When the Tote Went to Geelong: Total Control at the Barwon Club

In a recent interview with NOISEY, Total Control's Dan Stewart explained that the Melbourne band have never really had a good time playing in their hometown and that booking shows outside regular haunts made the gig experience more interesting for both band and audience.

"People are pretty happy to travel. It kind of makes it interesting for us, ……. we've played every venue in Melbourne to death. It's kind of cool to see other parts of Victoria," explained the vocalist.

So it was little surprise that it felt like half the audience at Friday night's sold out Total Control, Parsnip and Vertigo show at Geelong's Barwon Club had travelled down the Princess Highway from Melbourne. The amount of familiar faces in the Barwon Club's front bar before the gig made it feel more like the Tote.

The show was a trial run of sorts for Total Control's upcoming Sydney Opera House performance as part of Repressed Records' 15th anniversary and their first public performance of tracks from their forthcoming album Laughing at the System.

Stewart was as commanding as ever as he lead the post-punk/electronic five-piece through material from their catalogue including "Total Control" from their 2008 debut EP, and "Expensive Dog" from their most recent release, 2014's Typical System.

One of the highlights of the set was also a highlight from Typical System, the lurching "Black Spring". From the distinctive guitar sound of Mikey Young to the driving drums of James Vinciguerra, the song builds around Stewart's chanted almost droning vocals and tonight as the track drew out more people in the audience started to move.

The set featured two new songs, one that included lyrics 'laughing at the system' and it was cool to hear the rarely played "Flesh War".

An electronic section towards the end included "Paranoid Video" and they finished off what was an intense and inspiring set with "Total Control" and "No Bibs".

Tonight Total Control proved that, whether it's Melbourne, Geelong, the Opera House, or a regional pub, they remain one of the most intense and remarkable bands in Australia.

Catch Total Control at these shows:
June 1 – Sydney at Sydney Opera House (Repressed Records 15th Anniversary)
June 9 – Castlemaine at Theatre Royal