Ocean Sleeper - Gig Review 16th May @ Your Local, Melbourne, VIC

Ocean Sleeper
Your Local, The Irish, Melbourne, VIC
May 16th, 2019
Supports: Lack, Shepherd and Foxblood

The time had come for Your Local to close its doors for the last time after a successful few years of hosting some of Australia’s best up and coming acts in the heavy music scene. Having had just wrapped up their first international show in Taiwan, 2019 Unify Gathering alumni Ocean Sleeper had the pleasure of headlining the event and with a new album set to be released before the year ends, it was exciting to see what this band was going to demonstrate to the busy venue.

I was running behind schedule as I made my way down to the venue, I walked in to realised that each band was playing an hour later than their given set times, possibly due to some unforeseen circumstances. Once they were finally finished setting up Shepherd took to the stage and despite how unprofessional they seemed when they were setting up (due to how long they took) I was quite surprised with just how well they played. Although these guys didn’t do a great job of connecting with the crowd, their musicianship was great. They played within almost perfect timing and produced fantastic music which made their set great to watch.

Next up was Foxblood, this band knew how to put on an entertaining show, with the vocalists mesmerising stage moves and the bands enthusiasm, this set was incredibly fun to watch. Their music was fantastically demonstrated, seemingly hitting every note right on the mark. While putting a lot off energy into the crowd to get people moving we didn’t see the first proper mosh pit of the night until Karl Spiessl from Ocean Sleeper came on stage for the last song of their set.

Finally, it was time for Ocean Sleeper to hit the stage and despite the small size of the venue these guys made the most of what they had and were jumping on speakers and whatever else they could find. Having done a stellar job at involving the crowd by encouraging sing-alongs and moshing. They also played two unreleased songs titled ‘Hate Me Like You Mean It’ and ‘Light In My Dark’, which seemed to have excited the crowd immensely. It was a great set but because they were so behind schedule it was cut down from a 50 min set to a 25 min set, which a lot of people seemed to complain about.

Ocean Sleeper are on the rise and are becoming one of Australia’s most well known heavy acts. Having started playing shows overseas and with a debut album set to be released later this year who knows just how far these guys go.

Gig Review by Adam Rice @adamrice1994