Nibira is a two piece band from Bendigo, Victoria, Australia who play grunge/punk music. The band formed in 2017 and began playing regularly at the iconic Music Man venue in Bendigo before it closed, the band has also frequented another local venue called “The Golden Vine Hotel” and has recently been playing shows in and around Melbourne.
I got to see this band live in Bendigo last year and haven’t shut up about it since, they didn’t have anything recorded at the time so the only way to hear them again was to go to another show. You wouldn’t be wrong thinking I was excited for this release.
The bands debut release is called Set 3 and it came out on the 10th of August 2019. It was recorded, mixed and mastered at Mouse Mountain Studios (a new studio in my neck of the woods) and is the first product from the studio, all this just adds to my excitement. The sound engineer behind this is Cameron Prictor (drummer for local bands Stone Djoser and The Wooden Lions) who does front of house mixing at The Golden Vine Hotel in Bendigo and does sound for Sharkbite Promotions.
“Enemy” starts with a grunge inspired guitar intro with distorted power chords and harmonics. The drums join in and the song settles into a verse section with the vocals hanging at the back of the verse, over the harmonics. The vocals take it up a notch towards the end of the verse and you can feel the energy building as the singing turns to growling or yelling. The vocals sit differently as the chorus starts and has that grunge/noise punk desperation quality about it. Its got a very well placed fade out echo near the end of the chorus. The song pattern is as simple as the music which makes it accessible and this is a good thing as young beginner guitarists could likely pick up their instrument and play along (Back when I started playing guitar bands like Nirvana had this same appeal). I talked with guitarist/singer Drew about this track and he said it was one of the first songs in the Nibira set, he also said lyrically the song is about fighting the negatives inside yourself when part of you feels like giving up on the world.
The other tracks “No More” and “Light” are very similar, they feature the same soft/heavy verse/chorus style elements of the 90’s alternative/grunge scene. There is some palm muted guitar work and chords ringing out as endings. I’m singing along to “No More” as I write this and I’ve only heard it about five times now, i guess we can check the box for some good vocal hooks in that track.
If your keen to catch the bands high energy live show, their next gig is ‘Rock The Boogie Man‘ Fundraiser on the 21st of September at the Mr Boogie Man BAR in Abbotsford, Victoria. This will be the start of a run of shows to help keep this beloved venue going.
Event Link
Nibira is Drew Miller-Smith – vocals/guitar Wayne Sarre – drums
Facebook Link
Triple J Unearthed Link
Mouse Mountain Studios
Check out Nibira on spotify but if you like what you hear and want to support the scene head over and buy the album and catch them live if you can and keep our scene strong
