D At Sea at the Bald Faced Stag 2/4/14 - Live Review

Doyle Perez - better known by his pseudonym D At Sea - has come a long way since he first posted his acoustic cover of Parkway Drive's 'Carrion' on his YouTube account in November 2011. He's racked up over 5 million channel views, signed to UNFD, had a brief stint as a clean vocalist for Australian metalcore staples Confession, released an EP (with another on the way soon) and embarked on nationwide tour, 'Summer Chills', with Millie Tizzard. Last Sunday, February 2nd, I made my way to Leichardt's Bald Faced Stag for his all ages Sydney gig.

For those of you who aren't familiar with The Stag, it's adorable - with a tiny music venue right next to the bar area, and a beer garden out back. Fairy lights adorned the stage and it wasn't long before the musicians began.

Before I go into detail regarding the sets, I've just got to say that crowd-wise, this was pretty much the weirdest gig I've ever been to. Almost everyone in the room was seated for almost the entire show - not on chairs, but cross legged like in kindergarten. I'm not saying I didn't jump at the opportunity to lounge on the ground instead of standing for three hours plus, and I'm definitely not saying I wasn't happy to finally be able to see over peoples heads at a show - but the seated story time atmosphere of the whole thing was kind of uncomfortably relaxed. No one was pushing their way to the front of the room, no one was dancing, no one seemed all that excited to be there and it felt kind of awkward to sing along or let out my inner fangirl in the form of excited squeals. I'm not a fan of the seated gig. It killed my vibe.

Regardless, the performers were excellent. The local act, Kris McIntyre, opened with a super cute acoustic cover of Blink-182s 'Always', winning over my heart and pants. McIntyre's stage presence was commendable, introducing each song without babbling, and holding the audiences attention with his eyes, making the set both intimate and intriguing. He pulled out some cool originals as well as some more great covers, including a cover of Kellin Quinn's cover of The Goo Goo Dolls classic 'Iris' and an absolutely spine tingling rendition of Matt Corby's Resolution. Corby growl: 10/10. I was impressed, to say the least.

Next on stage was the gorgeous Millie Tizzard, barefoot and flawless. Another set with a lovely mix of covers and originals, pulled the whole room into complete captivation. Millie is such an impressive young woman, with a gorgeous voice, serious guitar skills and incredible songwriting talent. Her finger picked original 'On Paper Seas' was a favourite of mine, a steady and hypnotising song that takes hold of you with grasping lyrics like "my thoughts were too heavy so I threw them away". Her cover of City and Colour's 'Day Old Hate' was perfect, and her super calmed down acoustic rendition of Pierce The Veil's Caraphernelia was a beautiful way to end her set. Gorgeous, flawless, lovely, perfect, beautiful - all adjectives that completely encompass Millie Tizzard as an artist.

Finally, D At Sea stepped on stage. Crowd energy was low and everyone remained seated, which was disappointing, but the man himself couldn't be faulted. To open, he lifted spirits and encouraged more crowd participation with the lively title track from his 'Unconscious' EP, before moving onto his track 'Forever Alone', a song composed entirely of Blink-182 references. As a Blink-182 fangirl from birth, the beauty of this song is literally overwhelming to me. His cover of Bastille's 'Pompeii' is equally brilliant. After a few more originals, Millie Tizzard joined him on stage and we witnessed some really cute duets, including a tearjerking cover of Mayday Parade's 'Three Cheers for Five Years' and a sneak peek at a song from his upcoming EP 'Anchors and Diamonds'. The final three songs definitely stole the show, though. Millie left the stage and Doyle began with a cover of the Amity Affliction's 'RIP Bon', which was so precious I actually cried. Very embarrassing. Finally, he made the crowd stand up for what was set to be his final song - 'Carrion' - encouraging super slow 'moshing' and a 'wall of hugs', finally giving me the crowd atmosphere I'd been hoping for the whole time - so unfortunately close to the end of the gig. To end, the crowd coaxed him into an unprepared rendition of another of his popular covers - Of Mice & Men's 'Second and Sebring'. He forgot some of the words, but the crowd filled in. It was imperfect and on the spot - just the way an encore should be.

Definitely not the best crowd I've ever been in, but some of the most gorgeous acoustic acts I've had the pleasure of witnessing. Kris McIntyre, Millie Tizzard and D At Sea can all be found on Facebook and YouTube, and D At Sea's 'Anchors and Diamonds' EP is set for release in the coming months. Keep an eye out!

Review by Maddy Abbott

Photos by Teresa Pham, view more here

#datsea #livereview #review