Dry Cleaning
Dry Cleaning and Walrus live at The Naval Store for Arrival Festival | 06 June 2026
Arrival Festival was in full spin cycle at The Naval Store on Saturday night as punters crowded around the old warehouse to catch Dry Cleaning and Walrus play a frenetically fully loaded basket of post-punk nylon, and alt-rock denim. With both bands each giving their own take on the genre, ensuring not to mix their reds, with their whites.
Walrus were a relatively local new outfit fronted by Nick Allbrook and a few other local musos. Allbrook was upfront with the crowd, announcing they had only a small number of songs to play. With the rest of their set being ‘made up as they go along’. This allowed their live set to be played out pretty loosely, with each track borrowing elements from one to the next, and seamlessly blending to something different, from song to song.
Allbrook danced around with a lot of Mick Jagger-esque energy. Screaming out emotionally charged lyrics whilst waving a giant rattle stick to the crowd. In a scene reminiscent of The Lion King where Mandrill Rafiki shows lifts Simba atop of a cliff. Walrus felt tenacious, and threw out an old style of rock and roll which plenty of punters bounced back and forth to. There was something primal and rough about Walruses set. That began and finished with punters being led down a path of musically chaotic, unpredictability.
In between Walrus and Dry Cleaning, there was an old soak of a 50-something sipping wines throughout the night and playing it loose by being a bit of a baller’. Providing slurred banter with other punters and stumbling back to the bar for more wine. Once Dry Cleaning did come on to play some of their newest music, this punter was repulsed and immediately retreated to the deep back recesses of the crowd. Announcing they only wanted to hear their old music. Some fans will never be pleased.
Dry Cleaning were met with cheers from punters once they emerged onto the stage. Guitarist Tom Dowse announced they were all stoked to be playing in Western Australia in a thick cockney accent. Requesting eager Perth punters to give the band ‘a decent sendoff’ as the band were wrapping up their tour and leaving Australia in a couple of days.
Lead singer Florence Shaw was dressed like a chill secondary school music teacher. Matched with the honest, frankness of her spoken word lyrics. The band crafted stories about everyday challenges and interpersonal pitfalls and converted them into an alt-rock spectacle. Paired with jarring guitar chords and a fast tempo drum beat. The soundscape made way for an emotionally visceral experience that was musically raw and real for punters to thrash to.
Mid set, the band wished drummer Nick Buxton happy birthday with the punters joining in with the celebration. By this point of the night, people were squeezing in closer in order to get the most out of enjoying the bands music. Being taken on a wild ride and finishing off with an encore of ‘Hit My Head All Day’. Punters cheered the band goodbye, having their ears freshly dry cleaned by an eclectic combination of rock music and headbanging.
Review by Joe Wilson
Photography by Ava Thomson
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