The energy was electric as the crowd filled the band room of The Charles Hotel on Friday night for the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. Opening the night was local Perth act Sprinter, a four-piece psychedelic rock band known for their energetic fuzz riffs and crunchy guitars. Sprinter brought their own fan base along to The Charles, since forming in 2022, they have built a solid following. They play with energetic riffs and punchy guitars and make great use of effects pedals to create a rusty psychedelic sound that you might have heard in the 70s or 80s. Sprinter mused that they had last played at The Charles as 13 and 14 year olds for a school band thing, when they were too young to be getting beers. Their third song of the night was ‘Desert Trooper’ off their debut album, SPRINTER, released last year. It started with soaring guitar riffs that could be mistaken for the likes of Black Sabbath if you closed your eyes, and dynamite high-octane drumming.
Sprinter brought a friend, Adam, to join them on stage. He adding an almost Jamaican bongo beat over the top of harsh and heavy electric guitars, and then moved seamlessly to add some funky sci-fi keys, creating the heavy psychedelic sound of Sprinter. Bouncing bass lines continued to aid the electric driven riffs that Sprinter’s funkadelic hits are known for, such as seen on tracks ‘Zipping’, ‘Veggies’ and ‘The Whip’. By the time they played ‘Evil Wizard’, the whole crowd were moshing along to the wicked energy and insane raging guitars. Sprinter an eclectic and energetic band with raw passion and emotion. If you like POND, Tama Impala or King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, then you will really dig Sprinter.
Setlist: Season 4, Petty Pistol, Desert Trooper, Zipping, Veggies, The Whip, Evil Wizard
Continuing the psychedelic vibes of the night was the next act, Nice Biscuit, supporting the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets on their Australian tour. Nice Biscuit are a five-piece outfit from Brisbane, of psychedelic-pop-esque aesthetics that you might find on ABBA, and co-ordinated stage moves. I had not seen or heard Nice Biscuit before, but wow! Their first song they played was throwing Fleetwood Mac vibes, as the use of electric guitar, bass, drums, and two female vocalists soared into haunting harmonies, along with synths and tambourines. Their dreamy ethereal vocal melodies overlaid deep heavy bass lines and roaring guitar riffs, that you would expect from a young Tony Iommi. Nice Biscuit had the whole crowd grooving, and their hauntingly beautiful vocal harmonies were only complimented by their synchronised dance moves to add to their awesome stage presence.
Nice Biscuit were in their own eccentric world as a tight knit psychedelic and hauntingly beautiful band, moving as one through breakdowns that went on for minutes on end (that I never wanted to end), and interludes of synths, maracas and tambourines. They are the kings and queens of the pregnant pause, hitting the notes with such exact precision and then pausing for a beat that would cause the whole crowd to take a collective bated breath and then release with all their energy. They were enigmatic, and dynamic, the crowd couldn’t get enough of Nice Biscuit. Their music is made of psychedelic funk town cookie vibes, with wicked build ups between songs and interludes then absolute party town on stage and in the crowd as the breakdowns hit. Nice Biscuit are a force to be reckoned with!
If you like The Lazy Eyes, Wet Leg, or Tama Impala, you will totally vibe with Nice Biscuit.
Set list: Discomfort, Rain, Fade Away, Passing Over, Out Of Sight, Candle, Limbs
The Psychedelic Porn Crumpets chose Perth, their hometown, to kick start their tour. The crowd, having warmed up to a frenzy of excitement by Sprinter and Nice Biscuit, surged forward, vying to get a closer spot to the stage. An electric energy filled the band room at The Charles with everyone hanging out for the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets to hit the stage. There wasn’t much of a wait thankfully, and the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets opened their first song with disco ball party energy of roaring riffs, head banging and the crowd giving that energy right back to them. Circle pits formed as lads wanted to go nuts to their favourite band. It was unreal seeing a crowd respond with such energy as these guys did for the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets.
The band mentioned that it was good to be home on stage at The Charles as they hit into their next song, which got the whole crowd jumping with energetic energy. It was a sign of how hard they thrashed their instruments to create such soaring psychedelic riffs when a string broke – the first time in 10 years, and the last time being at The Charles also. Thankfully Sprinter coming to the rescue with the lend of a 6-string to get the show cranking again.
The crowd couldn’t get enough of this heavy psychedelic band as they sang along to the up beat, down beat and everything in between tempos. It was true mate ship like I’ve never seen before, with more friendships forming in the pit than at a Taylor Swift concert. Shirts were off, hats were swapped and circle pits were formed, unformed and reformed as the whole crowd moved as one, jumping to the beat with their arms in the air and not a care in the world. Who knew swapping shirts and hats with your fellow moshers and pit dwellers was psychedelic rock’s answer to friendship bracelets? But I was here for it and so glad I witnessed it. It didn’t matter who you were or where you were from. If you were in the crowd watching the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets pumping out their tunes with energetic rigour, then you were mates, united by the music.
Further circle pits were formed and bodies thrown around as the crowd came together to give the band as much energy as they were putting out on stage. The band soaked in the energy from the crowd too, drenched in sweat in their overalls to match the wave of sweaty bodies before them. The riffs and lyrics blended together with dynamite drums and beefy TOOL-esque bass lines, thrown into a stir fry of delicious melodies full of all the psychedelic musical flavours of the 70s and 80s and raging rhythms of modern day rock. Everything was complimented by big loud drum breakdowns, similar to something you might hear on a Black Sabbath album. It was like a bomb had gone off in the band room. There were plenty of epic solos and wicked riffs to go round, as the band rounded out the night with ‘Hymn For A Droid, they put the psychedelic in the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. I can’t recommend seeing the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets highly enough, they are definitely one of the best live bands I have ever seen. The Psychedelic Porn Crumpets kicked off their Australia shows with a bang, and continue their world tour in 2024.
If you dig bands like POND, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, or The Murlocs, then you will definitely dig the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets.
Setlist: Tally-Ho, (I’m A Kadaver) Alakazam, Bill’s Mandolin, Surf’s Up, Mundungus, Nootmare (K.I.L.L.I.n.G) [Meow!], Lava Lamp Pisco, Ergophobia, Entropy, Gurzle, Found God In A Tomato,
Photos by Shotweiler Photography
With special thanks to Beehive PR for the media access.
