mycriesfallondeafears (NSW)
goblinviolence (NSW)
Juno Eclipse (NSW)
In Her Palms
The Picture of Dorian Gray (NSW)
Wrench

Scheduled only the next day after Starfest at the Tote, a Starfest ‘afterparty’ took place at Footscray’s beloved DIY venue Spit. The reasoning behind this show was to hold an event that could be attended by fans of all ages, in case anyone under the age of 18 missed out on going to the Tote. A few bands from the festival lineup were joined by two new additions, putting on another very memorable night.

The afterparty actually went through a few last-minute changes to the lineup, because between Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, Ringo from Fear of Horses (who were originally meant to play) got food poisoning and had to pull out of the show. Taking their place, The Picture of Dorian Gray returned from their inactive status to fill the gap.

Leading up to the 5:00 show, most of the day was spent trekking around the city collecting various pieces of equipment and figuring out logistics - including an arduous journey to borrow a guitar amp head from The World At A Glance’s very own Scott Mclatchie. Despite this, we still managed to enjoy our time in the morning, including a lovely group breakfast at Innerbloom, a cafe in Spotswood.

Kicking things off immediately were Wrench, a Geelong skramz three-piece who were not on Sunday’s lineup. Their set comprised of equal parts abrasive, chaotic, and melodic skramz, accompanied by plenty of commentary by Paddy, including news of recordings released in the near future.

Just as Zi said, Wrench are getting better and better each show that they play. I am really looking forward to seeing where they will go as a band, as they seem to have plenty of collective ambition. Their set concluded, leaving the audience warmed up and ready for more performances.

After releasing their demo and playing their 'last show' earlier that month, Eora screamo band The Picture of Dorian Gray made a return to the stage for one final (?) show, filling in for Fear of Horses. As a big fan of their demo release, I was particularly excited to see them play.

Aidan’s vocal delivery in this project took me by surprise, being much sassier than I expected. This, combined with their two-vocalist setup, led to me finding them somewhat reminiscent of Told Not To Worry, a sound I really enjoyed. As much as I loved their Bandcamp demo, I thought The Picture of Dorian Gray were even better live.

Shortly after The Picture of Dorian Gray, I joined my bandmates on stage to play our second Starfest set as In Her Palms. This performance was one of my favourites, and, although I was worn out from a long weekend, I couldn’t stop myself from smiling through most of our act.

The crowd’s energy during our performance was very high, especially when we played some older Could be Stars songs (even after playing them for “the last time ever” the night before). There were several instances of people from the audience getting on stage and causing perhaps too much chaos, considering I was knocked over and my guitar signal lost halfway through playing ‘Snow’. Although playing and attending this show was a lot of fun, it is important to remember to respect the space and other people around!

Juno Eclipse began their performance after we had played, and things seemed to be going smoothly. However, a few songs in their bass player had to quickly leave the stage, and their music stopped. It turns out that they were another victim of the kebab food poisoning, which had now claimed Juno Eclipse alongside Fear of Horses. Unfortunately, their set had to end here.. I hope everyone affected is okay </3

Next came the long-awaited conclusion to the Starfest weekend: a final battle set between Eora bands goblinviolence and mycriesfallondeafears. I’m not sure how much there is to write about this, except that it was just as uncontrollable as it sounds. goblinviolence began, flying a red Che Guevara ‘Hasta La Victoria Siempre’ flag behind them as they played.

The bands took it in turns to deliver a relentless, uncontrollable, and passionate alternating performance. This final set lasted over an hour, switching fluently between goblinviolence’s chaotic, politically charged, and sassy mathcore and mycries’ emotional and equally energetic sounds.

During this battle set, mycriesfallondeafears played ‘Sometimes When I’m In The City (I’m Like Holy Shit I’m In The City)’ by Casey Jones Village.

The night ended on a high note, miraculously managing to extend the energy from the first night of Starfest a further 24 hours. As one of the many band members involved, I would like to thank everyone else who came to watch the show, organise, host, document, or in any other way support this amazing night of our lives.

I cannot thank Spit enough for allowing this show to happen! This night of the festival was particularly high in its crowd energy.. it is super important to remember to respect others around you and the venue when going to gigs like these. Much love guys I hope everyone is okay<3

photos from the night (click to expand)

photo credits:
@tennace.photography on instagram
@sssalemwitchtrialsss on instagram