the gate.

THE GATE is a (relatively) new live music night just opened out in ryde, right in the 'burbs of sydney. set up in the backyard of the ever-loveable joe, the gate has had three outings so far, all a great success.

as someone cursed with the slow death by a thousand cuts that is life out in the cultural wasteland of the northern areas of sydney, a prospect like this excited me an awful lot. its even more exciting for all the kiddies out there who can't get themselves to gigs to support sydney's local music scene. i know - i was just recently one of them. but a critique of sydney's live music booking is for another day.

after entering through the back gate (conveniently facing onto a main road), cleverly set lighting and a well opened space welcome guests in. there's even a merch stand and a coffee machine (!) to fill out the vibe. its a vibe that sits comfortably somewhere between an evening at a friend's place and almost a proper venue - it's good to see that the organisers have thought things through. it'll make for a very scaleable operation as it (undoubtedly) continues to pull big names and big crowds - for the the 120 capacity yard.

this saturday, sydney's SEEKAE headlined, supported by melbourne's BON CHAT, BON RAT and the (ostensibly) melbournian ZEAL (who also treated early birds to a a guest collab with SUBSKETCH). whilst it was clear that SEEKAE were the main crowd pullers - and they played a fantastic set - in my eyes ZEAL really stole the show. his popular 'vigilante' got a play (after being spun on fbi a few times recently) along with some numbers from his 11-track ep, and some more besides. a personal favourite was 'lightning strikes,' with an opening reminiscent of RADIOHEAD'S 'nude.' watching him rock out on stage with his guitar hero guitar / midi controller was more awesome than any thirteen year old playstation fan could ever be. his collab with SUBSKETCH also proved both artists have a very exciting and idiosyncratic command of rhythm which will take them far, especially with a bit of vocal polishing.

BON CHAT, BON RAT then arrived on the retaining-walled area of lawn to crank out a solid set with minimal interruptions, which was good to see. the group have been laying down some great synth lines in true style of the sydney electronic and indie sound.

SEEKAE came on last to drop some liquid-smooth melodies, and their closer bloodbank transfers well to a live format. they also debuted a new song - look out for anything with the word 'mingus' in the title - with some seriously low, fat beats. the addition of an actual drum kit continues to amaze me, considering how complex a lot of their rhythms and drumming lines appear. overall, it was a characteristically humble but impressive set from the threesome.

the real thing to highlight here, though, is just how cool THE GATE and venues like it really are. of course its byo, the online rsvp system keeps numbers reasonable and expectation high, the system runs like clockwork and the sound desk busts out some excellent tracks over the system in the breaks. and the bands just chill right along side the punters, which is the way something like this really should be. there should be more of this in sydney, and done in the right way. THE GATE ticks all the boxes for me - and i can even ride there on my bike.