Victorian pop-rockers Ocean Sleeper have released their new single, ‘Lonely Love’ featuring Lil Lotus, and kicked off a headline tour around Australia to show us what it was all about. The first support of the night to get the party started was Darkmatter, a local four-piece heavy metal band from Perth. The screaming guitar riffs and bass lines so deep they could reach into your soul was overlaid by heavy hitting drums and ear-piercing vocals that could tear a house down and set the remains on fire.
It was insane watching these guys dominate the Lynotts Lounge stage, and seeing the mixed bag crowd of punk rockers, goths, and metal heads unite under the sways of Darkmatter. There were mad heavy metal breakdowns In the songs and a circle pit full of fisty arms and angry beards. F*cking insane!
They will reach into the depths of your soul with their music and pull your ribcage out through your ears! There will be a lot of sore necks after all the headbanging from the crowd seeing Darkmatter! If you like Korn or Slipknot, you will enjoy Darkmatter.
Following Darkmatter was the act featuring on Ocean Sleeper’s new single, Lonely Love, the musician known as Lil Lotus. It was a different vibe and energy from Darkmatter as Lil Lotus sung his pop punk breakup ballads and love song hits to the crowd. There was some big emo energy with tattoos, converse, chains on the pants and hair chopped hap-hazardly, it was a nostalgic trip down memory lane and took me back to being 16 again. Lil Lotus brought the crowd a number of boppy bangers with his guitarist and drummer joining him along with a backing track.
The crowd were singing the words back to the band word for word, the drummer never missing a beat. Lil Lotus was going hard and the crowd weren’t going anywhere! Hearts broke all round as he sang the words of his songs about how he gave the love his all and it wasn’t reciprocated and he was left broken. There was crowd surfing by the fans, one of which landed on stage and enjoying a glorious moment with Lil Lotus before getting moved along and he did, the way he came.
These songs were nose bleeders. It was an intimate gig for Lil Lotus and his band, all the way from USA for the tour with Ocean Sleeper at Lynotts Lounge. If you like Simple Plan or Parkway Drive, you will dig Lil Lotus.
Ocean Sleeper are normally a three-piece but they were joined on stage as a full four piece band with guitarist, bass player, drummer and singer, along with their laptop of backing tracks guiding their set. Their last show in Perth was supporting powerful rockers, Sunk Loto, at Freo Social, so I was keen to see them play their own headline show tonight. The crowd were vibing the energy and had great engagement with the band on stage. They opened up a big circle pit for a gnarly breakdown in one of their tracks, Heaven to the delight of the mosh.
During their track Your Love I’ll Never Need, a crowd member decided it would be a perfect time to take a stage dive into the crowd while the singer grabbed the front rows’ phones and took selfies with the audience. Wearing a khaki green jumpsuit, the singer took a run around Lynotts Lounge before climbing up on the main bar while the backing track continued to keep the songs chugging along. He made everyone get low and then jump up on queue, you could almost hear the knee clicks of the aging crowd, all having a great time. There were big bearded dudes throwing themselves around in the circle pit catching unsuspecting gig-goers in the action and wicked crowd participation as they jumped on command from the stage.
Ocean Sleeper ended the night on one of their most popular hits What Have I Done. What have they done indeed as the crowd screamed the words back to them on stage and the band absolutely loved it. Thank goodness the crowd were able to mostly block out the spirited and obnoxious “content creator” who was running around on stage during the entirety of the set, distracting all who were watching from the crowd. When in the audience, he was pulling people and rudely shoving them out the way, so hopefully he gains some manners for the rest of the tour. Thankfully the crowd maintained focus long enough to enjoy this final track. Lil Lotus was absent when Ocean Sleeper sang their new single Lonely Love, a rather interesting move by the band who brought Lil Lotus over from the USA to join them on tour.
Ocean Sleeper’s set varied from very loud screamo to a little hint of metal in the breakdowns with very complex layers carried by the musicians on stage and the computers’ backing tracks. Lynotts Lounge was the perfect setting for this intimate gig to kick off their first headline Australian tour. If you like City State, Void of Vision or Wind Walkers, you will like Ocean Sleeper.
Setlist: Forever Sinking, Heaven, Sleepless, Hate Me Like You Mean It, Your Love I’ll Never Need, Worthless – No Purpose, Parasite, Never The One, Six Feet Down, King Of Nothing, You Kill The Good In Me, Lonely Love, What Have I Done.
Photos by Shotweiler Photography
With thanks to Nick Moran & Good Intent for the media access.
