Death Valley Band- Live at Curtin Bandroom : Music News

The furious exhibition of opener See You in Hell introduces Death Valley Band fairly succinctly; like a younger, spritelier edition of Monster Magnet’s track of the same name, DVB are aurally oppressive…in a good way. Frontman Lachlan Ewbank (Damn Terran, ANTS/ Dead Ants Rainbow, ex- Fearless Vampire Killers; busy lad) lets loose a barrage of clean but tough rock guitar, melting your senses…again, gloriously so.

DVB are livid, without being messy; take the unfortunately titled but wholly engaging Bloody Mouth. Musically, a chilling desert sound reminiscent of Queens of the Stone Age (the Oliveri days, thank you). Ex-Reptiles drum-man Luca Scalzo is ceaseless in his energy, as with bassist Rob Fantone. In fact, all three of the lads throw themselves about the stage with such oomph, it makes me exhausted just to watch them.

As Ewbank growls out Wanted Man’s marauding “they’re coming…they’re coming…”, the crowd is enraptured by the enigmatic frontman. There isn’t much between-song banter to speak of, unless it is Ewbank asking for more vocal in the feedback, and other musician lingo I’ll never understand, so the set is wall-to-wall rock and roll; no awkward tune-ups and forced “getting to know you” crowd chat.

Little Does She Know has a faintly Yardbirds-esque guitar (I’m thinking, perhaps, For Your Love) and an earworm-y bassline that, trust me, stays with you. I find myself muttering the chorus unknowingly (“Little does she know/ You’ve got a girl back home…”) and humming to myself on the tram a lot. But when there’s one guy with a testicle hanging out of his pants, and a woman huffing paint thinner, I’m not the strangest thing on the Route 19, savvy? Anyway, there’s a great Arabian-style guitar breakdown a couple of minutes into …Know that charms the punters like snakes.