Cryptic Abyss

Kicking off the night in The Espy Basement was Melbourne four piece metal band Cryptic Abyss! Boy oh boy do these guys know how to rock! The room was so amped up in anticipation of these guys who brought a strong following of fans! Blasting into first song ‘Grooveback’ saw instant head banging and moshing front of stage! Second song ‘Into the Abyss’ stepped up the tempo and had a killer guitar solo from lead guitarist Nathan. No shirts, long hair and Mohawks! This band lives and breathes metal and they have set a very high bar for the Emergenza Festival this season! They finished with ‘No Sympathy’ and it encouraged our first real mosh and circle of death of the season! What a way to kick off a night in The Espy Basement!

Facades

Facades call themselves a rock band from the Mornington Peninsular, but they tend to sway toward the more indie stylings of today. Second song ‘All in Good Time’ was a real highlight of the set, nice clean guitar and vocals really showed off some polish and tightness of the band! Third song ‘Another Stitch to Sow’ was a slower tune that showed off vocalist Matt’s voice with its spacious feel allowing him to sing a beautiful ballad. Fourth song ‘Delay Song’ used some great delay on the guitar to really good effect! Front man Matt was really well backed by an extremely tight band consisting of drums and bass. A crisp set from Facades!

Jason Lives

Jason Lives are a punkish band that kept the momentum of the night in full swing with their punk rock anthems! These guys had a great rapport with the crowd with very funny banter and jokes between songs! Great musicianship and stage craft blended into an eye catching performance! Fifth song of the set had one of the longest titles of all time! It went something like this... ‘If Ronald Reagan, the man from the elephant rolo ad who looked a bit like Jeff Kennet or Down Allan Brown walked into a 7 Eleven while humming the bass line from Seinfeld and holding a copy of Friday the 13th Part 6 in one hand they would not receive any more frequent flyer points than they are already entitled to’, like I said, very long, but very funny! Jason Lives lured in the crowd more and more with their set which was packed full of energy and charisma! Thanks for the entertainment Jason Lives!

John Trager and the Black Sunrise

John Tager and his band the Black Sunrise took to the stage and built their set up nicely with slow acoustic number ‘When I Was a Child.’ Front man John just sang in this song, but in second song ‘Crash Like a Butterfly’ he picked up the acoustic for some dueling acoustic guitar sounds with the other acoustic guitarist Jess. Third song ‘Winter’ featured some nice keys that sounded like xylophone added by Dan on keyboards. Female acoustic guitarist Jess had a little effects pedal board that she used very very well to compliment each song and add some light and shade to the songs, especially in fourth song ‘Letting Go of You’ where she plucked some lovely harmonics! John has a true rock voice that would fit in well on any rock stage! A fine acoustic rock set from John Tager and the Black Sunrise!

Aimee

Aimee brought an extremely loyal following of fans to The Espy Basement and opening song ‘Til the End of the World’ brought them all to the front of the stage. A powerful ballad that showed Aimee’s first class vocals off straight away! In second song ‘Little Girl’ Aimee left the keyboard and opted for just vocals and dance moves that really amped the crowd up! Aimee consists of a very tight band that features Laura on bass, Zeb on guitar and James on drums. The band took it down a notch in third song ‘Run Away’ before bringing it up again in drum driven tune ‘Golden Smiles.’ Final song ‘Something Incredible’ was a more jazzy song which was a great change up to the set and really showed off the bands true ability! A powerful set from Aimee!