Saturday 9 March
Supports: Free Throw (USA), Bad Neighbour
As a pop punk ride-or-die, I have been very, very out of the loop these past few years when it comes to who’s killing it in the genre nowadays. While I am well and truly ontop of the local game and am well-versed in bands like Stand Atlantic, Between You and Me, Yours Truly and Drastic Park, I seem to have forgotten about my international friends.
US pop punk is, in my eyes, the best of the best. From The Story So Far to The Wonder Years to every band inbetween, you can guarantee I’ll know about it. Or so I thought. Honestly, I feel like I should blame the massive early 2000s nostalgia wave for making me miss the emergence of Michigan midwestern-emo band, Hot Mulligan. While I was in over my head with pop punk nostalgia festivals like When We Were Young, these guys exploded across the US and seemingly, the world with their 2020 LP, you’ll be fine amidst last year’s release, Why Would I Watch.
But tonight I was determined to earn back my pop punk stripes at the band’s first ever Australian tour.
Venturing out to Brisbane’s most underrated venue, The Princess Theatre, the night kicked off with emo/rock local lads Bad Neighbour. These boys are on the ups and tonight may have been the biggest stage I have seen them play yet. Their chilled, sadboi songs like the brand new track ‘In The Car‘, lean towards the indie side, but you could tell the boys were stoked to be there. Vocalist/guitarist Cooper Riley shared his gratitude to Hot Mulligan for a sick tour before announcing to the hometown crowd that there is a Bad Neighbour record on the way and ended their set with a yet-to-be-released song from said album.
Nashville emo/punk act Free Throw is another band that flew under the radar for me and after witnessing their 30-40 minute set that night, I am regretting this decision. From the minute the first guitar levelled up a notch, this band had me reeled in with their sad-happy songs. Lead vocalist Cory Castro portrays an energy onstage that was simply contagious. Carrying throughout the venue like a disease, the band’s upbeat brand of midwestern pop punk lured fans in droves and it was obvious their Aussie fanbase expanded that evening.
Free Throw’s set was fucking tight and it reminded me of early State Champs and Man Overboard. Honestly, I felt like I was 24 years old and fresh out of uni again. These guys are my new favourite and I hope we get a another taste of them in our country sooner rather than later.
When Hot Mulligan took to the stage, I was almost back to my old self. Vibes were high, and they remained at this level for the rest of the evening. The band kicked in with ‘Drink Milk and Run‘ and every second voice in the room sang/yelled in unison. A few songs in, vocalist Tades Sanville sensed that it wasn’t nearly as loud as he desired, “I want you to sing so loud that you don’t have a voice in the morning!”
While *Equip Sunglasses* segued straight into ‘SPS‘, there was barely a moment to catch our breath. Well, except for that terrible shoey moment — can we let the shoey die out already? No one needs to see that. To all American bands, MOST Australians are not actually proud of this momentary lapse of stupidity/judgement.
I honestly couldn’t tell you my favourite part of Hot Mulligan; I was just there enjoying every single second. It’s been a long time since I’ve attended a gig this fun and that was when a lightbulb lit up above my head. I finally understood the hype around this little emo band from Michigan. Their extremely catchy mix of melancholy emo is wrapped in explosive pop punk with pessimistic sorrow in the best way. Don’t think I’ve heard anyone do it this tightly since Real Friends.
Consider me hooked on this band and everything that comes with Hot Mulligan. I’ll be paying closer attention to what they throw out into the world because it feels like things are only beginning to unravel. Before tonight I felt like a lost soul, but by the time I got home later that night, I felt a little more like a pop punk kid again.
Review by Tamara May @citylightstam
Photos by Reece Trudgen @reeceyphoto
