What a fantastic idea for a gig: four bands and four hours of unlimited bowling for five bucks! The object is obviously fun; put it this way, you can’t get intensely serious about the music when the bands are the length of the lane away and it’s your turn. 

But Sydney trio Sandpit cause more than a little distraction. Their field is low-fi guitar pop; and despite the band’s unconventional guitar tunings, there’s no time spent doodling about. Sandpit have developed their ideas into well constructed, concise songs. Live, the material from the band’s debut EP, Lessons in Posture, comes up a little faster and more aggressive. Sandpit are as much Swervedriver as they are Sonic Youth. Their songs seem to rise up around a strong drumbeat; strikingly melodic bass and almost chiming guitar blend in a variety of rhythms and intensities. A dynamic show all round. 

Having seen Gaslight Radio quite regularly, it’s good to see the band vary the order of their setlist. The magnificent-no-matter-how-many-times-you’ve-heard-it ‘Tarmac and Line’ becomes ‘I Sold My Soul to Ten Pin Bowling’ and surfaces somewhere fairly early on. This leaves room for some of the newer material, which is pretty damn fine itself. Stay tuned for another EP (coming soon) and a Big Day Out slot. If you haven’t seen them after all that, then there’s no helping you. 

This writer had almost run out of kind words for Pollen - until today, that is. For some inexplicable reason, the sound here is more sympathetic to their music and you can actually here subtleties which, until now, have been masked in their live shows. As on their CD, Pollen demonstrate a more complex guitar sound; a mass of lines drawn together, rather than a tangle of chords, Consequently, there’s more light and shade. That the band’s vocals are lost in the mix, however, probably does them more good than harm. 

This writer has always wondered why Snout come on stage and jam for a while, instead of launching into one of their excellent skewed pop ditties; they’re the kind of band that don’t need an introduction. But never mind; once they do get on with the show, it’s all fun and games. That there’s no unfamiliar material here is hardly surprising; Snout’s tour schedule has been too full to allow much time for creating new songs. They, too, will be back for the Big Day Out, and another headlining tour after that is likely. But, for now, familiar is best: it’ll take some beating signature song ‘What’s That Sound’ and other pearlers like ‘Remember To Die’.