2011 has seen the gradual rise to prominence of one of Australia's most exciting new bands, Sydney-based Floating Me. Undoubtedly they were able to inspire many people to investigate their music pretty much as soon as they formed, because of the past musical history of the members (the former vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist of Scary Mother, the bass player of Karnivool, and the former drummer of Cog), but with the release of their debut album in April, it's clear that Floating Me are now ready to forge their own musical path. After their first headlining tour in May, and a subsequent coheadlining ventue with Thousand Needles in Red in July, the quintet did another lap around the nation to celebrate the release of new single Breaking to Breathe. On a very wet Friday night, it was Melbourne's turn to experience the live sounds of Floating Me, along with a handpicked bill of exceptional local Melbourne talent.
At one point in our lives, we've all "liked" (or at least noticed) one of those "(x band) should support (x band)" pages on Facebook, but it seems that the people never manage to actually make the people responsible for organising the tour aware of the page. On this particular occasion though, a friend of local Melbourne instrumental post/prog metal trio Anna Salen was successful in his attempt to get the band noticed by Floating Me, and so it was that Daiv Morgan (guitar/keys), Paul Risso (bass/keys) and Shaun Scott (drums) were given the great honour of warming the East Brunswick stage (and also played the Geelong show the night before). The band were understandably very excited to be given the opportunity, and didn't waste it, delighting the audience with their complex yet highly accessible brand of heavy instrumental music. New material and old alike was embraced by the crowd; the band's regular fans up the front of the room (a few Anna Salen t-shirts were spotted) knew all the right moments to headbang to, while others in the bandroom seemed new to the band, wearing looks of "Who are these guys? I LIKE IT!" This was definitely one of the band's biggest gigs in recent times, and if a band of the calibre of Floating Me is taking notice, then hopefully that's an indication that the metaphorical doors are opening for Anna Salen. They deserve it!
Up next was another great example of the diversity of the Melbourne heavy/prog scene, Ennis Tola. This unique five-piece have been on the rise in recent times, landing some pretty impressive gigs including a support slot with internationally-renowned Adelaide progressive rock group Unitopia. No doubt this can be attributed to the fact that there really isn’t another band around at the moment that sounds quite like these four guys and girl, and on this occasion they rose to the challenge and delighted the punters with something a little different. The band’s frontman, acoustic guitarist/vocalist Tomas Fitzgerald, wasn’t exactly engaging the crowd as much as he could have, but in all fairness, he probably had a good excuse – his guitar abilities are extremely impressive and instead of “delivering a show” so to speak, he was just concentrating on making sure he didn’t miss a note. Certainly with some of his band’s complex rhythmic ideas and time signatures, this was no mean feat, but Fitzgerald nailed every intricate riff and lead pattern. It must be mentioned that he also has a really powerful voice, with an almost soulful/blues tone to it, and his ability to sing and play those particular rhythms simultaneously deserves full points. Another area also getting a lot of the crowd’s attention was stage right, where the multi-talented Karen Heath was positioned. As various songs required, she switched effortlessly from clarinet, to saxophone, to bass clarinet, to keyboard, and at one point during the set, she even sat down to play the koto – a large Japanese 13-stringed instrument. Utilising this instrument in their set only served to underline Ennis Tola’s commitment to delivering forward-thinking, cerebral progressive rock. The set closed with Weather the Storm, definitely a stand-out piece in an already impressive set of tunes, and many members of the crowd looked quite surprised yet appreciative of what they’d just witnessed. This band is one to watch.
It was no surprise to anyone that Over-reactor were invited to join this bill, given that in the past they have supported Cog and more recently, Karnivool. The latter tour saw the Melbourne "death-hop" duo gain a whole new audience, and tonight there was a pretty sizeable crowd in the small East Brunswick bandroom to check out Ezekiel Ox and Cory Blight doing their thing. The setlist was pretty much identical to recent Over-reactor shows, but the two-piece gave it their all as they usually do - well, with Blight behind the drums there wasn't a lot he could do, but Ox more than made up for it, covering every possible corner of the stage (and a bit later in the set, even some territory off the stage), belting out his vicious lyrics with his trademark fire and passion, and even getting a little artistic between songs. As happened at the Showdown gig in August, an easel was set up on the stage, and Ox took every possible opportunity to spraypaint some interesting designs onto it. Well known for his fierce political beliefs, Ox also took time out between songs to comment on the Occupy Melbourne protests, not surprisingly criticising the police brutality that had occurred the previous week. This gig also saw the return of the trademark Over-reactor visuals, or at least, at attempt at it. The band had done some gigs in the past with deliberately old-school TVs displaying various imagery (helped out by their good friend Josh Meney), but tonight, technical difficulties meant that the two TVs (one up the very front of stage, one more in the centre) displayed nothing but static the entire set. "Once again, there's nothing on TV," remarked Ox sarcastically as he decided to try and fix the problem. "Maybe I'll check the other channels." However, his efforts proved unsuccessful, and at the conclusion of the set, he warned punters up the front to stand back before picking up the front TV and smashing it on the floor. It was a dramatic end to what had already been a very enthusiastically delivered set already, and Ox quickly requested a cleanup, and subsequently emphasised that the headlining act did not sanction his behaviour.
After the anger and passion of that set, it was time for Floating Me to take things down a notch, but the crowd were no less enthusiastic for their performance! Getting things off to a slow start with Xtoto, the band quickly followed it up with the industrial-flavoured, upbeat Narke, showcasing the amazing talents of Lucius Borich on the kit. However, it became apparent at this point in their set that there were some serious problems with the sound mix; Borich's samples and triggers didn't seem to be working correctly, while the guitars of Antony Brown and keyboards of Tobias Messiter were almost drowned out entirely by the fierce rumble of Jon Stockman's bass. Eventually it seemed enough was enough, with the band taking an extended break after Spirals to try and get everything in order.
When the set resumed with Piano, it seemed that everything was in order, and not a moment too soon, because many in the crowd were growing extremely restless with the disruption to the flow of the evening. The band, to their credit, did their best to soldier on though; after all, sound problems are rarely the fault of the actual artist (what band wants their performance to sound substandard?), and they were still performing with passion and conviction, especially vocalist Andrew Gillespie. Some remarked, after the band's shows earlier in the year with Dead Letter Circus, that the band still had quite a way to go in terms of developing their stagecraft (especially considering that some of their material is a bit more downtempo and reflective), but with a few solid touring runs under their belt, this is now a lot less of a problem and the band look a lot more comfortable onstage, and with each other.
The improvement to the sound was extremely noticeable on the band's next song, which was a cover of the Jefferson Airplane classic White Rabbit. Prior to the band's previous coheadlining tour with Thousand Needles in Red, they had asked fans via their Facebook to select a song for the band to cover, with this being the song they had eventually picked out of the many selections offered. Though some of the younger fans in the room were clearly unfamiliar with the song, it was clear that the band wanted to treat this song with the respect it deserves, and they gave it their all, before returning to their own material to round out the set. Bezhumous was as stunning as it had been on previous tours, given that the outro to the song was magnificently extended by a lengthy drum solo from the one and only Lucius Borich, as the rest of the band jammed around his improvisations. When it was all over, the applause from the sold-out crowd was far longer than the usual between-song appreciation, and deservedly so! The energy didn't stop there, as the band launched into the very first song that everyone heard from them, the 2010 single Sugar, which is understandably a massive crowd favourite. It was almost time to go, but there was one more tune to come, and the set drew to a conclusion with the epic Across the Gulf.
It's been a bit of a gradual process (the fact that Cog aren't together anymore is understandably still upsetting to many), but Floating Me are slowly earning themselves more and more fans, and with the show they put on tonight, it's easy to see why!
SETLIST:
Xtoto
Narke
Deathless
Spirals
Piano
White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane cover)
Breaking to Breathe
Bezhumous (with drum solo)
Sugar
Across the Gulf
Monday, October 31, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
"A penny for your heart, a penny for your dreams" - Welkin Entertainment presents Progfest 2011, Esplanade Hotel, 03/09/2011
Ahh, "prog". For the uninitiated, these four simple letters are short for "progressive", and of course refer to music of that nature - as the word "progressive" naturally implies, music that is forward-thinking, evolving, and boundary-breaking. Though the term has been around for decades and was initially grouped with the word "rock" to describe bands such as Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, King Crimson and Yes, it has since evolved to encompass an extremely wide spectrum of musical sounds - in fact, one could say that the musical definition of the word "progressive" continues to progress over the years. This was never more evident on this particular Saturday afternoon and night mini-festival at St Kilda's famous Espy - note that the event wasn't called "Prog Rock Fest" or "Prog Metal Fest", or anything like that, but simpy Progfest. The Welkin Entertainment booking agency assembled an impressive 31-band lineup of high-quality Australian talent, with an incredibly diverse range of acts to show just how broad the term "progressive" can be. Examining the lineup in closer detail, one could find acts playing grindcore, power metal, reggae-influenced hard rock, math metal, post-rock... need I go on?! No wonder the event apparently had over 900 attendees on the day!
With the event's total running time nearing TWELVE hours, and proceedings kicking off at 3 in the arvo, it wasn't surprising that the various band rooms in the Espy were a little sparsely populated early on, as most people were likely still engaged in other prior committments, or were just taking their time to arrive to conserve their energy for the more well-known and better appreciated acts later in the night. That meant that the promising talent of young Warrnambool-based shoegaze foursome Lunaire went pretty much unheard on this day, as they opened proceedings in the front bar. It was a real shame, as these guys certainly turned a few heads opening for Sydney post-rock powerhouse sleepmakeswaves at their recent Melbourne album launch show. Nonetheless, today they were playing to an almost empty room, something that wasn't helped by the fact that the venue doors didn't open until about ten minutes after 3 - although Lunaire were still playing to their allocated timeslot. "This is our last song" were certainly not the words that the few early punters were expecting to hear the second they walked in the door! A real shame indeed, as the youngsters are showing a lot of promise so early in their career, and with a bit more of a refined sound and a few more solid gigs under their belt, they could turn out to be something quite special.
