• 09 Dec, 2025 *

table of contents

• old friends
• new friends
• generosity
• discovery
• culmination: caspian
• aftermath
• a selection of bad band puns

Every now and then, you find places, people, and institutions that when you’re there, you feel wholly like you belong. This is rare in my experience, and a lot of things have to add up to make someone feel this way.

This is how I feel about Birds Robe, a music collective based in Australia that champions so much of my favourite music genres such as post-rock, post-metal, prog, and experimental music.

I attended their 15th anniversary show on Sunday, Dec 7 2025. It was a whole day and night of seeing so much of what I love and treasure in the one place: old friends, new friends, catharsis, community, euphoria, musical discovery, and bad puns. I would like to share how the event with you, dear readers, so that even a small part of this joy can live on through others.

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old friends

One the reasons I was excited about this day is that gig friends from Naarm were going to visit the Eora show. There’s a contagious aspect to seeing this type of enthusiasm. We followed along their journey of an intense first show, 4 hours of sleep, and then being on the first flight in to see the second show. It’s just pure, wholesome joy when the group re-assembles (with hugs of course!). I am so very grateful of gig friends.

new friends

People often talk about how live music helps them form meaningful connections with others. While many of these connections happen naturally, I like to always introduce myself (where appropriate) to solo gig goers - especially at whole day events like these. Things are better experienced with others around - even if it’s mutual gasps after a set that blew everyone’s mind away. Our gig friend group grew from 6 to 7, then to 8, then to 9. All of us were absolute post-rock and gig nerds. No filler talk and all in on the experience that was before us.

What I want to highlight here is this sense of friction-less interaction that being at live music allows. It’s a combination of shared musical taste, values, and some inexplicable lack of rigid rules from the outside. A truest feeling of being amongst fellow human beings.

generosity

As if there are already enough reasons to gush over Birds Robe, here are some things that I think make everyone feel so welcome, valued, and genuinely caring.

The first 50 folks that came in got a special sticker. Apparently, it gave us some free merch. I thought this was so lovely. Now imagine my genuine surprise when I realised we got to pick: 1 vinyl, 1 cd, 1 poster, 1 tote bag, and 1 t-shirt out of their stock. That’s SO generous.

On top of this, Mike, who currently runs Birds Robe along with his team, bought pizzas for the gig goers when the bar kitchen ran out of food.

The smiles this brought on people’s faces is the ultimate generosity of it all.

discovery

Whilst I don’t go to many festivals, the beauty of single stage festivals/all day events is that it’s super easy to commit to catching all the acts. Some of the best music I’ve experienced has been going in blind. And this was no exception. Squat Club absolutely blew me away. The blend of traditional instruments, math rock time signatures, and just the total mayhem of sound was so invigorating. I was smiling the whole way through.

Then, there’s another joy of seeing familiar bands and recognise their growth. I hadn’t seen clayhands in so long. A rush of memories came in as I grooved to their jazzy post-rock. A bunch of were visibly excited to see flutes and trumpets in the mix of instruments as we were wowed by the stage presence of 6+ band members on stage.

A few of us danced to The Orphaned Bee which was also their debut live performance. It was so refreshing to see synths and vocals be incorporated into a body of heavy, thick, experimental, genre-bending sound. The unpredictability was so fun!

I think I have seen mowgli at least 10 times now. I have always loved how they make me feel so human and take me closer to my feelings. I really adore them.

Kodiak Empire and Hence Confetti brought a heaviness, darkness (in a good way), and progressive sound to the lineup. I am always amazed at the raw talent we have in this country. I loved the themes both bands explored: Hence Confetti with warnings of a fast changing technological world and Kodiak Empire that marries both the soft and the hard to create something truly thrilling.

Every time I see Treebeard, they appear to sound bigger, more mythical, more powerful. It’s like an elder imparting a life changing epic tale to a youngling. It contains a story that embodies the human condition, adversity, triumph, and darkness. Now imagine this in musical form. This is what it feels like with Treebeard. Please do not miss seeing them if you ever have a chance.

sleepmakeswaves are Eora post-rock darlings. They fill you in with hope and smiles. They came out wearing fun visor hats. They did not last long as Otto’s was the last visor hat standing. It was such a positive end to the night with sleepmakeswaves. Their smiles were infectious and euphoria was at its peak.

culmination: caspian

After some rest in the outdoors area and a good feed, it was time to recuperate some energy for the anticipated performance from Caspian.

We sat and discussed a range of things. Topics included: being amazed at some new discoveries, extending nerding out tentacles to films, memories, nostalgia, and of course, planning for the next big gig we could all attend together.

Alas, Caspian performed beautifully. I have never heard a clearer sound from a band before at this venue. It’s like the band had a direct channel inside my head. Major props to the sound engineers. I was pretty mesmerised. Honestly, I couldn’t even tell you how long the set felt accurately because it feels like I hallucinated it. I think a large part of the aftermath below can be attributed to the climax that Caspian provided.

All my aches and worries dissipated during this performance. I felt like I was floating.

aftermath

It is now the following day. I wake up not tired as I had expected, but refreshed. Even though I only got 6 hours of sleep. I get through the day with ease and I feel a clarity coming over me. Things that seemed hard don’t seem hard any more. A calm to the internal storm that the mind weathers every day. Usual depressive thoughts feel easier to overcome.

It’s funny to think so many of the bands I heard and resonated with most (the orphaned bee, clayhands, squat club, mowgli, treebeard, caspian, sleepmakeswaves) have some mystical, fantasy element to them. From a mythical bee, to imagery of the jungle, to the wise LOTR reference, to a Narnia reference, to a literal description of this music making a metaphorical and physical wave.

I like to think that listening to music that’s beyond words changes the way we think. It’s a seance, a ritual, a cleansing, and perhaps we do get transported to a different world. And when we come back, we’re finally lighter, stronger, and closer to ourselves.

a selection of bad band puns

Let’s face it, this is what you’re all here for aren’t you?

• As Hence Confetti came on the stage: "Wouldn’t it be great if they just released confetti, said ‘Hence’ and then left the stage?"
• clayhands - "Did you know the band is called clayhands because one of their instruments is literally a clay hand?"
• Squat Club - My favourite. Basically just before and after the show (and honestly, throughout the night), we all just squatted together on the floor, declaring ourselves the squat club. If we saw someone squatting, we joined in as a club :D
• Treebeard - "Wow, I think this gig is so good there are trees growing out of my beard"
• There were puns thrown out about Mowgli and sleepmakeswaves but they are so bad that I might get banned from the internet if I share them here.

I can’t take credit for all of them though, most of them were made by new and old friends :)

#gigs #post-rock