The Smithies always leave an impression on Perth, or is the other way around? Last year Will Wagner frustratingly lashed out at a Perth crowd, and this year the band found themselves trapped in their hotel elevator. #SAVETHESMITHIES became an actual thing. However in spite of all the extraneous stuff that seems to follow the band, at it’s core is a group that is only getting stronger at performing.

Alison Weis, Ceres played support as Metro City, or the ‘Thunderdome’ as Wagner called it, began to fill up with a younger skater crowd. Special mention should go to Joyce Manor who hail for California, and can’t you tell. In a case of fast and furious, their music was like slipping into your well worn Vans – clearly heavily influenced by late 90s indie rock and cali-punk.

The Smith Street Band – photo by Kye Benjamin

There is a level of expectation of participation at a Smithies gig. You can’t just come and stand back, no you throw yourself in body and soul. And that’s what their fans love about this band which wears its heart its sleeve. Wagner, who jokingly called himself the Oprah of punk rock, leads whilst all their fans bleed.

Touring the self-referentially titled album More Scared Of You Than You Are Of Me, the band has grown to include Jess Locke (guitars), and Lucy Wilson (keys, guitars) and embraced a bigger show with a real rock start as the 10 metre curtain emblazoned with “The Smith Street Band” fell at the kick off of Suffer. Reminiscent of Joe Walsh’s Life of illusion, it’s a huge song  layered with keys, a thunderous break down and Wagner’s howling vocal. It’s one of the stronger tracks on the album and was a cracker choice for first song.

With most songs coming from the new album it showed more than ever the creative force Wagner exerts over the band and the enormity of his personality. Often changing guitars between songs, he bounced on the balls of his feet through Birthdays and Death To The Lads as he stood between Lee Hartney (guitars) and Fitzy Fitzgerald (bass), with an excited nervous energy that belies his often wordy lyrics that drip with domestic pathos. In fact if there was a prize for utilising the most words in a song, the Smithies would blitz the field. Literally bursting at the seams on songs like Song For You, Wagner’s phrasing is at its best – dynamic conversational storytelling and it’s worst – bloated and lost within the whirling dervish of frenetic drums and guitar parts like on 25.

The Smith Street Band – photo by Kye Benjamin

Still it’s this and his distinct Aussie strain that is polarising; people either love it, or hate it. Thousands in an almost sold out Thunderdome loved it. The Smithies are your best drinking buddy, that one who has stayed up with you staring into a fire revealing life’s struggles that only 3am conversation can illicit. It’s why when Wagner asks the crowd to sing along, they willingly comply through Ducks Fly Together, Surrender and I Don’t Wanna Die Anymore. Occasionally Wagner’s voice became strained as it was on Run The World but it’s easily forgiven since everyone was thoroughly revelling in the sing-a-long.

Smithie music, and it’s panache to convey the struggle of the mundane, hooks into its fans leading to songs like Shine to explode with fans trying to throw themselves on stage and as crushed plastic cups reigned down. The band watched initially tentatively but then with satisfaction on what they’ve created, which may be rudimentary in composition but always emotionally charged. By final encore Throw Me In The River, it’s a watershed. Earlier Wagner had mentioned that if you weren’t in a band, “go join one, everyone should be in a band it’s great” but evidently Wagner didn’t realise that for so many fans they already feel they are in one.

3.5 stars