RIFLE FIRE

The lead singer said “g’day” once and the accents were a bit impenetrable at times, but otherwise the Celibate Rifles didn’t look or sound terribly Australian when they played the Music Machine on Sunday.

With their grungy garage-band spirit and feverish slash ‘n’ burn intensity, their biggest influences seemingly come from mid-’70s New York, not today’s Sydney. Not only did they play with an unmistakably Ramones-style double-time frenzy, but their two lead guitars intertwined in the manner of Television (whose “Foxhole” they performed).

The five Rifles rely far more on fervor than originality, and their energetic but essentially good-natured stance makes some of their ruder lyrics seem forced. Overall, though, the show was a bracing combination of thrash, trash and smashing momentum, and it fully justified the small underground reputation they’ve acquired. With luck, word of mouth might turn the Music Machine’s sparse turnout into a full house for their Club Lingerie show on Friday.