After falling off the back of a catamaran into Sydney Harbour during the 08/09 New Year’s celebrations (a tale to be told at another time for lack of desire to digress from the subject of this blog), I have decided to return to tradition and celebrate the coming of 2010 indoors with creative friends and LOADS of brilliant music.

I, like many of my pals, rarely plan too far ahead and so often miss the early bird specials of crazy organised parties and unfortunately, even some festivals – either due to lack of funds, fear of committing to something so far in advance (what if something bigger and better comes along?), or just downright indecisiveness.

So it was with great excitement that I discovered that some of my friends’ bands were coming together to provide me (and of course, others) with the solution to my New Year’s Eve party conundrum – a gig of epic proportions at Space Nightclub.

On top of the bill is COG, the Bondi trio renowned for the intense live shows and hard work ethic.

Cog will always hold a special place in my heart. I was fortunate enough to have witnessed their now legendary residency at Surry Hills Excelsior Hotel over a record breaking 13 weeks. Quickly becoming one of my all time favourite Australian bands, after an uncountable amount of shows, I became their official merch chick and often helped out at a grass roots level with the band’s publicity.

Rumours that the band had called it a day have been somewhat quashed, with the confirmation that they will indeed be bringing their infectious progressive grooves to Space Nightclub to share some space and ring in the new year. The fate of the band for 2010 and beyond will be eagerly anticipated. Let’s hope those rumours are not true and that the boys can keep it all together to unleash more of their audio adventures into the public consciousness.

Formally known as Nucleus, Breaking Orbit have settled into being one of the most lovable, progressive leaders of all that’s heavy, melodic and passionate, quenching the thirst of those who prefer their music beautifully moody. With recent regular rotation on Andrew Haug’s The Racket on Triple J, new management on par with the band’s own internal drive, these boys are ready to tackle any music venture that crosses their path. You will hear a lot more from and about these wonderful musicians, I promise.

Check out the photos I recently took at the Annandale Hotel of Breaking Orbit – the evening they announced their name change - HERE.

Last, but certainly not least, on my must see bands for this 12 hour escapade of musical/end of year celebrations, is Brisbane’s The Kidney Thieves a magical, high energy mash-up of all things funk, jazz and jungle metal (make of that what you will).

I’ve only had the great pleasure of witnessing this band unleash their chaos twice, and even without any proper recordings (please get a move on with this, guys – the three demos on MySpace really aren’t satisfying me any more and you don’t want to leave a girl unsatisfied now, do you?), I am completely sold. Technically mind-blowing, this five-piece serves to help fill the void and absence of intelligent quirk, charisma and unpredictable structure, so often neglected in the ‘get rich quick’ world of popular music.

I hope your New Year’s Eve celebrations are going to be as exciting, fun, safe(!), and musically enriching as mine is going to be!