Sleep Parade, the Rex Wicked, the Third Cycle, From the Ashes at the Evelyn

Sleep Parade have gone from strength to strength since they opened for Karnivool as a four-piece at the Hi-Fi two years ago. Parting ways with keyboardist Paul Zubrinich (and being on the bill for practically every concert played within Melbourne's inner suburbs for about a year) seems to have compounded the rock in the remaining three members, although this preliminary assessment cannot be confirmed until we get the results back from the lab.

With the release of their well-received album Things Can Always Change and a string of shows supporting two of the biggest progressive rock tours of the year - Cog and Porcupine Tree - still to come, there is no doubt in my mind that they will be next in the long procession of new-prog bands to hit the big time in Australia.

To celebrate the "launch" of their debut album, though it had already been available in stores prior to the date of the show, Sleep Parade played at the Evelyn Hotel with fellow Melburnian bands From The Ashes and The Rex Wicked and the female-fronted Sydneysiders The Third Cycle.

From The Ashes had the unenviable job of warming up the tiny opening-time crowd, and pulled it off as best they could. Their songs are clearly high-quality, but whether it was due to the lack of punters or something deeper, their crowd interaction left something to be desired. They would benefit from playing as many shitty support slots as they can just to get themselves out there, because I suspect that once they get a decent crowd in front of them they'd be a lot more impressive.

Apart from the obvious physical appeal, I'm not quite sure what people see in The Third Cycle. They play the kind of pedestrian, middle-of-the-road alt-rock that Nina May seem to have perfected, and offer very little in the way of originality. Jess Donnellan struggled badly to project her voice over the sound of the rock band behind her, although what little of her vocals I heard was quite enjoyable. I'm not sold on them, but if there's one thing you can never discount in music it's a good looking chick, so I wouldn't be entirely surprised to see their popularity skyrocket.

Without a doubt, the pleasant surprise of the night was The Rex Wicked. I saw them play a show with Template and From The Ashes last year, but I'm not sure what happened because I don't remember them being as good as they were at this show.

There's a strong older Muse influence in their sound - the Muse that occasionally went into heavy, screamy mode (aka my favourite Muse era), not the Muse that's trying too hard to be new-age. I'm actually quite surprised The Rex Wicked aren't any bigger than they are at the moment; just listening to their songs they sound "right". I can't quite put my finger on it, but you can just tell listening to their music that they've completely locked in their sound and play it with ease. That's a great sign for a band; they have nowhere to go but up.

Sleep Parade had the crowd pumped and ready to rock from the first effects-laden note they played. Obviously concentrating on material from the album, most of the songs were new to me, and there's no greater introduction to a song than hearing it in a live setting. The sound was clear, the lighting was perfect ¹ , everything was set up for a brilliant show, and that's what they delivered. Well, I assume so anyway.

Unfortunately for me, Carmen and I had to get a tram home so we left towards the end of their set, but from what I saw up to that point, their music is as epic and grandiose as any in the country. With their album a product of uber-producer Forrester Savell (Karnivool, The Butterfly Effect, Dead Letter Circus, Bushido), it's easy to compare them to any of those bands, but in my opinion they're completely removed from the rest of the Australian prog movement. I look forward to seeing them continue to build their own following amongst Australian rock fans, smiling smugly that I knew them when they were nobodies.

1. Every band, and I mean every band, should utilise the same kind of LED lighting strip used by Sleep Parade at this show. It was completely mesmerising. ↩