The focus then shifted to the larger Gershwin Room, where Divine Ascension were due to play as a late replacement for Teramaze. The punters were still arriving quite slowly, but the band's onstage presence showed that despite the small crowd, they wanted to work hard to impress. Their style can best be described as gothic-infused power metal, and with the very talented Jennifer Borg fronting the band, it would be easy to put them under the typical "female-fronted metal" umbrella with the likes of Nightwish, Lacuna Coil, and After Forever. However, this certainly didn't work against the band, as they showed themselves to be very capable musicians - some very solid riffs and impressive keyboard theatrics seemed to impress the more metal-inclined in the room, and though they weren't playing to a big crowd, Divine Ascension didn't let that impact their performance, as it was quite obvious they were holding nothing back.
It was back to the front bar to catch the first of Progfest's interstate visitors, Adelaide's Quiet Child. The band's last major Melbourne appearance was late last year, warming the stage for Brisbane superstars Dead Letter Circus, and though they played their best and showed a lot of promise, they received a pretty lukewarm reaction. Today though, they showed signs of great improvement, even though they chose to play only three songs in what was billed as a half-hour set. Of course, appropriate considering that this was Progfest, these songs were all quite lengthy and from what vocalist Pete said between songs, it seemed that they were all taken from the band's recently released second album. Again, since that DLC support slot, the songwriting and musicianship in the band seems to have developed a whole lot; some songs approached a level of complexity and precision slightly reminiscent of Meshuggah, which is never a bad thing. The crowd in the front bar was now approaching considerable size, and most of those present clearly wanted more than three songs, if they were as exciting as the three that had been played!
Up next were local melodic metal five-piece Elysian, playing to, and getting a very good response from, a Gershwin Room crowd that was continuing to increase steadily. The melodeath sound might be a little dated these days, but clearly nobody told this particular band, as their passion and energy onstage was something quite impressive. Adding a unique element to their sound was vocalist Ben's occasional use of a floor tom, to build another layer of percussive heaviness on to an already very full sound. Definitely one of the heaviest acts on the day, the more metal-inclined in the crowd enjoyed this band immensely, and many headbanging heads were visible for the duration of their set. For a band that has only been gigging since February last year, Elysian sure look comfortable on a stage.
While the withdrawal of Okera the night before the event (due to band member illness) had certainly disappointed many, their replacement act on the bill pleased the many post-rock fans in the venue, as Queensland's Nikko stepped up to the plate so to speak. In town to appear at the Old Bar that night and at the Brunswick Hotel the night after, Nikko were a pretty logical choice to join the bill as there were quite a few similar-sounding acts on the bill. As expected, they got a fairly warm response for their music, which was a lot more vocal-oriented than some of their contemporaries and injected a slightly more complex set of influences than most bands in the genre can manage. Which is good.
The punters had arrived in droves by the time 6:30 rolled around, and quite a lot of them were in the front bar to check out A Lonely Crowd. There comes a point when genre labels just become ridiculous and confusing, which is probably why this underground Melbourne four-piece have decided to label themselves "acidmath", which somehow actually works. Drummer Scott Ancell was wearing a Mr Bungle shirt, and you can definitely hear that extreme sense of experimentation in the band's sound. Gentle clean-guitar based passages would abruptly give way to full-tilt thrash-outs, with rapid-fire and extremely technical rhythms being complemented nicely by the soaring voice of female vocalist Xen Pow. The band have played a few excellent gigs this year and also released their first album User Hostile, which is well worth checking out if you're a fan of this kind of music.
It was time for the bill to get considerably more heavy, with avant-garde grindcore crew A Million Dead Birds Laughing (or AMDBL for short) taking to the Gershwin Room stage in their usual formal shirt-and-tie attire. Though a few technical difficulties unfortunately presented themselves throughout the set, the fans of more extreme sounds still managed to enjoy a typically exciting performance from one of Melbourne's best-kept secrets, as they blasted and riffed their way through a healthy selection of material from this year's debut album, Force-Fed Enlightenment. They might have been a bit out of place considering some of the other acts on the lineup, but they made an impression on a receptive audience nonetheless.
Travelling all the way from Perth were the next act in the front bar, post-rockers Tangled Thoughts of Leaving, to put on their long-awaited debut live performance on Melbourne soil. The TToL name has certainly got around since they released a split with sleepmakeswaves in 2009 and this year they've followed it up with their debut album, Deaden the Fields, to much acclaim from fans. The front bar was now very much packed out and very much enjoyed the chance to finally see the Perth four-piece perform live. Though the more sceptical of you are reading this thinking, "ANOTHER Australian post-rock band, yawn", TToL definitely set themselves apart by frequently launching into complex math metal-esque sections. Their heavy use of keyboards and synthesizer also sets them apart from a lot of other bands in this scene, and in general, most punters were left in awe at the band's technical skills. One of the highlights of the day!
The post-rock theme of the evening continued with the next act in the Gershwin Room, Melbourne instrumental four-piece Mushroom Giant. Taking to the stage in front of the usual backdrop of visuals that suitably complement their atmospheric and ambient soundscapes, the four extremely capable musicians delivered a solid set of tunes, mixing up the older tracks from their Kuru album with some as-yet unreleased pieces. Their set also featured a welcome surprise guest appearance from violinist Tim Charles, member of the extreme metal collective Ne Obliviscaris and also the man in charge of running the show today (he's the director of Welkin). He lent his impressive talent on the violin to the track The Abyss, and the punters certainly appreciated this special performance. As they usually do, the band concluded their set with the Woman Heroin and Poor Tom medley, and a full Gershwin Room responded accordingly!
SETLIST:
Intro (listed as unnamed on their setlist)
Graven Image
The Abyss (with Tim Charles on violin)
The Drake Equation
400 and Falling
Woman Heroin / Poor Tom
Towards the end of the evening was an act that were certainly no strangers to the patrons at this gig, and you could see many familiar faces in the packed front bar as Twelve Foot Ninja got ready to take to the stage. Since the release of their 2010 EP Smoke Bomb, the band has just been going from strength to strength, and indeed a highlight of their career came just last month when they were handpicked to be the opening local band in Melbourne on the Periphery/TesseracT coheadlining tour. Periphery certainly had a few very nice words to say about the Ninjas, and they won themselves some new fans that night. The band have been hard at work on a long-awaited debut album this year, and as such haven't really been performing live as frequently as they used to, but their performance was still as tight as ever. They were getting into the "prog" spirit of the evening, donning some ridiculous wigs and vintage op-shop gear, while vocalist Kin announced that they had recently been voted the "fifteenth best prog rock band in the Eastern suburbs". Their set featured a good mixed bag of tunes from both EPs (and even a pair of newies that have been getting some heavy rotation lately) and the crowd ate it up as usual! Their set concluded on an unexpected note, with Ennis Tola members Karen Heath and Tomas Fitzgerald joining the band onstage for a very unique cover of The Police's Walking on the Moon.
Melbournians certainly haven't suffered a shortage of Sydonia gigs to go to this year, with the band performing almost monthly at various events around the city. However, you only need to look at their setlists over the past few months to know that they always put in an effort to mix their shows up and give the fans their moneys' worth every time they attend a Sydonia show. And tonight was no different; through their Facebook page during the week, the band were hinting at playing a very special set for the evening, which would feature some songs they hadn't played in a very long time. And as the set kicked off with guitarist Sam Haycroft and bassist Adam Murray positioned at their additional custom percussion kits, some of the band's older fans in the room smiled in delight; for the first time since 2009, it was the unreleased C: Thirteen that got the set off to a very heavy start! Now, it would be impossible to write a review of a recent Sydonia show without mentioning their long-overdue second album, but the band delivered some promising news on that front this evening, stating that drum tracking was due to start in a few weeks! Naturally, some newer material got an airing, including the very popular Sinner, and a return of Nobodies, which, again, hadn't been played in some time. But the band delighted many of their newer fans with a stellar rendition of the epic Lonely Soul, which hadn't been played for at least three years, and, making its return to the set after a similarly long absence was the brutally heavy closing number I Will Not Serve. It was a brilliant treat for the many people in the room that had never got the opportunity to hear these songs in a live format until now, and as the band left the stage, many shouted for an encore. They're a talented lot, Sydonia, and clearly don't believe in delivering sub-standard live performances.
SETLIST:
C: Thirteen
3 Tongues
Lonely Soul
No Woman's Land
Sinner
Nobodies
I Will Not Serve
There were a few other acts scattered around the venue, but it was now about 1am and most punters were dragging themselves out of the venue after a very long day! All the team at Welkin deserve the highest kudos for making this wonderful day so successful! Here's to Progfest 2012!
With the event's total running time nearing TWELVE hours, and proceedings kicking off at 3 in the arvo, it wasn't surprising that the various band rooms in the Espy were a little sparsely populated early on, as most people were likely still engaged in other prior committments, or were just taking their time to arrive to conserve their energy for the more well-known and better appreciated acts later in the night. That meant that the promising talent of young Warrnambool-based shoegaze foursome Lunaire went pretty much unheard on this day, as they opened proceedings in the front bar. It was a real shame, as these guys certainly turned a few heads opening for Sydney post-rock powerhouse sleepmakeswaves at their recent Melbourne album launch show. Nonetheless, today they were playing to an almost empty room, something that wasn't helped by the fact that the venue doors didn't open until about ten minutes after 3 - although Lunaire were still playing to their allocated timeslot. "This is our last song" were certainly not the words that the few early punters were expecting to hear the second they walked in the door! A real shame indeed, as the youngsters are showing a lot of promise so early in their career, and with a bit more of a refined sound and a few more solid gigs under their belt, they could turn out to be something quite special.
