Hiding With Bears won the Belgrave South heat of the Freeza Battle of the Bands. The six piece alternative folktsers will be playing in the Yarra Ranges finals this Friday night at the Mooroolbark Community Center.
We chatted with Ryan from the band who told us that they hope to make it on to the eastern regional finals. Other finalists are solo acoustic player, Kane Ketelaar, hardcore outfit, Frontlines, and A Fall Between playing hard rock.
There will be two headline outfits playing some heavy sounds, All From Eternity from NSW and a US band, Texas in July.
High Side Driver
The guys from High Side Driver came in for a yarn and played some acoustic tunes. The band usually have a vast heavy sound, so it was an intimate performance with Matt on guitar and Rob on vocals.
Drummer, Rob and bassist Louis, also joined us in the conversation. The band have been through a few line- up changes and have gone from a female vocalist to Rob recently. Rob’s vocals were so strong, that he was at times concerned that he was gonna pop my eardrums through the headphones!
Rob began his singing career after being encouraged by his sister to take up singing lessons when she heard him singing along with Christine Aguilera. His vocals are light and dark, so he has a similar richness in his singing style to a strong female vocalist.
We heard them play their next single, See You Next Tuesday, which is in fact a dirty anagram! They will be launching this at the Espy, in the mighty Gershwin Room, on Oct 11.
We also heard their Smashing Pumpkins cover of Tonight Tonight , as well as Leave This Moment and Dark Wont Lie.
Michelle Slater journalist 