Last train to skaville...
Play Dead Sister are another local band that bring half the crowd with them, which ensures for a positive reaction. They are a female fronted band playing ska tinged rock, now who else do we know that does that? Oh yeah that would be No Doubt and the longer Play Dead Sister play, the more it seems that they want to be Gwen Stefani and co. The plus side of that being that they sound pretty good, the downside being that it’s all been done before.
The vocals are too loud in the mix today, not that this is a problem for singer Casey Lim, who has a good voice and good charisma as she moves around the stage. Where it doesn’t work though is when bass player Jakob Parsons joins in on backing vocals, which don’t really extend beyond shouting the odd line and it’s too loud, too messy and detracts from the overall impression. They are a pretty good band and they have some decent tunes like ‘Utopia’ and ‘Out of My Head’ but they don’t yet have any great tunes, which is illustrated by the fact that although they get a good crowd in they don’t get any of them moving.
They cover Lady Ga Ga’s ‘Paparazzi’ and it’s OK but a bit messy, despite allowing Casey to show off her vocal talents further. Despite the criticisms I find myself warming to them but they need to weed out the filler and work on the overall performance a little.