San Luis Obispo Gets a Taste of Australian Surf Rock Beats and Funky Fun

As fans and community members of SLO filed into the SLO Brew Rock venue on May 12, the Australian boys of Babe Rainbow made their way to the stage, quickly filling the air with their 60’s- inspired psychedelic surf rock beats. The music made its way around the room, floating between groups of friends in the crowd and possessing every hand until there was a sea of twisting and swaying fingers, synced to the melodic rhythms of the band’s songs “Peace Blossom Boogy” and “Love Forever.”

This night was a perfect entrance into the upcoming summer months of basking in the warm SLO weather and hitting up the California coast for beach-surf adventures. Originating from the coastal town of Byron Bay in New South Wales, Australia, the emergence of the band Babe Rainbow in 2014 was a product of friendship, based on a shared love for music, surfing and having a good time.

Over the years, band members Angus Dowling, Jack Crowther, Elliot O’Reilly and Miles Myjavec have experimented with psychedelic, surf-inspired sounds, forming albums including “The Babe Rainbow” in 2017 and “Changing Colours” in 2021, as well as countless singles. And on their tour through the United States and Australia, they get to showcase their work and groove with music lovers from all around the country.

At one point in the night, lead singer, Dowling, could be seen holding a microphone in each hand, alternating between them to produce a blend of unique, mechanical harmonies. During the song “Monkey Disco” from their 2017 album titled “The Babe Rainbow”, he experimented with various automated sounds, shrieking and hollering in between the guitarist Crowther’s guitar riffs, and even creating monkey sounds that reverberated off the mic and into the crowd.

Possibly connecting to the band’s roots of congregating in bass guitarist O’Reilly’s backyard in Australia and watching surf films on the projector, the boys jammed with a backdrop of projected colorful visuals. As my friends and I made our way to the front barricade, my eyes fell on the stage floor littered with individual film slides, and I realized the silhouettes of salty beach bodies and rainbow shaped designs were made possible by their own projector. Yet another element of detail that heightened the night’s ethereal and vibey atmosphere.

The venue, SLO Brew Rock, with its smaller, more intimate setting, made for a night that felt like nothing other than dancing and grooving with hundreds of friends– the band included. With everyone twisting and twirling to the infectious beats, couples in the crowd hand-in-hand and the band members themselves swaying to and fro as they produced their instrumental magic, this night was a reminder of the pure power of music.

Music filled in the gaps between strangers and friends, as anywhere I turned there was a happy person with an infectious smile that adorned their face. Creating this raw connection between band and crowd, between person and person, the lyrics of one of the band’s final songs for the night “Johny Says Stay Cool” reminded us all to “Breathe in, breathe out” and always “stay cool!”