The focus then shifted to the larger Gershwin Room, where Divine Ascension were due to play as a late replacement for Teramaze. The punters were still arriving quite slowly, but the band's onstage presence showed that despite the small crowd, they wanted to work hard to impress. Their style can best be described as gothic-infused power metal, and with the very talented Jennifer Borg fronting the band, it would be easy to put them under the typical "female-fronted metal" umbrella with the likes of Nightwish, Lacuna Coil, and After Forever. However, this certainly didn't work against the band, as they showed themselves to be very capable musicians - some very solid riffs and impressive keyboard theatrics seemed to impress the more metal-inclined in the room, and though they weren't playing to a big crowd, Divine Ascension didn't let that impact their performance, as it was quite obvious they were holding nothing back.
It was back to the front bar to catch the first of Progfest's interstate visitors, Adelaide's Quiet Child. The band's last major Melbourne appearance was late last year, warming the stage for Brisbane superstars Dead Letter Circus, and though they played their best and showed a lot of promise, they received a pretty lukewarm reaction. Today though, they showed signs of great improvement, even though they chose to play only three songs in what was billed as a half-hour set. Of course, appropriate considering that this was Progfest, these songs were all quite lengthy and from what vocalist Pete said between songs, it seemed that they were all taken from the band's recently released second album. Again, since that DLC support slot, the songwriting and musicianship in the band seems to have developed a whole lot; some songs approached a level of complexity and precision slightly reminiscent of Meshuggah, which is never a bad thing. The crowd in the front bar was now approaching considerable size, and most of those present clearly wanted more than three songs, if they were as exciting as the three that had been played!
Up next were local melodic metal five-piece Elysian, playing to, and getting a very good response from, a Gershwin Room crowd that was continuing to increase steadily. The melodeath sound might be a little dated these days, but clearly nobody told this particular band, as their passion and energy onstage was something quite impressive. Adding a unique element to their sound was vocalist Ben's occasional use of a floor tom, to build another layer of percussive heaviness on to an already very full sound. Definitely one of the heaviest acts on the day, the more metal-inclined in the crowd enjoyed this band immensely, and many headbanging heads were visible for the duration of their set. For a band that has only been gigging since February last year, Elysian sure look comfortable on a stage.
While the withdrawal of Okera the night before the event (due to band member illness) had certainly disappointed many, their replacement act on the bill pleased the many post-rock fans in the venue, as Queensland's Nikko stepped up to the plate so to speak. In town to appear at the Old Bar that night and at the Brunswick Hotel the night after, Nikko were a pretty logical choice to join the bill as there were quite a few similar-sounding acts on the bill. As expected, they got a fairly warm response for their music, which was a lot more vocal-oriented than some of their contemporaries and injected a slightly more complex set of influences than most bands in the genre can manage. Which is good.
The punters had arrived in droves by the time 6:30 rolled around, and quite a lot of them were in the front bar to check out A Lonely Crowd. There comes a point when genre labels just become ridiculous and confusing, which is probably why this underground Melbourne four-piece have decided to label themselves "acidmath", which somehow actually works. Drummer Scott Ancell was wearing a Mr Bungle shirt, and you can definitely hear that extreme sense of experimentation in the band's sound. Gentle clean-guitar based passages would abruptly give way to full-tilt thrash-outs, with rapid-fire and extremely technical rhythms being complemented nicely by the soaring voice of female vocalist Xen Pow. The band have played a few excellent gigs this year and also released their first album User Hostile, which is well worth checking out if you're a fan of this kind of music.
It was time for the bill to get considerably more heavy, with avant-garde grindcore crew A Million Dead Birds Laughing (or AMDBL for short) taking to the Gershwin Room stage in their usual formal shirt-and-tie attire. Though a few technical difficulties unfortunately presented themselves throughout the set, the fans of more extreme sounds still managed to enjoy a typically exciting performance from one of Melbourne's best-kept secrets, as they blasted and riffed their way through a healthy selection of material from this year's debut album, Force-Fed Enlightenment. They might have been a bit out of place considering some of the other acts on the lineup, but they made an impression on a receptive audience nonetheless.
Travelling all the way from Perth were the next act in the front bar, post-rockers Tangled Thoughts of Leaving, to put on their long-awaited debut live performance on Melbourne soil. The TToL name has certainly got around since they released a split with sleepmakeswaves in 2009 and this year they've followed it up with their debut album, Deaden the Fields, to much acclaim from fans. The front bar was now very much packed out and very much enjoyed the chance to finally see the Perth four-piece perform live. Though the more sceptical of you are reading this thinking, "ANOTHER Australian post-rock band, yawn", TToL definitely set themselves apart by frequently launching into complex math metal-esque sections. Their heavy use of keyboards and synthesizer also sets them apart from a lot of other bands in this scene, and in general, most punters were left in awe at the band's technical skills. One of the highlights of the day!
The post-rock theme of the evening continued with the next act in the Gershwin Room, Melbourne instrumental four-piece Mushroom Giant. Taking to the stage in front of the usual backdrop of visuals that suitably complement their atmospheric and ambient soundscapes, the four extremely capable musicians delivered a solid set of tunes, mixing up the older tracks from their Kuru album with some as-yet unreleased pieces. Their set also featured a welcome surprise guest appearance from violinist Tim Charles, member of the extreme metal collective Ne Obliviscaris and also the man in charge of running the show today (he's the director of Welkin). He lent his impressive talent on the violin to the track The Abyss, and the punters certainly appreciated this special performance. As they usually do, the band concluded their set with the Woman Heroin and Poor Tom medley, and a full Gershwin Room responded accordingly!
SETLIST:
Intro (listed as unnamed on their setlist)
Graven Image
The Abyss (with Tim Charles on violin)
The Drake Equation
400 and Falling
Woman Heroin / Poor Tom
Towards the end of the evening was an act that were certainly no strangers to the patrons at this gig, and you could see many familiar faces in the packed front bar as Twelve Foot Ninja got ready to take to the stage. Since the release of their 2010 EP Smoke Bomb, the band has just been going from strength to strength, and indeed a highlight of their career came just last month when they were handpicked to be the opening local band in Melbourne on the Periphery/TesseracT coheadlining tour. Periphery certainly had a few very nice words to say about the Ninjas, and they won themselves some new fans that night. The band have been hard at work on a long-awaited debut album this year, and as such haven't really been performing live as frequently as they used to, but their performance was still as tight as ever. They were getting into the "prog" spirit of the evening, donning some ridiculous wigs and vintage op-shop gear, while vocalist Kin announced that they had recently been voted the "fifteenth best prog rock band in the Eastern suburbs". Their set featured a good mixed bag of tunes from both EPs (and even a pair of newies that have been getting some heavy rotation lately) and the crowd ate it up as usual! Their set concluded on an unexpected note, with Ennis Tola members Karen Heath and Tomas Fitzgerald joining the band onstage for a very unique cover of The Police's Walking on the Moon.
Melbournians certainly haven't suffered a shortage of Sydonia gigs to go to this year, with the band performing almost monthly at various events around the city. However, you only need to look at their setlists over the past few months to know that they always put in an effort to mix their shows up and give the fans their moneys' worth every time they attend a Sydonia show. And tonight was no different; through their Facebook page during the week, the band were hinting at playing a very special set for the evening, which would feature some songs they hadn't played in a very long time. And as the set kicked off with guitarist Sam Haycroft and bassist Adam Murray positioned at their additional custom percussion kits, some of the band's older fans in the room smiled in delight; for the first time since 2009, it was the unreleased C: Thirteen that got the set off to a very heavy start! Now, it would be impossible to write a review of a recent Sydonia show without mentioning their long-overdue second album, but the band delivered some promising news on that front this evening, stating that drum tracking was due to start in a few weeks! Naturally, some newer material got an airing, including the very popular Sinner, and a return of Nobodies, which, again, hadn't been played in some time. But the band delighted many of their newer fans with a stellar rendition of the epic Lonely Soul, which hadn't been played for at least three years, and, making its return to the set after a similarly long absence was the brutally heavy closing number I Will Not Serve. It was a brilliant treat for the many people in the room that had never got the opportunity to hear these songs in a live format until now, and as the band left the stage, many shouted for an encore. They're a talented lot, Sydonia, and clearly don't believe in delivering sub-standard live performances.
SETLIST:
C: Thirteen
3 Tongues
Lonely Soul
No Woman's Land
Sinner
Nobodies
I Will Not Serve
There were a few other acts scattered around the venue, but it was now about 1am and most punters were dragging themselves out of the venue after a very long day! All the team at Welkin deserve the highest kudos for making this wonderful day so successful! Here's to Progfest 2012!
Thursday, August 11, 2011
"Never heard a man speak like this man before" - The Mars Volta, Palace Theatre, 07/08/2011
If there's one thing to be said about progressive rock ensemble The Mars Volta, it's that they have always done things their way. Right from their inception, they have somehow managed to build up a loyal fanbase by refusing to conform to "standard" musical practice - concept albums that seem to be released quite frequently, musical pieces of an extended length, an ever-changing roster of band members (remembering of course that The Mars Volta refers to just guitarist and band director Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and vocalist Cedric Bixler Zavala) and live shows which may or may not include forty minutes of improvisation and jamming, it's all part and parcel of what we've come to know and love about Volta. On this night however, they'd take it one step further and break the few rules that they are willing to follow - their own.
