Live Review: Alex The Kid, At The Space Jam

Breaking Punk throws punk gigs about once a month, apart from showcasing some of the best in local music they also tend to put on the odd themed event, in this case, it was a tribute to guilty pleasures – punk bands covering pop songs.

Last Week’s Heroes opened up the night throwing down a set of originals and covers, including Imagine Dragon’s Radioactive and Jimmy Eat World’s The Middle. While they didn’t exactly ‘punk up’ the songs, they did they threw a lot of energy into their set. They finished off with an upbeat version of Toto’s Africa but had a bit of trouble getting through the song, having to start over a couple of times. The band had a few tech difficulties earlier on and wound up running over time – which is generally frowned upon, so the boys might want to think about soldiering on in the future.

Next up was the incredibly talented Silver Foxes, who opened up with Wipe Out (The Surfaris) followed by La Bamba (folk/various). After playing Wasting Away, from their EP, they got the crowd dancing with a cover of Green Day’s Basket Case. They continued to throw out a few more originals and covers including Don’t Want to Go, originally by Teenage Bottlerocket whose drummer, Brandon Carlisle, died tragically on November 7. Silver Foxes ended their set with the Beatles classic, Back in the U.S.S.R.

There was barely enough room on the small 459 stage to fit all the members of House Arrest, but they managed to make it work. The local ska punks jammed through a bunch of covers that included, Smash Mouth’s All Star and Taylor Swift’s Trouble. House Arrest always seem to have a great time on stage – vocalist, Andy Storey, has an infectious smile that forces you to enjoy yourself, but with songs this happy you need very little encouragement.

At The Space Jam hit the stage next, and in the true spirit of the night, played an entire set of pop covers. Their song choices were also incredibly ambitious, in particular, Ricky Martin’s Livin’ La Vida Loca which they pulled off in style, horn section and all. Not only did they manage to get a bunch of fans dancing at the front of the stage, they also had their horn players doubling as back-up dancers - if there were points for effort, At The Space Jam get 10 out of 10. They finished up their set with Who Let The Dogs Out?, which was good, but not good enough to make anyone forget how terrible the Baha Men version is.

Closing out the night were Alex The Kid, who launched straight into a verse from Straight Outta Compton before jumping into an original. The crowd had dwindled a little, but AtK showed no signs of slowing things down, covering songs by Eminem and Katy Perry. They also pulled off a great rendition of Third Eye Blind’s Semi-Charmed Life – the happiest song about being addicted to meth you’ll ever hear. The night was a giant success and proved, once again, that Breaking Punk is one of the most fun nights you’ll have in Perth.

Originally published in X-Press Magazine