Album Review: Boomtown Records - 'The Boomtown Showdown (DVD)'

28 February 2007 | 9:54 am | Staff Writer
Originally Appeared In

Boomtown shows they can mix it up with the Yanks

In August and September of last year, Boomtown Records took its label showcase on the road for an East Coast tour.  Previously the showcase was strictly a Melbourne affair but the surge in the Boomtown roster's popularity over 2005 and 2006 showed that bands such as The Getaway Plan and Angela's Dish were draw right across the country.



The Boomtown Showdown DVD is essentially a live disc with some interview footage slipped in for good measure.


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The live performances are of the highest quality. The audio is great, the camera work covers the stage/band from multiple angles and the track selection demonstrates both the variety and the quality of material being churned out from the current crop of Boomtown bands.



As the most popular band on the label, The Getaway Plan was awarded the task of opening up the DVD - and they do a great job. The 5 live tracks demonstrate a stage presence and ability to work the crowd that is almost un-natural for a band of their age. As I previously mentioned, the sound quality is great and the camera work shows a band with an endless supply of on stage energy.



In Fiction are up next and while their stage show isn't as "refined" as The Getaway Plan's, they still exude enough confidence to hold the crowd's attention. Their material is definitely on the poppier end of the Boomtown spectrum - which explains their rapid increase in popularity over the last 6 months.



As much as I hate the word, Horsell Common's material comes across as more matured than that of their colleagues. Their sound isn't quite as polished and it's the raw aggression that comes from tracks like Royal Artillery that sets them apart from the other bands currently kicking around the country. There is pretty amusing as well.



The other bands that round out the DVD are Sounds Like Chicken (not really my thing but the kids seem to dig it) and Angela's Dish. AG seem to have a lot of underage fans (the crowd at TLC is nothing less than rabid) but they don't seem to have attained acceptance by the overage crowd just yet.



The extras on the DVD include Horsell Common's promotional clip for the track "The Disaster" (off their previous EP "Lost A Lot Of Blood) as well as some live material from former Boomtown heavyweights, Behind Crimson Eyes.



If you're a fan of any of the above mentioned you should definitely

check out this DVD. The sound quality and camera work is as good as

anything that a US based label has churned out lately and the fact that

you're support an Australian indie should be incentive enough anyway!

It's a DVD