During the week, most fans were surprised to say the least with the announcement that Fearless Vampire Killers would be opening the night. Usually, it's been common practice for Volta to simply have a DJ warm the crowd up with experimental music before the headlining act comes onstage and plays quite a lengthy set. But tonight, the established convention was thrown out the window and these Melbournians were given the honour of warming the stage. Their sound wasn't an ideal match for the band they were opening for, but most punters in the room warmed up to their garage rock sounds, and between songs there was plenty of polite applause and cheering. The band seemed pleased with the response they got; no doubt it is a demanding task to win over a near-capacity crowd of prog rock fans.
The familiar strains of Ennio Morricone's Fistful of Dollars came blaring out of the Palace PA, and the crowd reacted accordingly. Though a few of their traditions might have been abandoned on this recent tour, the band playing this as intro music is something that they've continued to do at just about every live performance to date, and it always gets the fans ready for the main event. As the climax of the song approached, the crowd broke out into loud applause and cheering as the current incarnation of The Mars Volta made their way out onto the stage - in addition to Rodriguez-Lopez and Bixler Zavala, the band now features Deantoni Parks back on drums, with Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez taking a more expanded role on keys now that long-term member Isaiah "Ikey" Owens has departed, former off-stage member Lars Stalfors joining in on sound manipulation and keys, and long serving bass whiz Juan Alderete rounding out the lineup. It was then that the night began, as the band postively exploded into the first song - and a large percentage of the audience began metaphorically scratching their heads. Since Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's "solo" tour at the beginning of the year (which actually featured the current lineup of The Mars Volta), the band has been test-driving a few new songs, and on this particular evening, they'd play no less than SIX brand new pieces, and one experimental jam.
This meant that well over half of their set was fresh material, which was a bit of a controversial move. Even though fans warmed up to the sounds of the new songs, there was an undeniable air of uncomfortable unfamiliarity throughout the venue and it has to be said that the band would have got a better response if they had've played a few more tried and true classics. That said, these new songs are sounding pretty good; the opening double of Aegis and The Whip Hand was Volta at their theatrical and riff-driven best, songs that definitely could stand up to the likes of Inertiatic ESP in their back catalogue. Other tracks like Trinkets Pale of Moon and The Malkin Jewel lowered the intensity substantially, but still displayed that trademark Volta brilliance that fans have come to expect from the group. Despite the fact that the songs they were playing were unfamiliar, the stage presence of the band remained very much unchanged - Bixler Zavala danced frenetically, throwing his microphone and stand around with little regard for his bandmates, meanwhile Rodriguez-Lopez drew the audience's attention effortlessly with his impressive guitar wizardry. This was used to particularly great effect during the intermediary Broken English Jam, where he just kept going and going!
Another thing the Volta seem to be doing different lately is embracing the crowd more. Bixler Zavala has never been one for banter, but at recent shows he's been positively animated - introducing songs and explaining their reasons for playing so much new stuff, among other things. Tonight he was a little subdued - perhaps he was feeling the strain at the end of the tour, as between songs he made straight for the kettle situated on the right side of the stage (yes, the kettle was back!) - but in his place, even Rodriguez-Lopez was talking to the crowd, thanking the crowd for being nice to Fearless Vampire Killers, and just for generally being there.
After The Malkin Jewel, the band segued into a bridging sort of jam they've been playing around with lately, which has been dubbed Broken English Jam. Set a slower pace than the rest of the evening, this was an opportunity for the band to experiment with a few new ideas, including some truly mind-blowing guitar work from Rodriguez-Lopez and some interesting typically nonsensical rantings from Bixler Zavala (perhaps this is what inspired the name of this piece). Though the band have been trying to streamline their songs a bit more over the last couple of years and have been cutting down on their penchant for freeform jamming that stretches out over extended periods, on this particular number they took the opportunity to cut loose like the good old days, sending the crowd into stunned amazement. When it finally finished, there was rapturous applause and then finally, the moment that truly woke up the crowd - Omar's familiar introductory line to Son et Lumiere. Though the crowd had enjoyed the new stuff, it was obvious that they had steadily been growing restless as the band indulged themselves for over an hour, and with the indication that familiar material was finally going to be played, the crowd literally came alive. The band chose some of their more popular material to finish the night off, namely obviously, Inertiatic ESP, The Widow and Goliath. Though he held it together admirably, it was obvious Cedric's vocals were faltering a little and he actually encouraged a crowd singalong during The Widow. A slowed-down, experimental version of The Bedlam in Goliath favourite Goliath was the number they chose to close the show with, with a sound reminiscent of the early days of them performing this piece, when it was still evolving from the song Rapid Fire Tollbooth from Rodriguez-Lopez's solo career. The crowd enjoyed the different take on the song, and were highly entertained by Bixler Zavala embarking on a rant about the band's plans for their trip to Hong Kong to support Red Hot Chili Peppers the following night. Finally, in an explosion of musical intensity that only a band like Volta could deliver, it was all over, after just 90 short minutes - definitely something a few people muttered under their breath about due to Volta's past history of treating us to shows comfortably stretching past the two hour mark. Nevertheless, this show showed a band that are comfortable only when they're flying in the face of convention, and though some aspects of the show could've been improved, there was no doubt that The Mars Volta deserved points for bravery, and a set mostly based on new songs that in time will surely stand up to the rest of their very impressive back catalogue. As musicians, it's very hard to fault them on a stage.
SETLIST:
(A Fistful of Dollars intro)
Aegis
The Whip Hand
Trinkets Pale of Moon
Molochwalk
Dyslexicon
The Malkin Jewel
Broken English Jam
Son et Lumiere / Inertiatic ESP
The Widow
Goliath
During the week, most fans were surprised to say the least with the announcement that Fearless Vampire Killers would be opening the night. Usually, it's been common practice for Volta to simply have a DJ warm the crowd up with experimental music before the headlining act comes onstage and plays quite a lengthy set. But tonight, the established convention was thrown out the window and these Melbournians were given the honour of warming the stage. Their sound wasn't an ideal match for the band they were opening for, but most punters in the room warmed up to their garage rock sounds, and between songs there was plenty of polite applause and cheering. The band seemed pleased with the response they got; no doubt it is a demanding task to win over a near-capacity crowd of prog rock fans.
The familiar strains of Ennio Morricone's Fistful of Dollars came blaring out of the Palace PA, and the crowd reacted accordingly. Though a few of their traditions might have been abandoned on this recent tour, the band playing this as intro music is something that they've continued to do at just about every live performance to date, and it always gets the fans ready for the main event. As the climax of the song approached, the crowd broke out into loud applause and cheering as the current incarnation of The Mars Volta made their way out onto the stage - in addition to Rodriguez-Lopez and Bixler Zavala, the band now features Deantoni Parks back on drums, with Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez taking a more expanded role on keys now that long-term member Isaiah "Ikey" Owens has departed, former off-stage member Lars Stalfors joining in on sound manipulation and keys, and long serving bass whiz Juan Alderete rounding out the lineup. It was then that the night began, as the band postively exploded into the first song - and a large percentage of the audience began metaphorically scratching their heads. Since Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's "solo" tour at the beginning of the year (which actually featured the current lineup of The Mars Volta), the band has been test-driving a few new songs, and on this particular evening, they'd play no less than SIX brand new pieces, and one experimental jam.
This meant that well over half of their set was fresh material, which was a bit of a controversial move. Even though fans warmed up to the sounds of the new songs, there was an undeniable air of uncomfortable unfamiliarity throughout the venue and it has to be said that the band would have got a better response if they had've played a few more tried and true classics. That said, these new songs are sounding pretty good; the opening double of Aegis and The Whip Hand was Volta at their theatrical and riff-driven best, songs that definitely could stand up to the likes of Inertiatic ESP in their back catalogue. Other tracks like Trinkets Pale of Moon and The Malkin Jewel lowered the intensity substantially, but still displayed that trademark Volta brilliance that fans have come to expect from the group. Despite the fact that the songs they were playing were unfamiliar, the stage presence of the band remained very much unchanged - Bixler Zavala danced frenetically, throwing his microphone and stand around with little regard for his bandmates, meanwhile Rodriguez-Lopez drew the audience's attention effortlessly with his impressive guitar wizardry. This was used to particularly great effect during the intermediary Broken English Jam, where he just kept going and going!
Another thing the Volta seem to be doing different lately is embracing the crowd more. Bixler Zavala has never been one for banter, but at recent shows he's been positively animated - introducing songs and explaining their reasons for playing so much new stuff, among other things. Tonight he was a little subdued - perhaps he was feeling the strain at the end of the tour, as between songs he made straight for the kettle situated on the right side of the stage (yes, the kettle was back!) - but in his place, even Rodriguez-Lopez was talking to the crowd, thanking the crowd for being nice to Fearless Vampire Killers, and just for generally being there.
After The Malkin Jewel, the band segued into a bridging sort of jam they've been playing around with lately, which has been dubbed Broken English Jam. Set a slower pace than the rest of the evening, this was an opportunity for the band to experiment with a few new ideas, including some truly mind-blowing guitar work from Rodriguez-Lopez and some interesting typically nonsensical rantings from Bixler Zavala (perhaps this is what inspired the name of this piece). Though the band have been trying to streamline their songs a bit more over the last couple of years and have been cutting down on their penchant for freeform jamming that stretches out over extended periods, on this particular number they took the opportunity to cut loose like the good old days, sending the crowd into stunned amazement. When it finally finished, there was rapturous applause and then finally, the moment that truly woke up the crowd - Omar's familiar introductory line to Son et Lumiere. Though the crowd had enjoyed the new stuff, it was obvious that they had steadily been growing restless as the band indulged themselves for over an hour, and with the indication that familiar material was finally going to be played, the crowd literally came alive. The band chose some of their more popular material to finish the night off, namely obviously, Inertiatic ESP, The Widow and Goliath. Though he held it together admirably, it was obvious Cedric's vocals were faltering a little and he actually encouraged a crowd singalong during The Widow. A slowed-down, experimental version of The Bedlam in Goliath favourite Goliath was the number they chose to close the show with, with a sound reminiscent of the early days of them performing this piece, when it was still evolving from the song Rapid Fire Tollbooth from Rodriguez-Lopez's solo career. The crowd enjoyed the different take on the song, and were highly entertained by Bixler Zavala embarking on a rant about the band's plans for their trip to Hong Kong to support Red Hot Chili Peppers the following night. Finally, in an explosion of musical intensity that only a band like Volta could deliver, it was all over, after just 90 short minutes - definitely something a few people muttered under their breath about due to Volta's past history of treating us to shows comfortably stretching past the two hour mark. Nevertheless, this show showed a band that are comfortable only when they're flying in the face of convention, and though some aspects of the show could've been improved, there was no doubt that The Mars Volta deserved points for bravery, and a set mostly based on new songs that in time will surely stand up to the rest of their very impressive back catalogue. As musicians, it's very hard to fault them on a stage.
