What makes for a perfect evening out? Bad red wine, better pizza, winning at a game or two of pool and some seriously cool choons! This past Saturday at the dark, dank and very damp Bohemian in Richmond was all that and more, and turned into one hell of a blast, despite some serious wardrobe confusion created by hundreds of indie darlings in their button-up shirts, pressed shorts, sleek haircuts and army-inspired jackets… And those were the guys…

I finally got my chance to see Pretoria-based outfit Sticky Antlers, something I’ve looked forward to for ages, ever since seeing the vids for Blind Horse and All This Way. They didn’t deliver. Their trademark low-fi distortion combined with Martinique Pelser’s manically dark vocals didn’t translate well live at all, only succeeding in creating a warped wall of sound attacking your ears through what felt like layers of cotton wool. Not a pleasant sensation, especially if you’re aiming for a combo of noise and tribal-like stomp to entrance the crowd.

It’s a pity, since the foursome have created an anti-corporate rock brand around their music that’s really refreshing: hand-crafted, limited-edition cover artwork (on home-made CD-Rs released on their independent label, KRNGY), buttons, poster art and music videos drawing inspiration from comics, underground art and films and a real willingness to experiment. I’m not sure that I’ll see them live again… Well, maybe once, in a different venue, just for comparison… But I still love the tracks that got me into them in the first place.

Voodoo Child managed to finally convince me of their merit, with a much tighter sound since the addition of ex-Underbelly drummer Hendrik Nel to the line-up, and I’ll always be Heroes Wear Red‘s number one groupie…

But my favourite of the evening turned out to be unknown opening band Shortstraw. Geek-chic inspired indie-rock thrash with shit-hot vocals, an even hotter bassist and an interesting array of songs on topics such as the coolness of Keanu Reeves and the Southern Gospel-fun of go fuck yourself… Hallelujah! They got the crowd seriously hyped up – not bad for the opening band at eight o’ clock at the Bo! They’re definitely on my radar now, go check out some of their tracks on their MySpace page to get a taste!

So stumbling home through rain-slicked streets at an hour unsuitable for human consumption, I had only one thought in my head… “He’s better than you and me, ‘cos he’s Keanu Reeves…”