I’m not sure what it is about Australia that leads the country to produce so many great psych bands. Is it something in the water? Is it somehow related to the surfer culture? The steady diet of vegemite? Or could it have some connection to all the deadly spiders at every turn?
OK, probably not the spiders, but whatever it is, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets definitely have that certain something that puts them in the good company of like-minded bands such as Tame Impala, The Lazy Eyes, and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. And on Saturday night, the psych rock faithful packed into the Axis Club for a sold out show from the Perth-based band.
After a solid opening set from New York’s Acid Dad, the Crumpets took to the stage and proceeded to blow the crowd’s minds (and inspire a crowdsurfer or two) with a set of tunes that brought together heavy riffage and trippy harmonies, quite often within the same song. There were plenty of psychedelic projections on the screen behind them to add a bit of visual spectacle, but the real attraction during the show was watching the five band mates just jamming out on tunes like “Tally-Ho”, “Mr. Prism” and “Acid Dent.”
All in all, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets put on a great show, though it ultimately didn’t bring me any closer to understanding just why Australians are so good at psych rock. But when it sounds this good, better not to worry about the why of it all and just enjoy the ride.