SETLIST:
(A Fistful of Dollars intro)
Aegis
The Whip Hand
Trinkets Pale of Moon
Molochwalk
Dyslexicon
The Malkin Jewel
Broken English Jam
Son et Lumiere / Inertiatic ESP
The Widow
Goliath
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
"Too fragile for sleep today" - Saltar Hype presents Showdown at the Corner, 30/08/2011
In recent years the Melbourne-based Saltar Hype booking agency has had great success with its attempts to stage small-scale "festivals" at various points throughout the year in venues across Melbourne. First we had Rock the Bay in March and Swarm in October 2009, then in 2010 a winter edition came along with Showdown at the Corner. Though the billing usually features relatively underground Melbourne (and occasionally interstate) talent, these events are usually quite popular and well-attended by music lovers in Melbourne. This is no doubt due to the events always bringing together a tidy package of great local bands for a very affordable price, and the 2011 edition of Showdown was no different. Headlined by Sydonia and featuring an enticing supporting cast of bands as diverse as Over-reactor, Sleep Parade and Mushroom Giant, punters packed out the Corner bandroom for a Saturday afternoon and night, and enjoyed immensely!
The Corner was looking a little empty though at the start of the day, as Tempting Fate kicked things off, followed by Le Belle, at around 3pm in the afternoon. Unfortunately these bands were somewhat lacking in the originality department, and weren't really impressing the punters that had turned up for some early brews and bands. Both female-fronted, comparisons to the likes of Evanescence came to mind way too quickly, and this is a genre that's just a little bit out of date and wasn't really that interesting in the first place.
The day took a turn for the better though just after 4pm, when Melbourne post-rock luminaries Mushroom Giant took to the stage. The band attracted a mixed response from fans last year when they reintroduced former vocalist/guitarist David Gogerly back into the band, recording an EP and playing several live dates as a five-piece. The "controversy" (if you will) resulted from the fact that the band was most known for their stunningly beautiful album Kuru, which had been recorded without Gog (as he's affectionately known) and had for the most part, been completely devoid of vocals. Fans really appreciated that particular style, and introducing a vocalist into the band had got a few people offside. However, the band have only just recently reverted to their Kuru instrumental lineup (including the return of David Charlton; a show in December last year was billed as his "last" with the group), and fans were very happy to see this lineup back in action on the Corner stage today, with one enthusiastic punter shouting out "Why aren't you headlining?!" A 30 minute set hardly seemed enough for a band whose repertoire is based on pieces that evolve over a gradual time frame - as a lot of post-rock tends to do - rather than just a to-the-point verse-chorus structure. Nevertheless, they did their best and played a good selection of material, including a track which was presumed to be new entitled Comasphere. The quartet concluded the set with the first two parts of the trilogy contained on tracks 8-10 on Kuru, the more reflective and gentle Woman Heroin and its intense conclusion Poor Tom, featuring dizzying blasts of rapid-fire riffs and drumming. As usual, they had set up a projector which displayed various psychedelic imagery which perfectly accompanied their atmospheric soundscapes.
SETLIST:
The Drake Equation
Comasphere
400 and Falling
Woman Heroin / Poor Tom
Up next was more another disappointingly unoriginal set, this time from a band by the name of InVolume. Despite being a very energetic group and appearing very comfortable onstage, their overall sound was more than a little off-putting - it soon became clear that these guys had probably picked up instruments around the same time that nu metal was popular, and in this day and age, that is NOT a good thing. Granted, a lot of bands in the current Melbourne scene have had their sound shaped by that late 90s/early 2000s wave of bands, but the ones that have been most successful are those that have managed to put their own spin on things and create something unique. Hence, a band that sounded an awful lot like Disturbed were never going to impress those who had come to see some more interesting talent. They do deserve points for stage presence though.
After their set it was about 5:30pm, and the bandroom crowd was growing noticeably, in anticipation for some truly awesome acts to come later in the night. The quality of bands on show was starting to grow too, and Branch Arterial got a solid response for their progressive-tinged rock numbers. Despite obvious similarities to their contemporaries such as The Butterfly Effect, there's undoubtedly a whole lot of talent in this band, and being a relatively new band, they still have plenty of opportunity to make a mark in this particular scene. They are definitely one to watch. Following their set, it was the bizarre and unique sounds of Xenograft that left a definite impression on the crowd, even if for a lot of people that impression was one of "...Huh?" For those that haven't seen these guys in action, there's six of them onstage, including saxophone and keyboards, and though their influences aren't immediately apparent, one could assume from their spontaneous free-jazz-meets-metal freakouts that they might perhaps be fans of the likes of Mr Bungle and Frank Zappa. Probably the most forward-thinking band Showdown had to offer, to be sure.
At the 2009 Swarm Festival, a relatively young Melbourne band by the name of Anna Salen won themselves a whole heap of new fans with their highly unique and technical blend of math-rock/progressive metal fusion. Though that microphone onstage is only used for between-song banter (and occasional nonsensical non-lyrical chants), after support slots with the likes of Jericco and Engine Three Seven, the regular Melbourne gig followers have quickly welcomed the instrumental trio affectionately known as Anna into their hearts, as evident tonight with the increasing number of punters adorned with the band's t-shirt. The boys riffed and grooved their way through a stomping set, with some old favourites and potential new classics getting an airing to a very appreciative crowd.
A little while later, Melbourne's very own "supergroup" in The Khyber Belt made their way out onto the stage, with many of the audience looking forward to seeing what they'd deliver, now they've notched up a few shows on their belt (no pun intended). Though they only formed late last year, they drew attention to themselves immediately with a lineup consisting of former members of Rook (vocalist Forbes McKail and guitarist Tyson Fish), Bushido (guitarist Guy Shenfield and drummer Alex Dinic) and Sleep Parade (bassist James Livesy; coincidentally his former band were also on this lineup), and they got a very rousing response at their very first gig earlier this year at Rock the Bay. McKail acknowledged that "some of you might recognise us from other bands we've been in", yet through their set they quickly proved that the new band is a force to reckon with in itself - the five guys were obviously a lot more stage-ready than before (and thankfully the technical problems that plagued Shenfield at RtB were non-existent) and they showed a new level of skill with a fresh batch of new tunes. McKail promised an EP in the works sometime soon, and although it seems like a lot of bands feel obligated to make these kind of statements no matter how much intention they have delivering them, the crowd assembled definitely hoped those words would count for something soon.
If there was any doubt about the bands that had taken to the stages up until this point, the next act on the bill proved that it was now very much the business end of the evening - it was the no-nonsense death-hop fury of Over-reactor. Fresh off a national tour with Perth heroes Karnivool, vocalist Ezekiel Ox and drummer/studio-guitarist-meets-live sample-man Cory Blight had gained themselves a whole lot of new fans and a new level of respect for those who had already been familiar with them. For many in the audience, the memories were still fresh from Karnivool's Melbourne shows, when Over-reactor had performed in this very room, and indeed wowed an audience who had probably expected to turn up early and enjoy a few quiet brews - instead they were assaulted by some truly brutal riffs (coming from a laptop no less) and had Ox literally yelling in their faces. Tonight however, the band were a little more subdued, with Ox electing to remain on the stage for the entire duration of the set (not something he does often!) and let the crowd decide whether or not they would get into the Over-reactor sound. Which, for the most part, they did. The setlist was similar to the Karnivool tour, with the best tunes out of the band's double album getting an airing, such as Control of This, Nu Metal Motherfuckers and of course, Something More. Something that was a little different was Ox deciding to get a little artistic during the set - an easel had been set up at the back of the stage, and between songs, Ox picked up a spray can and painted various colorful things on a piece of paper, before auctioning it off at the end of the set. Something you don't see too often, to be sure.
SETLIST:
Control of This
Handfed
Call in the Bombers
Free Music
Naked Words
Word
The Gangbangers
Point to Push
All Shields Down
Something More
The energy levels in the room were continuing to rise, and the next act on the bill were a favourite for many - the former Byron Bay lads now calling Melbourne home, Engine Three Seven. Getting things off to a flying start with older number Win 4 Me, the crowd expected big things of these guys, as their reputation has certainly preceded them and they haven't disappointed on a live stage in recent times. The first part of the show was mostly based on their first EP, but a very special moment came when frontman Casey Dean announced that they were going to play one they hadn't played in a very long time - one of their newer songs that didn't make the cut for the Atmosphere EP, an uptempo rocking number by the name of Erasure that was a staple in sets a few years back, but fell off the radar recently. It had been a while since the fans had heard it, but they recognised the familiar riff and were very happy to welcome it back into their hearts on this evening! They followed it up with another rarely-played-live track, but a favourite nonetheless, in the acoustic-based Retrospect, before the set moved focus to the Atmosphere EP. The show came to its end with the favourites, including the title track, Cops, Have it All and of course, Hysterical Hysteria to close. An accurate description of the crowd, perhaps!
