Gig Review: Velociraptor, April 24 @ Black Bear Lodge

Words by Scenewave Australia - Published on April 30, 2014

Similar to a mutated bio-amorphous blob, Velociraptor are always changing. At any given time they could have seven, twelve or ten members. Who knows? Also like a mutated bio-amorphous blob (I assume), they are heaps of fun to catch live. This time round, in April, fans were treated to eight members of the Brisbane garage pop super group as they travelled up the East coast on their “Ramona” tour. Originally, I thought they’d misspelled Romania, and were, for some reason, headed to the former Soviet nation, but no, that’s the name of their latest single. It follows in the Raptors’ tradition of creating catchy, energetic, if not a little chaotic, pop tunes. Like “Cynthia” and “Hey Suzanne” before, “Ramona”, is about a girl. Whether all three are code for the one girl whom lead singer Jeremy Neale has been pining after for three years, or if they’re separate, and he has the attention span of a hamster when it comes to women, is unclear. Regardless, it makes for great tunes.

Possibly the greatest feet of the night occurred before the band played any music, as they somehow managed to pack eight members and all their instruments (12 guitars, 23 drumkits, and a tamborine [citation needed]) onto the small Black Bear stage. They opened with a track from their 2012, The World Warriors, album, “Riot”, a clear fan favourite. From there, Jeremy threw some of his usual trademark chat and introduced us to Velociraptor’s present members. Like a musical chairs demonstration, vocals, guitars and drum sticks all swapped hands at some point in the night as the band took us from tracks off their 2011 self-titled debut EP, to 2014’s “Ramona”. The set didn’t rise or fall, so much as it stayed at a constant level of bad-assery. And while you can criticize Velociraptor for lack of finesse, they’re sure as hell consistent about it, as they make sure to maintain a constant level of chaos and good times.

While a full pack of Raptors is a rarity, (the DZ Deathrays boys were absent this time round for example) there’s never any indication that the rest will let this fault their live performance. Recording  sessions for the band are equally hard to come by, so it’s been a while since releases. Fortunately, a sophomore record is in the works, so expect news on that in the near future.

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