Straight Arrows & Oh! Gunquit - Photos & Videos from a stunning night at The Lexington, Sunday April 14th

Straight Arrows at The Lexington - photo by Retro Man Blog

I must admit I'd never heard of the Australian band Straight Arrows before it was announced that one of Retro Man Blog's favourite bands Oh! Gunquit would be supporting them at The Lexington. I had to have my fix of Oh! Gunquit so decided to check out the main band before buying tickets and I'm glad I did, I was immediately blown away by what I heard! The Sydney based Straight Arrows were over in Europe to promote their latest LP "On Top!" which is a superb collection of fuzzed up melodic Garage Punk. They burst onto the stage, all four band members wearing army fatique jumpsuits and the front three also sported matching sparkling guitars too. 

Straight Arrows at The Lexington - photo by Retro Man Blog

Straight Arrows at The Lexington - photo by Retro Man Blog

Their unbridled manic energy hit you in the face straight away, raw and ragged, the songs bursting at the seams with reverb and fuzz. Cymbal stands, drums and mic stands all went flying as they leapt about the stage, even the drummer couldn't sit down for long! The visceral force of Straight Arrows reminded me of the first time I saw Black Flag back in 1981, that no bullshit, take it or leave it Punk attitude, totally committed to the music. And what great music it is! The songs are packed with melodies and memorable choruses and tracks like "21st Century" and "Out & Down" are surefire Garage Rock classics of any era. I checked out a bit more info on the band after the show and wasn't really surpised to find out that Henry Rollins is a big fan and has been playing them on his radio show. Great band and I'd thoroughly recommended seeing them play live if you get chance. Check out their three albums too, they are all well worth getting hold of and in particular the latest one "On Top!" promises they are getting better with each release so the future's looking promising. 

Straight Arrows at The Lexington - photo by Retro Man Blog

It was lucky that Straight Arrows were such as great live act as they had the almost impossible task of following the support act Oh! Gunquit and admittedly, they did pass the test with flying colours. Oh! Gunquit never cease to amaze me with their mind-blowing performances, I know I am lucky enough to have seen many great live acts over the years, and I must say that Oh! Gunquit are up there with the very best of them. They really do have everything you want in a favourite band. First of all they boast a truly unique frontwoman in the high-kicking Tina with her amazing voice and moves, she's the only person I've ever seen playing the trumpet and hula-hooping at the same time.

Oh! Gunquit at The Lexington - photo by Retro Man Blog

Oh! Gunquit at The Lexington - photo by Retro Man Blog

Tina's bandmates are all superb too, all strong individual characters in their own right. There's Simon Wild and his deliciously sleazy guitar riffs, the blur of energy Chuchi on sax, super cool bassist Veronica and taking the place of regular drummer Alex tonight, it's Ergi powering things along behind his kit. Their perfectly paced and plotted set is packed full of many highlights, "Nomads of the Lost", "Fireballs", "Pony Boy", the great songs keep on coming. They channel all that is great in raw Rock 'n' Soul music from full-on Garage Punk to the Voodoo swamp music of The Cramps and Gun Club, to spiky Post-Punk dance music. I just can't speak highly enough of Oh! Gunquit.

Oh! Gunquit at The Lexington - photo by Retro Man Blog

For more information on Straight Arrows please check out their official Facebook page here. Oh! Gunquit can be found here. There are more photos from the show at our Retro Man Blog Facebook page here and more videos at the Retro Man Blog YouTube channel here.