Project Description
State Champs // Photo – Talia Ferguson Photography . . State Champs // Photo – Talia Ferguson Photography . . Paperweight // Photo – Talia Ferguson Photography . Paperweight // Photo – Talia Ferguson Photography . . Hot Milk // Photo – Talia Ferguson Photography . Hot Milk // Photo – Talia Ferguson Photography . . The Maine // Photo – Talia Ferguson Photography . The Maine // Photo – Talia Ferguson Photography . . State Champs // Photo – Talia Ferguson Photography . State Champs // Photo – Talia Ferguson Photography . . State Champs // Photo – Talia Ferguson Photography . State Champs // Photo – Talia Ferguson Photography . . . State Champs // Photo – Talia Ferguson Photography . State Champs // Photo – Talia Ferguson Photography . . CLICK THE PIC TO VIEW THE NEWS
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STATE CHAMPS
+ The Maine + Hot Milk + Paperweight
@ Magnet House, Perth,
8th September 2022
(Live Review)Review by Talia Ferguson
Photos by Talia Ferguson Photography
US Pop-punk powerhouses State Champs wrapped up their Australian leg of their tour last Thursday at Magnet House in Perth. Joining them were The Maine, Hot Milk, and Paperweight.
Opening the night was Melbourne-based band, Paperweight. They kicked off the night with a bang, starting their set with 2020 single ‘Stuck out Stateside’. The crowd fed off the band’s energy as guitarist/vocalist Luana Tosti-Guerra bounced around the stage and whipped her hair around during their upbeat and fast-paced set. A few songs into the set, vocalist Haris Dillinger decided to stop and take a moment to have a chat to the slowly growing crowd, stating that they had played 11 shows in the last two weeks (and that showed when he addressed the crowd as Brisbane instead of Perth) and that this tour was a dream come true for the band. They kicked things back into gear by playing some songs from their recently released EP ‘Green Lotus Blooms’, such as ‘Asteroids! And Where to Find Them’, and ‘Scapegoat’, where they got the crowd to participate by clapping along with them. They ended their set with their latest release ‘Lemon Spiders’, which was met with just as much energy from the band as the rest of their set. Paperweight are definitely a band to keep an eye on in the Australian pop-punk scene!
Next up was a band that I personally was very excited to see; Hot Milk from the UK. It was their first time in Australia, so I just knew it was going to be a set to remember. They opened their set with ‘Bad Influence’, the lead single of their latest EP ‘The King and Queen of Gasoline’, and then took it back to the beginning of the band with ‘Wide Awake’ from their first EP ‘Are You Feeling Alive?’. From the very minute they walked on stage, dual vocalists/guitarists Han Mee and Jim Shaw, as well as bassist Tom Paton were dedicated to making sure they interacted with as much of the crowd as possible; making it feel like such a personal experience. The first circle pit of the night was started during heavy hitter ‘I Just Wanna Know What Happens When I’m Dead’, and a crowd singalong ensued during old fan favourite ‘Candy Coated Lie$’. During their final song of the night, ‘Split Personality’, Han got into the crowd and sat on a fan’s shoulders, while Jim sang to fans at the barricade. Hot Milk are known for calling their fans the Chaos Club, and the band definitely brought the chaos to the stage, in the best possible way. Here’s hoping they come back to do a headline tour soon, because they should be playing bigger stages and longer sets!
Performing next was The Maine, who hadn’t been to Australia since 2018, or as vocalist John O’Callaghan put it, ’72 years’. They walked onto the stage with ‘Sweet Caroline’ playing in the background as the crowd sang along, and as the song faded, they began to play ‘Sticky’ from their latest album ‘XOXO: From Love and Anxiety in Real Time’, which name drops the aforementioned song. The crowd sang back every word with passion as lead guitarist Kennedy Brock sang backing vocals, while John sang to the crowd, grabbing hands and giving hi-fives. In between songs, John asked for a show of hands who had seen The Maine live before, which lead to a deafening cheer. He then went on to joke that ‘everyone that hadn’t seen them before was getting $100 on the way out, and if they didn’t get it, it was because State Champs didn’t give it to them’. Their setlist included fan favourites from 6 of their 8 studio albums, plus the song they released with Charlotte Sands and Taking Back Sunday, ‘Loved You a Little’. Before going into ‘We All Roll Along’ from ‘Can’t Stop Won’t Stop’, John mentioned that they had been a band for 15 years, and that they play this song for the ‘OGs’. While they appreciate their fans and ‘8123 Family’, the band made it clear that they didn’t care if patrons knew the words to their songs or not, they just wanted everyone to have fun. Whilst performing, the band couldn’t help but be mesmerised by the moving strobe lights hanging from the ceiling. John describing it as ‘Some Harry Styles shit’ and asking the lighting person to show them the coolest thing they can do with them. As they ended they set on ‘Black Butterflies and Déjà vu’ from ‘Lovely Little Lonely’, an inflatable beach ball was thrown around the crowd to really end the set on a high note.
Lastly, the headliners hit the stage; State Champs were last in Australia way back in 2016 when they released their album ‘Around the World and Back’ (Although they were playing in a much smaller venue then). Since then, they have released two more albums, including the one they came here to celebrate: ‘Kings of the New Age’. They kicked off their set with one of their more popular songs ‘Secrets’, which got the crowd jumping and singing along. The band were full of energy, as you’d expect any pop-punk band to be, with vocalist Derek DiScanio jumping and high kicking, while bassist/backing vocalist Ryan Scott-Graham was doing spins and making the most of the stage room. Throughout the night they played an array of songs from their 4 most recent albums which kept the crowd moving, including ‘Some Minds Don’t Change’, ‘Deadly Conversation’, ‘Criminal’ (Where they requested the biggest circle pit of the tour), and ‘All You Are is History’. At one point in the set, the good old ‘shoey’ chant came out, and the band said that Ryan had already done one this tour, so Han from Hot Milk offered to do one, out of Ryan’s shoe of course! Han’s chaos didn’t stop there, she also crowdsurfed during State Champs’ second last song, ‘Secrets’, and then herself and bandmate Tom ran on stage during the last song ‘Everybody But You’ and did a strip tease and dance for the State Champs boys, who were a bit confused but found it funny. Nonetheless, the last show of tour was definitely a memorable one!
Check out Talia Ferguson’s full gallery of this event HERE
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Press Release June 2022 (below) HERE
STATE CHAMPS (USA)
announce Australian Tour
with very special guests
THE MAINE (USA),
HOT MILK (UK) & PAPERWEIGHT (AUS)
.AMNPLIFY – DB
