- Stepping into Revolver is like entering into a wonderfully hellish nightmare. The grime on the walls, the graffiti in the toilets and the line that stretches down Chapel St at 6 AM all contribute to its reputation as Melbourne's scummiest (and best) afterhours hole-in-the-wall.
Revolver seemed a little more glamorous recently, however, when it hosted Reboot, AKA Frank Heinrich, for a Sunday session. Maybe that was due to the fact that the man had just been named the #2 live act of 2009 by the readers of RA. Or perhaps not.
Either way, this recent achievement marks the height of a relatively short professional career, one which has seen him put together a live set which is—despite his designation by Pete Tong as "the new sound of Frankfurt—remarkably diverse. With a hugely popular remix of Sebo K's "Saxtrack" to his housier production "Enjoy Music" to older tech tracks like "Charlotte," it's hard to describe the exact sound he represents, or what you'd expect to hear him play in a three hour set.
Even so, it was an eager crowd that danced between Revolver's mismatched couches on a Sunday night and the music soon had everyone striking poses on the dance floor. That "Saxtrack" remix had some people struggling to rise fast enough from the depths of the comfy sofas, while the Spanish guitar in "Caminando" had dancers striving for a salsa two-step.
It must have been strange for Reboot though, to play behind a ceiling-to-floor lattice structure; quite literally, a cage. The fans clawing at the coop may have proved its worth, but as the night progressed the cage looked unlikely to hold the beast within who, at one point, was hanging on and shaking it from the inside. For the most part though, hunched over his computer, Heinrich only rose occasionally to wipe the dripping sweat from his brow.
When three hours ended with a remix of Moloko's "Sing it Back," Heinrich raised his hands to the air in festive, but exhausted satisfaction, the rest of us replying with a similar sort of appreciation. Never mind that watching Reboot was like peering into an animal enclosure—he was worth the party on a Sunday night, and Revolver is a zoo I'd most definitely return to.