Jump Aboard The FOE Train

In the beginning, Canberra group Friend Or Enemy were just another local heavy band, belting out a few power-chords and riffs, with the odd melody thrown in. And like all bands of their type, they were worth a look live, but overall, nothing spectacular. Front man Rory’s attempt at screaming, while valiant, wasn’t great – something that was greatly supplemented when guitarist Jay Farleigh joined the group, the man possesses a scream that’d scare off Lucifer himself.

The band released a batch of demos over 2006/7 which were decent, but once again, nothing spectacular. If anything the group showed a lot of potential, but it seemed they were yet to utilise it. With a group of rather plain heavy and melodic songs (the exception being Look At Me Now), the band were one to wait and see what happened. And little did anybody know, it was going to be well worth the wait.

Jump to the end of 2007, and the band announced through their MySpace blog that they had been reworking their sound, and with that, their old songs as well. At the time, it didn’t seem like much to think about; they were, after all, just another generic sounding metal band. But, when they unfurled a few new tracks, and their new sound, it was fucking gobsmacking. Seemingly out of nowhere, Rory learnt to scream, the riffs got meatier, the band got tighter — essentially they got a packed lunch of awesome into them and started cranking out the heavy.

With the exit of some high-profile bands from the Canberra scene over the last couple of years, some of you may have been fearful for the well-being of music here in the capital. But, with the development of bands like Friend Or Enemy into far more mature and musically adept groups, this fair city’s musical future is looking brighter than the smiles in a toothpaste commercial.

Now with the band in the studio, the prospect of what the band calls “songs to blow your earpussys” is getting more and more exciting. The band made giant leaps of progress between their first and second lot of demos, and with any luck they’ll keep up the pattern with the tracks on this impending album. With demos like “You’ll See The Best Of Me” and “To Our Hell Or Held For Dead” just thinking about the kinds of noise Friend Or Enemy are going to making in the future is one of the most exciting things in Canberran music in quite a while.

So go and check out Friend Or Enemy, add them, and get behind one of the bands that’s going to be keeping Canberra’s music alive over the next few years – support your homegrown talent.

www.myspace.com/friendorenemy and www.friendorenemy.com.au

The band are playing at Liquid Fest ‘09 at the Queanbeyan Aquatic Centre on 14th February and in Goulburn on 1st March.