The 'Birmy' has had a pretty sizable re-invention in the last year or so, transitioning from one of those sketchy bars that you just don't go to (despite the grade-a location, cnr smith and Johnson streets, Fitzroy), to a genuine member of the cool Melbourne live music venues. They appear to have driven the skinheads away and attracted a more edgy, rock n roll crowd, most likely through the recruitment of a shrewd band booker, and in the last year the venue has put on a number of great gigs. On this particular night, another good looking rockin' bill, headlined by an awesome band in Kretch, and The Sophisticants on there too (who I had seen a few weeks prior), so expectations were high for this show.

It probably warrants mentioning that the stage setup in the band room is an odd one, as the stage is at the back of the room but only goes halfway across. Thus if a band has more than 2 members, then somebody generally has to set up on the floor, unless you all plan to stay still. further complicating that arrangement is that the floor area next to the stage is also the area where most of the other bands gear is stored.

First cab off the rank, Racing Daphne. These guys were a late replacement for some other band who had pulled out of the show that same day, so props to them for stepping up and playing the show. I guess it was indie garage rock, there were some more punky songs but for the most part the band played easy to digest rock. not a bad thing mind you, in fact they were quite good, the front-man had a good stage presence, however all 3 members seemed pretty much pinned into place, which i will put down to the awkward stage setup.

Next up were The Sophisticants, who I have had the pleasure of seeing before (Click here for a longer review of them), so i was keen to see how they would go about it this time around, and i'd say they were actually better (no mean feat if you read my last review). The aforementioned setup of the stage didn't really seem to bother them, while the bass player set up on the floor, by 5 seconds into the first track he was on the stage, the guitarist had left the stage and was on the floor (ditto the lead singer), and from then on they were all on and off the stage with some regularity. One thing that struck me this time around that i may have missed last time was the musicianship of a couple of members of the band, despite a high level of activity on the stage, they busted out a couple of surprisingly complex songs in between the more thrashy punk tunes. these guys are rapidly becoming one of my favourite underground Melbourne bands, and they looked to have a pretty good turnout too, so watch this space.

The Volatiles were next to take the stage, and immediately kicked into hard edged, seamy garage rock. The songs had a lot of rocky guitar riffs and pounding drums, good to rock out to. And the band certainly gave it a red hot go, willing the crowd to get into it, even though it seemed like a chunk of the crowd that had been watching the Sophisticants had taken off to the beer garden (note to pubs: let people smoke indoors). Every song that the Volatiles busted out was balls to the wall rock, they didn't really slow down for a ballad or anything which was good for me.

Last but certainly not least was Kretch. Kretch is apparently Armenian for rock n roll or something like that, (I was a bit under the weather by the time it got to their set so you'll excuse me for not quite remembering). From speaking to the band after the show, this was their first show with a new drummer, so they would certainly have been excused if they had been a bit disjointed or anything, but they were anything but. The band played tight garage rock, punctuated by heavy guitar and thick bass lines. The frontman was a sight to behold, thrashing around on stage and off of it, it reminded me a lot of Ian Curtis (Joy Division), even down to some of the vocal tricks that he was able to do. Between the Kretch frontman and the Sophisticants frontman, this was almost like some kind of crazy frontman showcase, or at the very least they were trying to one-up each other, which made for entertaining viewing. Kretch were awesome, they play great music and put on an entertaining live show, so what more are you after in a band? A glance at their Myspace page shows that they have been picked up by Spooky Records, home of a bunch of other Melbourne underground rock bands, and they already have a solid release out, so these guys are probably destined for bigger things in the near future.

All in all, a great rockin' night. The Birmingham really is a great venue, you get to feel a connection with the bands, and on this night all the bands put on excellent sets, so it was a winner all round.