After selling out their Sydney show the night before, Dead Letter Circus were ready to do the same in the gong, as the unibar was packed from doors open.

First band Wolves gave us our dose of indie rock for the night. They played a solid set, the highlight being their JJJ closer "Children".

Friday was a cold, windy and uninviting night to go outside, but the lure of Kim Churchill and his supports was too good to pass up. Ever since discovering Kim Churchill in 2009, I’ve followed his incredible popularity and success and have never seen a bad gig from this extremely talented 20 year old, and tonight was no exception.

Totally Unicorn don't care for the people who are too cool for the opening acts, hanging up the back of the venue or headed straight towards the bar. They're here to party, and bollocks to anyone who isn't. Literally within seconds of the first chord ringing out, frontman Drew Gardner bowled himself over near the mixing desk. Then, he belly-flops onto a bystander and drapes himself over the security barrier, dangling precariously atop of it while screaming through the steel mesh.

Tonight's gig seemed to follow a theme of relating back to three sayings that, however clichéd, remain tried and true. The first is “never talk to strangers” - although, this one seems to have been misconstrued as “never watch Strangers.” There are more people on stage than there is watching the band when they plug in at the Prime Possum-friendly time of 7:30pm, but at least they don't let it get to them, persevering with their brand of streetwise, RSL-ready rock. It's not inspiring, but what can be at this hour?

Before I'm able to recount the proceedings of Tuesday night's show at The Harp Hotel in Wollongong, I feel that it's necessary and/or potentially impertinent to give a brief disclaimer on my feelings towards the perpetual state of punk, hardcore, metal and it's rainbow of incestuous, cross-genre miscellany: Artistically, there are very few havens of ingenuity left in the battered terrain of breakdowns, blast beats and brutality. There is rarely a desire to innovate, but instead an appetite for familiarity and continuously recycled images.

At the stroke of 8, it felt as though there were more people on stage than amongst the audience as Melbourne sextet Alpine kicked things off. It could have been quite uncomfortable for all involved, but perhaps Alpine's finest quality is their confidence as performers. They present a strong, intrinsic take on indie rock that provides little room for contemporaries or peers. The dual female vocals switch from sweet to sour as if on impulse alone, while the guitars diversify between light and airy tones and scratchy spiked licks.

“Do you say it Bully or Bull-eye?” questions Daniel Lee Kendall as a means of clearing it up before his set starts.

NSW and Victoria showcased two of their most promising live acts at the Harp Hotel Wollongong on Wednesday night. The Mission In Motion and Stealing O’Neal, both coming off great years in 2010, joined forces for a night of great live entertainment.

What can you say about an act like Spookyland? The young singer-songwriter certainly has a way with words and knows his way around a guitar, but it's really hard to shake the fact that... well, he's a bit of a weirdo.

Watching Adelaide band God God Dammit Dammit arrive – perhaps “conglomerate” is the right phrase? - on stage was like a mix of a novelty clown car and Cheaper by the Dozen. Where all these people with instruments came from is anyone's guess, but the second their music crashed down on the unsuspecting audience, it was pretty clear we were in for something decidedly different.

Stanwell Park starlet Bec Sandridge, normally of rootsy folk-rockers Mad Polly, was trying out her solo thing for the first time ever this evening. Although her nerves were evident, the reality of the situation was that the nineteen-year-old had nothing to worry about.

Melbourne rock band Children Collide are on tour in support of their new album Theory of Everything, and graced Wollongong uni bar with their presence on Saturday, 18th of September.