Live Review: Bin Juice at Brighton Up Bar 23/5/2014
Photo by Ben Lucid
Opening band The Disappointed started the night off in an ironic fashion, by aligning the audience with their group name. While the singer tried his best, and at times injected himself with blistering intensity, the music itself and the songs at large remained pedestrian, and mediocre in the most disappointing way of all; behind the generic, garage-indie-punk-pop stylings of the set, there was a sense of something greater that just didn’t reveal itself. Indeed, the singer seemed to be trying to break through the boundaries of his own band, who responded to his screaming and frantic stage presence with polite nodding and the occasional hard strum of the guitar. While they had a unfavourably small crowd to impress at an early time, The Disappointed seemed unable to truly invest in their own songs.
Winston Surfshirt then took the stage, a three-piece which is slightly reminiscent of the Midnight Juggernauts and Gorillaz. With a set comprised of mostly relaxed and effortless EDM flavoured indie pop, they succeeded in calming the room and heightening the excitement of the crowd. The consistent and excellent bass player laid down the grooves and rhythm for each song, and their well-chosen samples for their melodic combination of hip-hop, indie rock and EDM resulted in a larger and more interested audience, though the law of diminishing returns found both of these dwindling by the end of the set. Despite this, they proved interesting to be worth following in the future, if only to see what they do next.
Shortly after, Bin Juice took the stage, to a feverishly excited room, now packed to capacity. Their opener, a cover of ‘Crosstown Traffic’ by Hendrix, set the pace and tone for the rest of the set, which was dominated by the energy of the audience, and more importantly, the band. The tightness and chemistry of the band was as apparent as ever, with each member receiving their fair share of worship by the crowd. Playing a well-chosen mix of quick and intense songs, and longer, funkier and more instrumental pieces, they slowly worked the audience into a frenzy, until set-highlight and climax ‘Do Not Run’. Much like the group’s musical style, the build-up of the set exploded into sonic and physical mayhem, with front-man, Eli Kwiet, shedding his guitar and jumping off the stage while belting out the final lines of the song to a crowd who seemed determined to only stop moving when there was nothing left to move to. Finishing out the set with mainstay’s ‘Stella’ and ‘In The Badlands’, Bin Juice held the audience at a dancing and pulsing high, before exiting to thunderous cheers from the many sweat and beer-soaked members of the audience. After the increasing quality of the opening acts, Bin Juice proved to everyone present on the night that they are band worth following, and one of the most promising live bands in Sydney.
Set highlights: Do Not Run, Jack Nicholson, Crosstown Traffic, Stella.
Garage Land 