The Bakery in Northbridge is pretty much the perfect venue for obscure, pretentious prog rock gigs, for good and bad reasons. The entrance being around the back of a club almost completely patronised by caricatures of Jersey Shore characters gives you an overwhelming sense of pretentious smugness as you stride past the line, wearing the shirt of a band they haven't heard of and jeans so skinny you can tell if the wearer is circumcised or not. The floor is sticky, it perpetually smells of marijuana and urine and the bar has regularly run out of the crappy house spirits it exclusively stocks because, apparently, alcohol that doesn't want to make you retch is about as naff as popped collars on pink polo shirts. You can't help but feel all underground and cool when the venue is made entirely out of old shipping containers.
Local opening act Drowning Horse set the bar for self indulgence at a new level of height (or is it depth?) with their two song drone set. My hat goes off to their lead singer though, the man has the easiest job in music. I counted about two minutes of vocals in a fifty minute set, the remainder of the set spent swaying in time to the two power-chord fuzzed out drone that lacked melody, dynamics or even a remotely listenable volume level. Drowning Horse are the fuzztone equivalent of the man who loves the sound of his own voice a little too much.
Experimental four piece Tangled Thoughts of Leaving saved what Drowning Horse had nearly killed (almost went with "drowned" there... but I'm far too talented for that) with their unique brand of piano-led instrumental progressive rock. Keyboardist Aaron Pollard proved that you can rock behind the keys with his lively performance, with a few heart-in-mouth moments where I was afraid he was going to smash his ever-banging head into his synth, and all the while tinkling out flawlessly clean arpeggios and melodies. A special mention goes to drummer Ben Stacy, who moved seamlessly from quiet and restrained to all out cymbal and snare destruction without ever missing a beat. Definitely one for the "drummers people need to see live" category.
With a sound to match the all out pretension of their name, Eleventh He Reaches London unleashed their three guitar attack onto an increasingly fired-up crowd. Vocalist Ian Lenton looked on the verge of mental breakdown with every throat-shredding shriek, wandering about the stage pulling at his hair as if each lyric was bringing him closer to mental breakdown. The group clearly know their epic, multi-layered songs from front to back, putting on a tight and streamlined set that could have benefited from a slightly livelier, animated performance. Nonetheless, the punters remained well and truly satisfied as they waited for Russian Circles to take the stage.
Sporting a sound far bigger than conventional wisdom would say a trio can muster, the Chicago-based post rockers came on stage without a single word of greeting, letting their instruments do the talking. Bassist Brian Cook suffered some technical difficulties during the first tune, but some quick thinking on the part of the sound guys meant that the show went on without too much of a delay, and when the low end finally got rumbling again, it was greeted with rapturous cheers.
Guitar player Mike Sullivan played his pedalboard like a second instrument, with washy, reverb heavy guitar lines looped and layered to create the illusion that there were more people on stage than just these three incredibly talented musicians. The demands of the music meant that there was very little by way of showboating or on-stage acrobatics, but such is the quality of the music and the flawless precision of their execution that it wasn't even necessary. Once again, the man with the sticks stole the show, with drummer Dave Turncrantz a whirling dervish of activity.
With top notch local support (opening act excluded, of course), Russian Circles demonstrated that, be it home grown or international, Perth is the only place in Australia worth being for alternative and underground music. The lads are sure to receive a very warm welcome should they come back any time soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment