There are so many new venues popping up all over town recently, but new space Phoenix Public House is one of the better new establishments. Nestled in the city end of Sydney Road it offers a home away from home, if your home had an epic band room inside it that is.

Friday night Phoenix Public House hosted the second single launch for Melbourne band The Demon Parade. After launching a single earlier in the year they’re back again with new song and video “All the Cool Kids.”

There were some great supports on the night, first up were The Ovals. The lead singer has a Pink Floyd tattoo on his forearm, which was a good sign immediately and the influence was obvious.

Second support Buried Feather further impressed, with their warped guitar sounds and echoing vocals reminiscent of a haunted house. Some talented musicians obviously make up this band with the drummer shaking a tambourine and banging his drums in tandem with raucous effort. The circuit bending was most impressive as it strangely went quite well with the slow guitar which also meant the band didn’t have that cliché ‘psychedelic’ sound which seems to be all the rage. Speaking of rage, the band’s finale had enough flashing lights to cause a seizure.

Witch Hats were the last support. Man, this band is good, their super slow guitars felt like witnessing a long and sleazy tango. They sound like all the great ska punk bands and even better, they are unpretentious onstage; everything a band should be. Playing songs from their new album Pleasure Syndrome, Witch Hats perfected the dreamy guitar sound on songs like ‘In the Mortuary’ but then easily switched back to that snot nosed British sound for songs like ‘Pissing in the Snow’ and ‘Hear Martin.’

Finally, The Demon Parade took the stage, after messing about setting up the smoke machine for a moment, they seemed happy and got right into it. The eclectic musical influence is heavy on this band, psychedelic and folk music of course but the structured vocals added another layer. They give off a ‘local band’ kind of vibe and even had the lead singer from The Ovals up to shake a tambourine around to a song. New single ‘All the Cool Kids,’ was performed solidly: it is tricky to pull off that kind of rebel yell but a very admirable performance.

– Hannah Joyner

Check out “All The Cool Kids” with or without the film clip.

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