come party!

Polish Club @ The Entrance Leagues Club, Bateau Bay, NSW Australia 08/06/2019 written by Brendan Lewis. *EXPLICIT* photos by Luke Pleydon. For the Luke’s full event gallery click here.

Come party with me at the Iguana folks!... at The Entrance Leagues Club. Let me shed a bit of clarity for you all, just so no one is left divided on what my words entail. I just finished up chatting to the some-what Polish lads in Sydney soul/rock duo Polish Club out the back in the dark (yes, a bit sketchy), before they start the party on stage for the first night of their ‘Meet Me At The Iguana’ album tour, and believe me, that interview was a goddamn party in itself!

If the hilarious vulgarity of our banter going as low as it goes dwelling where the sun don’t shine, is anything to go off, well, tonight is gonna be priceless!...

The first three songs kick off the party pumped to the max! The first song hooks us all in with anthemic vocal hooks to impale ourselves on in the chorus, with the rough yet somehow oh-so smooth bassy blues guitar keeping that hold on us tight, with everyone trying to sing both vocal and guitar riff hooks! Like fishing (which I always sucked at), even I know that once you’ve got the fish hooked, you still need to reel it in (yep, dishing out a fishing analogy at a party!). The vocal and guitar hooks alike, plus the steady waves of mid-tempo driving beats and Novalk’s soulful rock rasp is rather potent I must say, (who knew a somewhat Polish guy singing along to his mate hitting things really hard could be so mesmerizing?). My point being, if that’s not enough to reel this crowd in, the big rock out in the songs’ bridge sure does that!

The next two songs, the latter flowing straight from the first just like peoples drinks here tonight, ramps the speed up a notch! The first of these songs is a full-throttle party banger, that will force you to dance like that really drunk Aunty at Christmas, insisting on waving your arms around in a dance-like manner! The upbeat party-shaker vibe along with smooth vocal harmonies in the songs’ chorus, spawns dance moves from this whacky blind guy that I honestly never knew/thought I could pull off… oh, and the night is still young!

A big rock out conjoins the second song with the third, which transitions the vibe to a sort-of Motown gospel vibe whilst still keeping the party atmosphere pumping! If this is church then goddamn I’m going to church more often!... well, start going that is. What makes this holy gospel more-so, is how the sound mixer has levelled Novalk’s smooth vocals perfectly with the guitar and drums merely caressing the vocal impact in the most complementing way!

Now, as I mentioned 163 words ago, drinks are flowing consistently tonight. However, the mood here tonight is seamingly intoxicated yes, but it’s far from obnoxious or even unpleasant surprisingly! Everyone is in high-spirits just dancing, singing and having a wow of a time and not ruining it for anyone and being respectful of one another despite intoxication! And thanks to the positive atmosphere and the constant flow of party-pumping rock anthems, those dance moves of mine really start to emerge (and climax in ‘Clarity’ near the end of the set), and honestly, having to write shit down is really starting to kill my mojo, so enough note taking for me! Seriously though, I’ve never reviewed a show that I’ve had so much fun with busting out likely daggy and outdated dance moves that, again, I didn’t even know I could pull off, that I’ve given up taking notes! And what’s more, I didn’t care even in the slightest if my dance moves were in fact daggy and outdated like those of that drunk Aunty at Christmas because I get the feeling I’m fitting right in within this crowd! And here’s the real kicker, I’M COMPLETELY SOBER! (just imagine the shit I do when I’m not!). I really hope these guys never stop playing in pubs/clubs, as I saw them two years ago supporting The Preatures in a theatre to an all-ages crowd, and the vibe was positive yes, but nothing like the party-hype tonight!

So there you have it, after a bit over an hour of soul/rock party-bangers and a few instances of “fuck-upery” as the band so eloquently refered to it in our interview, in a couple of big rock-outs if my ears detect right, no one cares even slightly about said “fuck-upery’s” because the band just make it a part of their show which is probably the most stimulating, satisfying sweaty hour-fifteen of fun on a cold June night you could possibly have other than...