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Hard, fast and vicious, Polish Club roared as loud as rock music should at Oxford Art Factory

At Oxford Art Factory, Polish Club were a roaring testament to the hurtling power of what a thrashing beat, homespun chords and sweeping vocals can achieve.

If loud, unbridled, howling rock and roll is your bag, then look no further – Polish Club are your new favourite band. The Sydney two-piece recently released their first studio album Alright Already after two years of near constant touring and a roaring EP that introduced us to the trailblazers back in 2015.

Their immense sound draws comparisons to a youthful and brazened Kings of Leon, the aggression of Melbourne’s Royal Headache, and hints of that reckless abandon we heard from The Hives circa 1997.

While their EP gave us a taste of this, their debut rounded out the complete Polish Club sound. After a false start recording with legendary producer Rob Cavallo in LA, singer/guitarist Novak and drummer John returned to Sydney at odds with what they’d captured on tape – a sound that simply wasn’t theirs.

Maddy jane dani hansen polish club oxford art factory top lip

They resolved to bunker down in a studio in Leichhardt and belt out 23 songs in eight days; the result, a gorgeous 14 track record tearing through town like a goddamn freight train, brimming with absolutely punitive percussion, abrasive vocals that rip through the fabric of your soul, and riffs that incite revolution, even on the slower numbers; especially on the slower numbers.

So, having experienced all of this through headphones, I knew seeing them live and in their element would be nothing short of “next level”. Local chums Top Lip opened with the perfect amount of noise and energy, followed by Tasmanian Maddy Jane riding in on some gritty Courtney Barnett-ish notes.

Then, introducing Polish Club to the stage was the manager of the actual Polish Club in Ashfield, who they also laundered to market Alright Already with the ingenious “Polish Club Hotline” gag.

Maddy jane dani hansen polish club oxford art factory top lip

Once they got started though, they didn’t stop. Ripping through every song was John utterly annihilating his drum set to exhaustion and Novak howling into the mic and driving us deaf with the most satisfying riffs since ever.

I had been waiting a long time to see them in the flesh and I was not disappointed – they’re much louder and cooler in person.

Photos by Dani Hansen.