Scotties Garage, one of my new favourite band rooms located in Seaford, a South-Eastern suburb of Melbourne, is the host of tonight’s exciting launch of HZED’s new single “Heartbreaker”.
The night was opened by King’s Vengeance, a three-piece band fronted by Dimitri Stathopoulos on vocals and guitar, his brother Chris on drums and back up vocals and Bevan Kelly on bass. King’s Vengeance hit the stage at 7.30pm for a 40-minute set comprising of seven songs.
King’s Vengeance members all had their guns out and blew the crowd away with their hard and fast mix of blues, heavy rock and grunge. Their instrumental rifts are highlighted by Dimitri’s grungy vocals, Chris’s hard hitting of the skins and Beven’s hair flicking bass frenzy.
A great opening act whose two biggest fans were front and centre. Mr and Mrs Stathopoulos, very proud parents watching their boys kill it on stage.
Next on stage was ANA, lead by the beautiful ‘Rock Goddess’ Anna Hristeko on vocals, Josh Mak on lead guitar, Cody Lamb on bass and Cleveland Beckford Gonzales on drums (Tonight their keyboardist was absent). ANA is a dramatic, theatrical performance, with all the male members of the band wearing leather studded face masks and Anna out front in her leopard print body suit and trademark long hair being blown by a stage fan.
ANA plays symphonic metal with hard and heavy beats that start slow and build to powerful notes. This is all topped with Anna’s classical trained voice which has an operatic soprano sound. Her voice reminds me of Amy Lee from Evanescence, that same strong haunting sound. ANA played a 35 minute set of six songs.
The second song of their set was “Moth” and like a moth to a flame every male in the building was attracted to the sexy, singing flame on stage that is Anna and her talented masked musical disciples.
The third performance of the evening was Howling Mountain. When this three-piece walked on stage my eyes were telling my ears to expect country rock, but my eyes immediately deceive me. Howling Mountain played a cross between dirty blues and stoner rock with strong and powerful vocals.
Howling Mountain is led by vocalist and guitarist Sarah Eiden, Mike Polomeque on drums and Michael James on bass. Sarah’s vocals remind me of an early Dallas Frasca, but at times I could hear a touch of Alanis Morrissette in her tone. Musically they play raw, honest and in your face. At times the notes feel a little chaotic, but it’s a sound that is unique and totally theirs. They played just under an hour with a 11-song set, my favourite being “All Talk No Play” which is the title song off their EP (available now).
Howling Mountain recently supported The Superjesus at the Barwon Heads Hotel and are well worth the listen on across streaming platforms and their vinyl is available to purchase on Bandcamp.
Now it’s finally time for the main act. HZED and what we are all here for, their launch of their new single “Heartbreaker. As the clock struck 11pm HZED walked on stage and tore straight into their new track. “Heartbreaker” is a ballsy, powerful, raw song with heavy rhythm and beats. HZED played on stage for an hour with a 13-song set.
We were treated to new music which was sprinkled throughout the set as the band ready themselves for a possible full album. HZED play a mixture of rock, grunge and metal which is fronted by the strong vocals of Tenaye and backed musically by Piddo on bass, Spruce on lead guitar, Sam on drums and Hannah on rhythm guitar. Original members Spruce and Sam have been playing together for 20 years and have spent the last 11 years building HZED into the line up it is today.
HZED closed the show with an encore by audience request for the rocking new track “Heartbreaker” which was produced by Rusty Brown (Electric Mary) and loved by all at the show. One of the best things about tonight, beside the rocking tunes and amazing single launch was that three out of the four bands were fronted by strong women with powerful voices. Nothing better than live music mixed with girl power. So go out and support live music, so more new music can be made.
Ozgreeny Photography and Kelly would like to thank Scottie’s Garage, HZED and all the support bands for the access and great night out.
Photos courtesy of OzGreeny’s Photography