SETLIST:
Win 4 Me
Automatic Everything
Easy Graceful Descent
Erasure (first time since January 2010!)
Retrospect
Atmosphere
Cops
Have it All
Hysterical Hysteria
It was time for the night to take a slightly more reflective and proggy turn, with the next on the bill being Sleep Parade. They have certainly taken their time getting another album out into the world, and in recent live shows they've been testing the waters with a lot of new material, which has gone over well at some shows and not so well at others. Tonight however, they'd play one of their better sets, helped out on second guitar and keys by the amazingly talented Red Black of A State of Flux. His presence really helps the band get a more full sound, certainly evident on tracks like Everyday where his keyboard hammering only served to make frontman Leigh Davies' guitar solo sound even more impressive. As expected, the band's newer and more mature sounding material got a fairly solid go during the set, but for the older fans there was Passengers and of course, the regular set-closing epic Weeping Walls. No matter how many times you've seen it, it's always fun to watch that final moment in the song where Davies sings into his guitar pickups to make that incredible solo. This was one of their best sets from recent memory, and hopefully is an indication of good progress on the forthcoming album!
SETLIST:
Mr Identify
Everyday
Collision
Moments
Passengers
Home
Weeping Walls
It was certainly getting a bit late in the evening (in fact, it was now pushing into the small hours of Sunday) but the punters had plenty of energy left for the final performance - when that band is called Sydonia, there has to be something left over! The band started their set with guitarist Sam Haycroft and bassist Adam Murray positioned at their oversized custom percussion drums, which meant that nobody was surprised that it was Adornment that opened the set! But as one of Sydonia's more popular tunes, it was definitely a good choice to get the crowd amped and ready for what would turn out to be another belter in Sydonia's recent run of excellent shows! Numerous times, the band mentioned their long-awaited second album (apparently they've actually booked studio time now), and were more than willing to air some new material, including not-so-new-anymore favourite Sinner, which hadn't been played for quite some time before this show. Also in the "songs making a comeback" department was a surprise rendition of Dream Kiss, apparently at the request of some hardcore Sydonia fans. Old favourites such as No Woman's Land and 3 Tongues got the crowd singing along, until finally it all wound down, predictably, with a shout of INCOMING! The crowd was pretty wrecked at the end of a long day's rocking, but Sydonia sets have been extremely high on quality lately, and this was no exception. So at the end of the night, the feeling in the room was that it was all totally worth our necks hurting!
SETLIST:
Adornment
Sinner
No Woman's Land
Dream Kiss
TL
3 Tongues
Ocean of Storms
Shame
Taste More
Crash Here Tonight
Incoming
The Corner was looking a little empty though at the start of the day, as Tempting Fate kicked things off, followed by Le Belle, at around 3pm in the afternoon. Unfortunately these bands were somewhat lacking in the originality department, and weren't really impressing the punters that had turned up for some early brews and bands. Both female-fronted, comparisons to the likes of Evanescence came to mind way too quickly, and this is a genre that's just a little bit out of date and wasn't really that interesting in the first place.
The day took a turn for the better though just after 4pm, when Melbourne post-rock luminaries Mushroom Giant took to the stage. The band attracted a mixed response from fans last year when they reintroduced former vocalist/guitarist David Gogerly back into the band, recording an EP and playing several live dates as a five-piece. The "controversy" (if you will) resulted from the fact that the band was most known for their stunningly beautiful album Kuru, which had been recorded without Gog (as he's affectionately known) and had for the most part, been completely devoid of vocals. Fans really appreciated that particular style, and introducing a vocalist into the band had got a few people offside. However, the band have only just recently reverted to their Kuru instrumental lineup (including the return of David Charlton; a show in December last year was billed as his "last" with the group), and fans were very happy to see this lineup back in action on the Corner stage today, with one enthusiastic punter shouting out "Why aren't you headlining?!" A 30 minute set hardly seemed enough for a band whose repertoire is based on pieces that evolve over a gradual time frame - as a lot of post-rock tends to do - rather than just a to-the-point verse-chorus structure. Nevertheless, they did their best and played a good selection of material, including a track which was presumed to be new entitled Comasphere. The quartet concluded the set with the first two parts of the trilogy contained on tracks 8-10 on Kuru, the more reflective and gentle Woman Heroin and its intense conclusion Poor Tom, featuring dizzying blasts of rapid-fire riffs and drumming. As usual, they had set up a projector which displayed various psychedelic imagery which perfectly accompanied their atmospheric soundscapes.
SETLIST:
The Drake Equation
Comasphere
400 and Falling
Woman Heroin / Poor Tom
Up next was more another disappointingly unoriginal set, this time from a band by the name of InVolume. Despite being a very energetic group and appearing very comfortable onstage, their overall sound was more than a little off-putting - it soon became clear that these guys had probably picked up instruments around the same time that nu metal was popular, and in this day and age, that is NOT a good thing. Granted, a lot of bands in the current Melbourne scene have had their sound shaped by that late 90s/early 2000s wave of bands, but the ones that have been most successful are those that have managed to put their own spin on things and create something unique. Hence, a band that sounded an awful lot like Disturbed were never going to impress those who had come to see some more interesting talent. They do deserve points for stage presence though.
After their set it was about 5:30pm, and the bandroom crowd was growing noticeably, in anticipation for some truly awesome acts to come later in the night. The quality of bands on show was starting to grow too, and Branch Arterial got a solid response for their progressive-tinged rock numbers. Despite obvious similarities to their contemporaries such as The Butterfly Effect, there's undoubtedly a whole lot of talent in this band, and being a relatively new band, they still have plenty of opportunity to make a mark in this particular scene. They are definitely one to watch. Following their set, it was the bizarre and unique sounds of Xenograft that left a definite impression on the crowd, even if for a lot of people that impression was one of "...Huh?" For those that haven't seen these guys in action, there's six of them onstage, including saxophone and keyboards, and though their influences aren't immediately apparent, one could assume from their spontaneous free-jazz-meets-metal freakouts that they might perhaps be fans of the likes of Mr Bungle and Frank Zappa. Probably the most forward-thinking band Showdown had to offer, to be sure.
At the 2009 Swarm Festival, a relatively young Melbourne band by the name of Anna Salen won themselves a whole heap of new fans with their highly unique and technical blend of math-rock/progressive metal fusion. Though that microphone onstage is only used for between-song banter (and occasional nonsensical non-lyrical chants), after support slots with the likes of Jericco and Engine Three Seven, the regular Melbourne gig followers have quickly welcomed the instrumental trio affectionately known as Anna into their hearts, as evident tonight with the increasing number of punters adorned with the band's t-shirt. The boys riffed and grooved their way through a stomping set, with some old favourites and potential new classics getting an airing to a very appreciative crowd.
A little while later, Melbourne's very own "supergroup" in The Khyber Belt made their way out onto the stage, with many of the audience looking forward to seeing what they'd deliver, now they've notched up a few shows on their belt (no pun intended). Though they only formed late last year, they drew attention to themselves immediately with a lineup consisting of former members of Rook (vocalist Forbes McKail and guitarist Tyson Fish), Bushido (guitarist Guy Shenfield and drummer Alex Dinic) and Sleep Parade (bassist James Livesy; coincidentally his former band were also on this lineup), and they got a very rousing response at their very first gig earlier this year at Rock the Bay. McKail acknowledged that "some of you might recognise us from other bands we've been in", yet through their set they quickly proved that the new band is a force to reckon with in itself - the five guys were obviously a lot more stage-ready than before (and thankfully the technical problems that plagued Shenfield at RtB were non-existent) and they showed a new level of skill with a fresh batch of new tunes. McKail promised an EP in the works sometime soon, and although it seems like a lot of bands feel obligated to make these kind of statements no matter how much intention they have delivering them, the crowd assembled definitely hoped those words would count for something soon.
If there was any doubt about the bands that had taken to the stages up until this point, the next act on the bill proved that it was now very much the business end of the evening - it was the no-nonsense death-hop fury of Over-reactor. Fresh off a national tour with Perth heroes Karnivool, vocalist Ezekiel Ox and drummer/studio-guitarist-meets-live sample-man Cory Blight had gained themselves a whole lot of new fans and a new level of respect for those who had already been familiar with them. For many in the audience, the memories were still fresh from Karnivool's Melbourne shows, when Over-reactor had performed in this very room, and indeed wowed an audience who had probably expected to turn up early and enjoy a few quiet brews - instead they were assaulted by some truly brutal riffs (coming from a laptop no less) and had Ox literally yelling in their faces. Tonight however, the band were a little more subdued, with Ox electing to remain on the stage for the entire duration of the set (not something he does often!) and let the crowd decide whether or not they would get into the Over-reactor sound. Which, for the most part, they did. The setlist was similar to the Karnivool tour, with the best tunes out of the band's double album getting an airing, such as Control of This, Nu Metal Motherfuckers and of course, Something More. Something that was a little different was Ox deciding to get a little artistic during the set - an easel had been set up at the back of the stage, and between songs, Ox picked up a spray can and painted various colorful things on a piece of paper, before auctioning it off at the end of the set. Something you don't see too often, to be sure.
SETLIST:
Control of This
Handfed
Call in the Bombers
Free Music
Naked Words
Word
The Gangbangers
Point to Push
All Shields Down
Something More
The energy levels in the room were continuing to rise, and the next act on the bill were a favourite for many - the former Byron Bay lads now calling Melbourne home, Engine Three Seven. Getting things off to a flying start with older number Win 4 Me, the crowd expected big things of these guys, as their reputation has certainly preceded them and they haven't disappointed on a live stage in recent times. The first part of the show was mostly based on their first EP, but a very special moment came when frontman Casey Dean announced that they were going to play one they hadn't played in a very long time - one of their newer songs that didn't make the cut for the Atmosphere EP, an uptempo rocking number by the name of Erasure that was a staple in sets a few years back, but fell off the radar recently. It had been a while since the fans had heard it, but they recognised the familiar riff and were very happy to welcome it back into their hearts on this evening! They followed it up with another rarely-played-live track, but a favourite nonetheless, in the acoustic-based Retrospect, before the set moved focus to the Atmosphere EP. The show came to its end with the favourites, including the title track, Cops, Have it All and of course, Hysterical Hysteria to close. An accurate description of the crowd, perhaps!
