DMA’s @ Goodgod Small Club

If you want to know the best-kept secret in Sydney music, you’ll have to look further than DMA’s. This may have been the first date of their debut tour, but a packed-out floor at Goodgod Small Club – with another to follow two nights later – is enough to prove that the swaggering trio has seized the attention of local music fans. There’s still room on the bandwagon, but perhaps not for long.

On the evidence of their self-titled EP release, DMA’s will be called derivative – but if that’s the primary criticism to be mustered, it’ll wash away in the stargazing swagger of a chorus like ‘Delete’. DMA’s expand to a six-piece live, but when their lead single lands, the sing-along comprises everyone in the room, onstage and off.

They hold it back until near the set’s end, of course, instead kicking off with ‘Feels Like 37’, driven by Johnny Took’s and Matt Mason’s twin guitar swell and Tommy O’Dell’s pleading wail. They’ve only got five songs to play from that EP, but throw in another three unheard offerings. It’s no surprise they’re all strong – the boys have said they’ve been working for years to come up with a hundred more songs than could fit on their first release, so there’ll be even more aces in their deck to come. Equally unsurprising is the power of DMA’s live set-up – each of their core members has been around the local music scene for years, especially down Annandale Hotel way, where they all poured beers for a stint, so if anyone in this here town knows how to work a stage, it’s them.

Truth be told, since Sydney first heard the name DMA’s – a hyped-up three-piece signed to I Oh You on the strength of a single demo – they’ve delivered no more or less than exactly what’s been hoped and expected of them. Their live show is just another piece of the jigsaw. To make a lasting impact, they’ll need to start surprising their audience – but for now, seeing a young band fulfilling each and every opportunity that comes its way is all the satisfaction we can ask for.