A murdering hot day is a good catalyst to be sitting in a small air conditioned bar with a cold beer waiting for a gig to start. Really how else should this Monday night be spent? Siren Lines opened up with a expansive soundscape of psychedelic pop with intrinsic guitar lines and floating vocals. The local Sydney 4 price have a debut EP available for free through Facebook and is not a bad little listen if the live set is any good indication. Expect to see more of these guys gigging around town.

Only The Sea Slugs have stepped out if the shadows of their silly moniker with a cracker of a debut EP and backed it up with a good set live. Great soundtrack for an acid trip in the desert with ethereal keyboards and jangly guitars weaving through a rumbling rhythm section. The crowd seemed a little flat towards their performance and took quite a bit of persuasion from the singer to get them animated but they still managed to capture the essence of psychedelic rock. Greater things will come their way.

I'll admit I've never really caught on to Kevin Devine. A decision I now regret after that performance. A last minute inclusion to the bill after other options fell through and we were lucky. An intense half hour set that left the room almost gobsmacked. His sweet voice mixed with impassioned screams and husky sincerity echoed around the Vanguard. Rarely do you see such a powerful performance by man and his guitar. I could've listened for another hour to his songs. Simply brilliant.

This Town Needs Guns wasted no time setting up and were ready to play ten minutes later. I've heard them described as 'math rock' which is a term I've never quite understood.  Talented virtuosos they most certainly are. Both guitarist and bassist played with technical brilliance. New vocalist was struggling in only his third show with the band in as many days and his voice was giving out on him bit he still kept it together throughout the bands set. The between song banter from bass player Jamie Cooper was entertaining in his slightly drunk ramblings of technology, movember and carrots. The diminished crowd were there to help pick up any slack from a damaged singer and helped the band plough through a set of mostly newer tracks including some of the next album due to hit early in the new year.

The sad part about their set was the slowly decreasing crowd. Perhaps over tired from Harvest or the fact it was a school night, one of the rare times the first band drew more people than the headliner. That probably would be a poor reflection on This Town Needs Guns, but I think other factors played in, as they are a technically efficient band live. Maybe that's what 'math rock' means???