SUMMER CRAWL TOLD BY ALL

THE SUMMER CRAWL TOLD BY LEWIS

My Sunday morning started, bright and early, with a coffee in the sun and a quick glance at the weather app. I was feeling incredibly excited, optimistic even, for the day ahead. It will be a hot one, apparently.

Heading to my car, a skip in my step, I was ready to attack this Summer Crawl head on. No 32 degree heat was gonna stop me. 

It wasn’t the heat, but I was stopped almost immediately, .. struck with the realisation that I had left my drum cymbal at work the day before, the music school which was closed on Sundays. I smacked my forehead, hurrumphed and moved along… I would be late for band practice if i didnt..

Practice was at 9 in Marrickville. Restless with stress and the sun cooking my right arm as it hung out the driver's window, I raced up Bulli Pass and along the highway. An idea came to mind: a vision of a cold beer in the cooling afternoon, the air thick with waving heat, and my mind at ease. This vision pushed my accelerator down. 

I arrived first to the rehearsal space and went in to set up, each other member arriving separately soon after. Practice went well, we breezed through our songs with speed and ease.  Airline’s was at 3, so I had a couple of hours between the end of practice and bump in at Kelly’s to procure another cymbal — and then, I figured, at least 5 or 6 hours post set where I could enjoy the crawl stressfree. At practice I sent messages to all my drummer friends and eventually sorted a deal with Tallulah drummer and all-round great guy Miko. Thanks Miko.

After zipping across town and back to his work in Darlinghurst to fetch his keys, I dawdled for a minute in his home studio like a browsing shopper, before I snapped out of it, grabbed something from the pile of bits next to his drumkit and got on my way. I took the 426 up Enmore Rd and hopped off at the stop near Australia St. It was about 2 o clock. Time for the bands…

THE SUMMER CRAWL TOLD BY AMBER

Usually when we go to these kinds of crawls we stay together somewhat or even bump into each other every now and then. But with a crawl so big, so much so it’s across multiple bus stops, multiple Inner West suburbs, multiple venues, plus, 200+ artists… Emma and I finished our Bahn Mi in Newtown together, whilst I assume Lewis was likely setting up his drums at Kelly’s for his band Airline. After Emma and I scoffed our vietnamese-french feed I realised the time was about 2:30pm and I needed to hustle to get to the Heaps Normal Health Club in approximately 15 minutes to catch Sydney’s 5 piece and best friends Centre Fold. So that I did, it was hot, or have I already mentioned that. The relief of hopping on the 426 bus and feeling the slight cool breeze of aircon was likely the coolest I felt until about 10pm that night sitting on the bleachers of the Vic.

Rocking up at the Heaps Normal Club for the Third Eye Stimuli show felt like a calming embrace: familiar faces, and Centrefold, centre stage. It’s hard to know where to place the sound of Centrefold; at first it reminds me of a New Zealand band I love; School Fair, bringing elements that are raw, real and spoken but Centrefold I believe exists somewhere in the realm of a less synthy, more rocky version of Broadcast. With Ruby’s rockstar presence, Chelsea’s back up vocals and melodic riffs along with sweet Aurora completing the sound, swapping between flute and a molodica whilst Luella was keeping in perfect time, bringing a returning grounding pace and the fill in bassist Chet refused to wear a wig, but complemented the band perfectly for his first set of 3 for the day while Sophia was in Japan. 

After seeing the girls, I needed to refresh myself with a nice cool lager–yes the Heaps Normal Health Club does in fact sell alcoholic refreshments as well as their delicious non alc options. By the time I collected myself and congratulated the amazing Centrefold it was time to see the psych rock sensation that is Love Banana, who I came to learn are now half Sydney-based and half Gold Coast-based which makes me excited at the prospect of seeing them live more often–as this was my first time catching them in action. They did not disappoint and had a solid crowd that thought the same, bringing a familiar bounce to the crowd that you can only get from a psych rock/pop band. I heavily enjoyed it to say the least.

With a bit of reluctancy because of how intensely hot it was, I thought, after spending a few hours at the Heaps Normal Health Club, I should venture out into the crazy world that is, Summer Crawl. My venture took me as far as the Vic—a short 2 minute walk up the road to catch besties and power couple Chimers. I’m always in awe of the sound they create from a two-piece. We’ve written about this band many a time, but you honestly have to see it to believe it, they’re sensational. Sorry Podraic, I love when you sing, but Binx your voice is amazing–I want to hear it more.