SETLIST:
Win 4 Me
Automatic Everything
Easy Graceful Descent
Erasure (first time since January 2010!)
Retrospect
Atmosphere
Cops
Have it All
Hysterical Hysteria
It was time for the night to take a slightly more reflective and proggy turn, with the next on the bill being Sleep Parade. They have certainly taken their time getting another album out into the world, and in recent live shows they've been testing the waters with a lot of new material, which has gone over well at some shows and not so well at others. Tonight however, they'd play one of their better sets, helped out on second guitar and keys by the amazingly talented Red Black of A State of Flux. His presence really helps the band get a more full sound, certainly evident on tracks like Everyday where his keyboard hammering only served to make frontman Leigh Davies' guitar solo sound even more impressive. As expected, the band's newer and more mature sounding material got a fairly solid go during the set, but for the older fans there was Passengers and of course, the regular set-closing epic Weeping Walls. No matter how many times you've seen it, it's always fun to watch that final moment in the song where Davies sings into his guitar pickups to make that incredible solo. This was one of their best sets from recent memory, and hopefully is an indication of good progress on the forthcoming album!
SETLIST:
Mr Identify
Everyday
Collision
Moments
Passengers
Home
Weeping Walls
It was certainly getting a bit late in the evening (in fact, it was now pushing into the small hours of Sunday) but the punters had plenty of energy left for the final performance - when that band is called Sydonia, there has to be something left over! The band started their set with guitarist Sam Haycroft and bassist Adam Murray positioned at their oversized custom percussion drums, which meant that nobody was surprised that it was Adornment that opened the set! But as one of Sydonia's more popular tunes, it was definitely a good choice to get the crowd amped and ready for what would turn out to be another belter in Sydonia's recent run of excellent shows! Numerous times, the band mentioned their long-awaited second album (apparently they've actually booked studio time now), and were more than willing to air some new material, including not-so-new-anymore favourite Sinner, which hadn't been played for quite some time before this show. Also in the "songs making a comeback" department was a surprise rendition of Dream Kiss, apparently at the request of some hardcore Sydonia fans. Old favourites such as No Woman's Land and 3 Tongues got the crowd singing along, until finally it all wound down, predictably, with a shout of INCOMING! The crowd was pretty wrecked at the end of a long day's rocking, but Sydonia sets have been extremely high on quality lately, and this was no exception. So at the end of the night, the feeling in the room was that it was all totally worth our necks hurting!
SETLIST:
Adornment
Sinner
No Woman's Land
Dream Kiss
TL
3 Tongues
Ocean of Storms
Shame
Taste More
Crash Here Tonight
Incoming
Thursday, July 7, 2011
"It's nice to know you're with us today..." - Karnivool, Corner Hotel, 06-07-2011
Even though the Ian Kenny-related focus has shifted noticeably toward Birds of Tokyo after the release of their very pop-friendly third album, his other (and much more talented, let's just put it out there straight away because it's a FACT) band Karnivool are still doing their thing. However, they have taken the foot off the touring pedal a bit since the end of 2009, the year in which their mammoth Sound Awake was released, in order to get back to writing mode for their third album (which we will hopefully not have to wait five years for!). Despite this, the Perth fivesome knows that the fans love their live shows, and therefore announced another round of dates for the middle of 2011, with the promise of showcasing some of the new material the quintet have been working on for their upcoming third album. Naturally, fans responded in earnest to this news, with most shows on the tour selling out quite quickly and more shows being added - which also sold out. Kenny, Goddard, Hosking, Stockman and Judd had already booked two consecutive nights in June at the Corner Hotel (as well as a few regional shows in Victoria), but with Melbournians being arguably their biggest fanbase outside of their native Perth, it was clear that they needed to do another, and returned to the Victorian capital in July to entertain for one last time! Along for the ride for the entire duration of the tour was fellow Perth-ian, dubstep/drum n bass DJ Shockone, and Over-reactor, a unique self-proclaimed "death hop" duo that call Melbourne home.
Two-piece Over-reactor had the unenviable task of getting an initially sluggish Wednesday night crowd to do something other than just stand around drinking and treating them as "the support act" - but when the frontman of the support act is Ezekiel Ox, it's a task that they are more than capable of tackling. Starting off with a slower number Control of This, the pace soon picked up with the thrashy Nu Metal Motherfuckers, and so did the energy, as Zeke leapt over the barrier and into the crowd, stalking around the circle that had formed in front of him and doing a great job of steadily gaining crowd interest - meanwhile, you had to feel sorry for drummer/sample cue-er Cory Blight, who despite being quite a talented and very precise musician, was basically ignored as the punters fixed their attention on the very energetic Ox. After a couple of songs, he decided a makeshift stage/podium was required, so he bounded over to the venue's sidestage, grabbed a gear case presumably belonging to Shockone, and took it to the middle of the room, standing atop it for most of the remainder of the set - although he did still roam around the room plenty. After a few songs, the crowd was quickly warming up to the massive riffs and vicious vocals emanating from the venue's speakers, although many were a little confused at exactly where those riffs were coming from. "I know what you're thinking!" Ox exclaimed, followed by a slight chuckle as he realised the self-reference he'd just inadvertently made. "Where's the guitarist!?" For those not in the know, the guitars on Over-reactor's two-volume album Lose Your Delusion were recorded entirely by Blight, and they've decided to simply use a laptop to play them back live, rather than drag along another guitarist. It's a strange thing to get used to, but as I mentioned, most people in the room were genuinely getting into the spirit of things, save for a section of people up the back which Ox noticed, singling them out and calling them his "pocket of disappointment". The set concluded with standout track Something More, although unfortunately it did not feature a live appearance from Chris Cheney as the previous two shows at the Corner had. Nevertheless, it's safe to say Over-reactor had a few new fans by the end of the night, and definitely would have gained plenty on this tour.
SETLIST (actually from first night, but as far as I recall, they played similar sets each night)
Control of This
Handfed
Nu Metal Motherfuckers
Call in the Bombers
Free Music
Naked Words
Word
The Gangbangers
Best of Worst
Point to Push
The Chemical Sound
Something More (featured Chris Cheney on guitar at first two shows!)
Up next was the inclusion to the tour that got quite a lot of people talking, and when you throw a dubstep DJ onto a bill with one of Australia's most loved prog/hard rock bands, there's going to be a few raised eyebrows. Shockone is probably not without some talent in his field, but his style of music just doesn't do it for me, and it didn't for a lot of other people either - the room emptied considerably when he played, with me and the group of people I was with heading to the rooftop to escape his horribly generic DJ set. Well, I'm assuming it was - at the first 'Vool show which I attended, we stayed for his whole set and the only time I could actually tell when a different song was playing was when different vocals came in - the beats and synth patterns were EXACTLY the same, for about half an hour, before it sped up and began to sound exactly like a friggin' Pendulum song. I know that Karnivool were trying to do something a bit different here and I'm assuming because they're all from the Perth music scene they might've known this guy for quite a while, but really, there should have been a point where someone said, "Perhaps this isn't the best sort of music for our general audience." It would have been a lot more entertaining to have another band or actual performing act on the bill - even Over-reactor, with one vocalist, one drummer and the ever-present laptop are far more engaging to watch than one guy spinning discs or whatever he was doing.
But with all that aside, it was time for the final Melbourne show, and the second last show all up of this 2011 tour, and the sold-out room definitely had high expectations for the Perth fivesome. As the ambient intro came on and lights went down, the tension in the room went up a hundredfold, and when the band members made their way onto the stage, they certainly got a warm welcome! The familiar chugging riff of Goliath got the set off to a flying start, and it was clear that the Perth boys were going to deliver another ripper tonight. As the heavy riffs boomed out of the Corner PA, vocalist Ian Kenny wandered around the stage doing his usual space cadet routine, and not missing a single vocal note. The man's talent is rivalled by very few in the Australian music scene. The band followed it up with the familiar vibraphone intro to Simple Boy, and the crowd got even more excited. In fact, throughout the entire night, this pattern persisted - Karnivool are a band that do have some very distinctive intro sections to their music, and the crowd only needs to hear a few seconds to know EXACTLY what's coming and respond accordingly.
Gutiarist Mark Hosking (who I didn't really have much of a view of on the night, being that I was standing on the far left) then did the obligatory thank-you to the crowd, and stated that there were three reasons to celebrate tonight - one being their last show in Melbourne for 2011, another being that it was guitarist Drew Goddard's and drummer Steve Judd's joint birthday, and the third one which he conveniently forgot. The band then moved onto a sure-fire pair of crowd-pleasers from their debut album Themata, C.O.T.E. and of course, the always-popular title track. The remainder of the set intially seemed like pretty standard Karnivool stuff; it was a little bit disappointing they didn't mix it up a little bit more, especially for people like me who had attended all three nights at the Corner (and some friends had even done trips interstate!). The band are an IMMENSELY talented and tight live band, and of course, the songs are amazing, but with this being my eighth Karnivool gig, I was hoping for a bit more of a change (no pun intended) in the setlist. However, it was great to hear the band's new song The Refusal making it in again, as this particular track is really awesome and tells us that album number three from Karnivool is shaping up to be another ripper.
