Review: LIFE PILOT - Live in Brisbane

26 Apr

Please Fasten Your Seat Belts!

Thursday 24th April 2025

Written by Rashid AlKamraikhi and Tom Wilson
Photographed by: Rashid AlKamraikhi

After having whet our appetite with a series of sick film clips, then dropping one hell of an album, it was safe to say we were very keen to catch LIFE PILOT in their optimal format: live and in our face!

We couldn’t just jump straight to the main course though, because we had two killer entrees to enjoy first. It had been a while since we had last seen GRIZZLYSHARK, and it turns out the guys had been busy behind the scenes putting together a revamped lineup, and beefing up their sound while they were at it. Their trade mark hook-laden style was still very much there, but the intensity of it’s delivery and heaviness of the riffs had definitely been dialled right up. If you haven’t already done so, check out their new clip for Jurassic Narc, and then get out to their next show when and wherever that may be.

Down a bass player, and a drummer, and NO FUCKING SHOEY SHARK, could you even call this STRANGE FICTION? Fuck yeah you could, because no matter what configuration this band is in, they are going to rip! Faber took over bass duties, and drums were filled in by Matty Bertucci, who absolutely nailed it. They tore through their set with all the reckless abandon they are known for. Nothing strange about that. True story.

Anyone that has been to Greaser before knows that the band room is pretty fucking pokey. It’s cramped and claustrophobic at the best of times, and a sliver of a stage with a three-inch rise is all that separates the band from the crowd. This is a LIFE PILOT show. We are all in danger. The term ‘high energy’ gets thrown around a bit, but when it comes to LIFE PILOT, ‘high energy’ throws around you. All members of the band are in constant motion, with vocalist Angus’ acrobatic leading him to hang from the rafters and deliver his lines inverted, a la their filmclip for ‘One’. While that wasn’t on their setlist tonight, we do get a great cross-section of songs from their discography, mixed in amongst heavy hitters from their new album, such as set and album opening run, Carcass, Feeding An Illness, and Dogtooth. Speaking of heavy hitters, Eli’s drums thunder in the room, turning it into both a drum, and a massage clinic. Only taking a break to stand up on his floor tom and goad us all on.

After copping a solid 45 or so minute pummeling from the band, they announce their last song, the emotionally charged Mayflower. The band pulled on their physical and mental reserves to put everything they had into it, leaving Angus a sweaty and dishevelled mess on the floor, screaming the closing line, J. Robert Oppenheimer quote “Now I have become death. Destroyer of worlds.”. This would have been a more than satisfying end to the show, but after pulling himself together, Angus announces they have one more in them. It seems this band is as punishing on themselves as they are on us. Someone calls out for Dark Dark Goose (Ok so it was me - Rashid) and after some protest from guitarist Will due to the need for a retune, they crank into it and finish the show with one of their filthiest riffs, and we leave more than more than satisfied.