After remembering that pretty much every band room in the Inner West had amazing Australian acts playing in there, I remembered I had free will and jumped over to the Factory Theatre and saw Straight Arrows. I also saw actual bananas thrown around a jumping, energetic Owen demanding the stage and a crowd drenched in a mixture of mist, sweat and smooshed banana–it was a great experience. By then it was past 7pm and Straight Arrows closed the stage which reverted my direction back to The Vic… I know. But in my defence it was actually a really nice time. No lines, $10 pints of Heineken and all my friends, plus the sexy amazing Wet Kiss followed by the also sexy amazing CLAMM. Evolving into an industrial punk direction that I love, in the heat of the night they gave it fucking everything. Probably a favourite act of the night. After that the evening was spent as you’d expect–on the bleachers till told to leave. A wonderful evening, thanks to Music Booze Co and all the organisers for highlighting Australian music!

THE SUMMER CRAWL TOLD BY EMMA

That Banh Mi Amber was talking about was so good. I got a Vietnamese coffee as well. Super silly from me, but I attacked the Summer Crawl head on without a single plan—the most perfect example of not practicing what I preach. I kept running into friends who were like “What bands are you seeing?” and having to admit I wasn’t even sure, just following my intuition and going with the flow. Intuitive crawling.

My first task was picking up the team’s passes from the makeshift Eliza Street Stage, where I was lucky enough to catch some of Lady Lyon’s set. I’d never seen them before but they presented me with some of my favourite alt-country slash rock twang so I felt like I was at the right place at the right time. From there I was right off to Kelly’s—I trotted to give Lewis his lanyard, so I got to witness him doing his thing as the drummer of Airline, playing to a room squished full of people—there was barely room to move and I realised the challenge I was to be facing for the rest of the day… But I’m brave and capable. It was there I ran into my friend Shelly who hadn’t slept a wink the night before, and I was super impressed.

From there, I went to meet some friends at Waywards, where I got to witness the talent of Mika James, and stand in front of that giant industrial fan they have there. And get a beer. It was probably the happiest I’ve been in my life. Once our third friend joined us, we trotted along towards the bus stop (now this crawl was becoming more than just a crawl) to get to The Vanguard. It was now 4:30pm and time for Binsad—which a few of my friends are in but it was my first time seeing them… Lewis was there too and I got to see him head-banging to ‘Check Yes Juliette,’ a song that’s been in my rotation since probably 2010. And Lewis wasn’t alone in this headbanging—a pulsating crowd of giggers were ebbing and flowing along to the fresh spin on well-loved pop-punk notes. 

Limo was up next, and they were so awesome, but if you’ve ever read anything I’ve written, you’d know that I really struggle staying in the same venue for too long, so we had one last $8 Newtowner and hit the road to return to Eliza St Stage for Le Shiv, right in time for Pencil to be bouncing around in the mosh, singing along with the 100+ people there in the moment with him. I was sad to be leaving the outdoor misters at the stage, but it was time for a quick Longy in the park, to make sure I’d be at the Marly time for me to see Shock Corridor for the first time. 

The chafing began on the walk back to the Marly, but we persevered (sorry to my friends who had to deal with me whinging, and the fact that I had ‘Tell me Something Good’ by Chakra Khan and Rufus, but the Glee version, stuck in my head). Shock Corridor were right up my alley—with an awesome violinist and they were just so cool. Doubling back to The Vanguard for Bimbo, who we know and love, it was crazy to see Steve Bourk on his 3rd (or even 4th?) set of the day. That man is honestly an elite athlete. I then legged it (sprinted) BACK to the Marly for Swapmeet, even though I’d seen them play at Diceys just the night before. That’s how much we love Swapmeet. Of course I then hopped back on the pavement for Antenna to play Mary’s—how could I not? Those guys know how to put on a show, and the whole crowd were agreeing with them. There was no room to move, so my friend and I climbed the stairs and had the best view of the sea of people in there, all hooked by Tim’s words. 

The last set of my night was about to be Crocodylus, and they did their Crocodylus thing. You know. The thing. By this point the Vanguard had heated up to the point sweat was dripping off of us, and the band were even sweatier. 

I was enjoying an end of night beer at the Bank when I learned Newtown station was closed, so I got an uber to Wolli Creek to make the last train home by about 2 minutes. Getting to sit down on the train had never felt so good. With my airpods and a full powerbank I was happily replying to every single story on instagram.

It was amazing to see this Crawl take place again. Championing Australian music, as we all know, is so crucial but also… best day ever!