Aleks & The Ramps @ The Jade Monkey, July ’09

Any band that puts in as much effort into their stage presence as Aleks & The Ramps do deserves attention.

Before tonight I had not heard a thing about these guys from Melbourne, but as soon as they hit the stage in ridiculous apparel they had my undivided attention. Musically I was reminded of The Beach Boys and Mr Bungle – two bands covering most genres of music not often mentioned in the same sentence.

Not only did these guys play the part and dress the part, but during their set they swapped instruments willy nilly and even at one point got off the stage entirely for some line dancing and general crowd interaction/humiliation. Certainly not something I expected on a otherwise quiet Thursday night!

Photographically, for the second time ever I was forced to shoot using flash at a gig. Apologies to the band, as they had meticulously decorated every possible mic stand with fairy lights, which looked amazing from the floor, but not even at 1600 ISO and f/2.8 would I be able to catch anything.