Full Flower Moon Band
+ Drunk Mums
+ Smoking Single Party (aka TISM)
Howler, Brunswick, VIC
Sunday, 29 March, 2026
Photos by Garry Gray
It's been almost three years since I stood at a small festival in Sydney’s Marrickville on one of the hottest days in recent memory, watching new-ish Brisbane band Full Moon Flower Band in awe.
Their album “Diesel For Ever” had just been released and they were making some serious inroads online, with their intelligent, dark and cinematic videos.
The band was the vision of the mind-blowing talent that is Kate Dillon who was already a filmmaker in her own right. She’d collected a mob of like-minded, tough street-level rock and roll players who had one foot in the 1980s roar of outfits like The Bad Seeds and PJ Harvey and the other in Stoner Rock territory with a glazing of psychedelia.
The band were on fire that hot afternoon in Sydney as Dillon transformed into her rock goddess character, “Baby Shakes”. Full Flower Moon Band converted a lot of fans at that show - including me who hunted down their album and was determined to see them live again.
Over the last three years I have witnessed Full Flower Moon Band six times and watched them grow into an international band. This roll call has included a blazing club gig in Newcastle and an opportune show in an over-packed Vic On The Park in Sydney.
They’ve done two international tours in that time with none other than Iggy Pop giving them praise. I’m reliably informed that they’ve played almost 200 shows and have supported Foo Fighters (and would have blown them off-stage on the score of originality, at least.)
More importantly, they’ released another critically acclaimed album, “Megaflower”, which spread their creative wings further while not abandoning their trademark tight and intense rock and roll as they explored edgier underground music and psychedelia.
This gig at Howler was well-timed. I was flying into Melbourne from Sydney the day prior and it was a chance to catch with some very special folk, and show them what I believe to be one of the best bands to have emerged in Australia for decades.
Howler is a great room with an eatery and ample adjoining space in which to hang out. The band room is almost the perfect size for rock and roll with great sightlines and a decent-sized stage. I walked in to catch the second-last song by Drunk Mums, who seemed to have taken a leaf out of the book of Cosmic Psychos. They were fun street punk and the little I what saw was very good.
I went to the bar and was confronted by someone who looked like the dead ringer for John Howard in his suburban lawyer days. He blurted out: “Are you excited to see them? I betcha you are”, before he unconsciously spat on me.
“Yes, I am here from Sydney and they are one of my favourite bands.”
“Yes, you’re right. TISM are the best band ever to come out of Melbourne.”
“I don’t know about them. I thought they broke up years ago. Weren’t they on ‘Hey Hey It’s Saturday’ in the ‘80s?”
I will never forget the hatred in his gaze as he stared at me with Trump-like eyes behinhd his glasses and told me: “Fuck off!”
I thought the encounter was very odd, until I was informed that TISM had managed to get on the bill for an unannounced warm up show for high-profile gigs at places like Sydney Opera House.
What a curiosity, I said to myself. I never saw then all those years ago; I did pick up a CD of theirs at Vinnies for a buck and had given it a spin.
Billed as Smoking Single Party, they bounced very energetically onto the stage with their black rubber black outfits making them look like the foes from a 1960s “Batman” episode. Sadly, once they started playing they had that same No Doze caffeine tablet energy as Joe Biden in his jogging days, and came across with all the conviction of a Jane Fonda aerobics video.
After that song about River Phoenix, I got the joke. I was with my close friend Cathy Green and we decided it was time to sit in the beer garden and catch up. Sorry TISM, but chatting with Cathy overrides your choreographed, backing tapes-bolstered humour. I’m sure the fans liked it.
Once it was time for the headliner, I walked back in with Cathy to find the band room packed and surging with people. I get the suspicion that Full Flower Moon Band has now conquered this town. The band walks on and Kate stares down the audience as she straps on her trademark black Telecaster Deluxe and acknowledges the full house with a huge grin.
They open with the dark swamp blues swagger of “NY- LA” and Marli Smales’ bass sound hits us in the guts, low and powerful and almost in the territory of Tracey Pew. Over the last few years, Marli has taken a more central position with her backing vocals and presence and it has worked.
She is locked in with Luke Hanson who is one of the most hard- hitting drummers this side of John Bonham. The power and hypnotic swing makes the floor boards shake. The sound is explosive.
Kate asks the audience: “Who was here for TISM?” The low count of raised hands seems to be a surprise and a smile comes over her face. This was a Full Flower Moon Band audience, coming from as far away as various regional centres in Queensland and even Lismore. This is street-level rock and roll and a long way removed from the naughty boy. undergrad humour of TISM and the leafy Melbourne suburbs they hail from.
In some ways this is a record launch for “Megaflower Deluxe”, the stunning collection of songs, demos and live performances released last year. We’re treated to a strong selection of songs from it. A stand-out is “Illegal Things”, with its smoky vocal and harmonies. “Devil” is powered by the basslines of Marli and Kate is now in full character mode. The song simply builds and builds and we are at the mercy of “Baby Shakes” as she moves from one part of the stage to the other.
Kate’s sense of drama shines through the almost 80-minute set At times, her vocal approach takes on the unhinged aura of Linda Blair in “The Exorcist”. It’s dangerous stuff, yet Kate can switch to become the sweetest of ‘60s folk singers, conveying vulnerability in a song like “Kiss Him Goodbye”.
She is the most passionate Rock Queen frontwoman we’ve produced since Chrissie Amphlett.
As always, a highlight is “Hurt Nobody” from the “Diesel Forever” album with its dark overtones and sense of the dramatic. Kate points her guitar and leans into the audience with menace. It’s a powerful moment that is underpinned by some dark phycological elements in the song.
The band’s secret weapon is always the guitar stylings of Christian Driscoll with his nod to Television, and the arpeggios and underplaying of his six-string partner in crime, Caleb Widner. They are one of the best twin guitar duos around. The addition of Kate’s jagged lead lines makes for an even more potent trio.
Tonight, Full Flower Moon Band were like conquering heroes to the Melbourne audience. They delivered the most impassioned and intelligent performance, and at the same time they just rocked out.
