On The Scene: Temple 01-03-2013

Another twofer, with Temple getting the shit end of the stick. Perhaps shiity end is more appropriate cause when I showed up half past eleven, the place was definitely on the verge of falling into all out drunken hooliganism. Nevertheless, my original plan to catch Shanghai freak-rock band Stegosaurus? remained intact. The genre-spanning band, a group of expats outta Shanghai, stuck their fangs into the audience and didn’t let up one bit till well past midnight.

Jolly good entertainment, while the band didn’t exactly set the place ablaze, they gave a wildly energetic performance, with the emphasis on fun. These are skilled cats, verbose in what makes a song work and how to wield those guitars (and sticks). Taking a machete to metal, rock, and punk and throwing the ingredients into the pot, their songs can feel a bit bloated at times but it’s all done with such gleeful pleasure that its easy to brush off. And when they stick their guns, they ramp up the epicness to, well, epic heights.

Sometimes I wonder why the Shanghai kids have all the fun. Apologies for the sound – as I mentioned, complete shit-show at Temple.