers’ and ‘Monica’ have been on high rotation in the weeks leading up to the launch of debut LP Monkeys Blood. It’s one of the reasons there’s a sold out sign out front tonight.

Tonight is an extra special one for Dacios singer Linda J and her brother/guitarist Bean. Their previous band Little Ugly Girls had been together for 10 years, but never made an album to launch. Monkeys Blood more than makes up for lost time. Over the course of their set they play all seven songs off the album, as well as the unreleased ‘Dirty Dog’ and ‘Sweet Hereafter’.

Bassist Kim Volkman – complete with eyeliner and unbuttoned shirt – prowls front of stage like a true rock star, the more unassuming Bean stands side of stage punching out punishing riffs and drummer Gus destroys the kit. But this night belongs to Linda J. She belts it out pretty much non-stop, thanking the crowd with a smile in between gasps for air and swigs of beer.

Linda J is performer in the true sense of the word. She feeds off the crowd’s energy, and as the set builds so do their appreciative nods and whistles. A small mosh pit develops side of stage, and there’s now a gorilla in the crowd. By the time they get to ‘Liberty Lovers’, it’s safe to say things are going a bit ape-shit.

By the end of the gig Linda J seems emotionally and physically spent, but when the snare and guitar riff of ‘Monica’ kicks in and she sings/snarl the opening line, “Monica, you hand me your confession”, things truly reach ballistic proportions. A night to remember indeed.

by Tim Scott