The Drew and Steve birthday celebrations got a few more mentions throughout the night, including the obligatory crowd singing Happy Birthday during a break between songs, and shots of Jager being downed by the band. Later on, the crowd was getting a little bit rowdy and of course decided to yell out the particular song that they would like to hear (from various crowd members: "SLEEPING SATELLITE! BOX! FREE BIRD! WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANT!"). The band didn't seem bothered by the extra attention, with Drew laughing and singing "It's my birthday and I'll play what I want to!" It was the end of the set that yielded a pair of excellent surprises - first off, a bit of a forgotten gem on Sound Awake, Illumine, got its first airing in Melbourne since the Sine Waves and Mirrors tour of late 2009, and then, with Kenny leading the charge, it was time for an unexpected airing of Fade. Every band has their "first EP" type of songs, and Karnivool have certaininly come a long way musically since the release of their self-titled EP (which they pretty much disown now) and its follow-up Persona, but every now and again, they bring out this gem and the fans absolutely love it. The singalong in the venue was quite something! Following that, the main set concluded with a typically ripping performance of Roquefort, before the band took a quick breather and returned for two more songs - it's been really great to see them bring back Synops to the set this year. I believe they've only played it on one other tour before, and that was in 2007, so it's definitely been great for some of the younger fans of the band to get an opportunity to experience it, as it is a great track. By this point, they had already played a considerably longer set than advertised, which is probably why they opted to close the show with New Day as opposed to the epic Change. But nobody was complaining, and at the end of the night, Karnivool had delivered another beauty, and I think all in the room left very satisfied. They've only played two new songs live (and one of those has only been played once, the elusive Sky Machine getting its only airing in Frankston) on this tour, so I expect that they still have quite a bit of work ahead of them, but with shows like this, the anticipation for album number three continues to grow!
SETLIST:
Goliath
Simple Boy
C.O.T.E.
Themata
All I Know
Umbra
Deadman
The Refusal
Set Fire to the Hive
Illumine
Fade
Roquefort
----Encore----
Synops (YAY)
New Day
(And for those of you following my "career" on Fan Made Recordings, yes, I did record this show and it turned out a lot better than the previous show (which, apart from the mix not being as good as this show, prominently featured my enthusiastic singing). I will endeavour to post it ASAP.)
Two-piece Over-reactor had the unenviable task of getting an initially sluggish Wednesday night crowd to do something other than just stand around drinking and treating them as "the support act" - but when the frontman of the support act is Ezekiel Ox, it's a task that they are more than capable of tackling. Starting off with a slower number Control of This, the pace soon picked up with the thrashy Nu Metal Motherfuckers, and so did the energy, as Zeke leapt over the barrier and into the crowd, stalking around the circle that had formed in front of him and doing a great job of steadily gaining crowd interest - meanwhile, you had to feel sorry for drummer/sample cue-er Cory Blight, who despite being quite a talented and very precise musician, was basically ignored as the punters fixed their attention on the very energetic Ox. After a couple of songs, he decided a makeshift stage/podium was required, so he bounded over to the venue's sidestage, grabbed a gear case presumably belonging to Shockone, and took it to the middle of the room, standing atop it for most of the remainder of the set - although he did still roam around the room plenty. After a few songs, the crowd was quickly warming up to the massive riffs and vicious vocals emanating from the venue's speakers, although many were a little confused at exactly where those riffs were coming from. "I know what you're thinking!" Ox exclaimed, followed by a slight chuckle as he realised the self-reference he'd just inadvertently made. "Where's the guitarist!?" For those not in the know, the guitars on Over-reactor's two-volume album Lose Your Delusion were recorded entirely by Blight, and they've decided to simply use a laptop to play them back live, rather than drag along another guitarist. It's a strange thing to get used to, but as I mentioned, most people in the room were genuinely getting into the spirit of things, save for a section of people up the back which Ox noticed, singling them out and calling them his "pocket of disappointment". The set concluded with standout track Something More, although unfortunately it did not feature a live appearance from Chris Cheney as the previous two shows at the Corner had. Nevertheless, it's safe to say Over-reactor had a few new fans by the end of the night, and definitely would have gained plenty on this tour.
SETLIST (actually from first night, but as far as I recall, they played similar sets each night)
Control of This
Handfed
Nu Metal Motherfuckers
Call in the Bombers
Free Music
Naked Words
Word
The Gangbangers
Best of Worst
Point to Push
The Chemical Sound
Something More (featured Chris Cheney on guitar at first two shows!)
Up next was the inclusion to the tour that got quite a lot of people talking, and when you throw a dubstep DJ onto a bill with one of Australia's most loved prog/hard rock bands, there's going to be a few raised eyebrows. Shockone is probably not without some talent in his field, but his style of music just doesn't do it for me, and it didn't for a lot of other people either - the room emptied considerably when he played, with me and the group of people I was with heading to the rooftop to escape his horribly generic DJ set. Well, I'm assuming it was - at the first 'Vool show which I attended, we stayed for his whole set and the only time I could actually tell when a different song was playing was when different vocals came in - the beats and synth patterns were EXACTLY the same, for about half an hour, before it sped up and began to sound exactly like a friggin' Pendulum song. I know that Karnivool were trying to do something a bit different here and I'm assuming because they're all from the Perth music scene they might've known this guy for quite a while, but really, there should have been a point where someone said, "Perhaps this isn't the best sort of music for our general audience." It would have been a lot more entertaining to have another band or actual performing act on the bill - even Over-reactor, with one vocalist, one drummer and the ever-present laptop are far more engaging to watch than one guy spinning discs or whatever he was doing.
But with all that aside, it was time for the final Melbourne show, and the second last show all up of this 2011 tour, and the sold-out room definitely had high expectations for the Perth fivesome. As the ambient intro came on and lights went down, the tension in the room went up a hundredfold, and when the band members made their way onto the stage, they certainly got a warm welcome! The familiar chugging riff of Goliath got the set off to a flying start, and it was clear that the Perth boys were going to deliver another ripper tonight. As the heavy riffs boomed out of the Corner PA, vocalist Ian Kenny wandered around the stage doing his usual space cadet routine, and not missing a single vocal note. The man's talent is rivalled by very few in the Australian music scene. The band followed it up with the familiar vibraphone intro to Simple Boy, and the crowd got even more excited. In fact, throughout the entire night, this pattern persisted - Karnivool are a band that do have some very distinctive intro sections to their music, and the crowd only needs to hear a few seconds to know EXACTLY what's coming and respond accordingly.
Gutiarist Mark Hosking (who I didn't really have much of a view of on the night, being that I was standing on the far left) then did the obligatory thank-you to the crowd, and stated that there were three reasons to celebrate tonight - one being their last show in Melbourne for 2011, another being that it was guitarist Drew Goddard's and drummer Steve Judd's joint birthday, and the third one which he conveniently forgot. The band then moved onto a sure-fire pair of crowd-pleasers from their debut album Themata, C.O.T.E. and of course, the always-popular title track. The remainder of the set intially seemed like pretty standard Karnivool stuff; it was a little bit disappointing they didn't mix it up a little bit more, especially for people like me who had attended all three nights at the Corner (and some friends had even done trips interstate!). The band are an IMMENSELY talented and tight live band, and of course, the songs are amazing, but with this being my eighth Karnivool gig, I was hoping for a bit more of a change (no pun intended) in the setlist. However, it was great to hear the band's new song The Refusal making it in again, as this particular track is really awesome and tells us that album number three from Karnivool is shaping up to be another ripper.
The Drew and Steve birthday celebrations got a few more mentions throughout the night, including the obligatory crowd singing Happy Birthday during a break between songs, and shots of Jager being downed by the band. Later on, the crowd was getting a little bit rowdy and of course decided to yell out the particular song that they would like to hear (from various crowd members: "SLEEPING SATELLITE! BOX! FREE BIRD! WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANT!"). The band didn't seem bothered by the extra attention, with Drew laughing and singing "It's my birthday and I'll play what I want to!" It was the end of the set that yielded a pair of excellent surprises - first off, a bit of a forgotten gem on Sound Awake, Illumine, got its first airing in Melbourne since the Sine Waves and Mirrors tour of late 2009, and then, with Kenny leading the charge, it was time for an unexpected airing of Fade. Every band has their "first EP" type of songs, and Karnivool have certaininly come a long way musically since the release of their self-titled EP (which they pretty much disown now) and its follow-up Persona, but every now and again, they bring out this gem and the fans absolutely love it. The singalong in the venue was quite something! Following that, the main set concluded with a typically ripping performance of Roquefort, before the band took a quick breather and returned for two more songs - it's been really great to see them bring back Synops to the set this year. I believe they've only played it on one other tour before, and that was in 2007, so it's definitely been great for some of the younger fans of the band to get an opportunity to experience it, as it is a great track. By this point, they had already played a considerably longer set than advertised, which is probably why they opted to close the show with New Day as opposed to the epic Change. But nobody was complaining, and at the end of the night, Karnivool had delivered another beauty, and I think all in the room left very satisfied. They've only played two new songs live (and one of those has only been played once, the elusive Sky Machine getting its only airing in Frankston) on this tour, so I expect that they still have quite a bit of work ahead of them, but with shows like this, the anticipation for album number three continues to grow!
SETLIST:
Goliath
Simple Boy
C.O.T.E.
Themata
All I Know
Umbra
Deadman
The Refusal
Set Fire to the Hive
Illumine
Fade
Roquefort
----Encore----
Synops (YAY)
New Day
(And for those of you following my "career" on Fan Made Recordings, yes, I did record this show and it turned out a lot better than the previous show (which, apart from the mix not being as good as this show, prominently featured my enthusiastic singing). I will endeavour to post it ASAP.)
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
"I'm playing with fire if you know what I mean, I need someone to help me turn it on" - Spiritualized, Sydney Opera House, 27/05/2010
Sydney's Vivid Live festival hasn't been running all that long (I think this is the third), but it's quickly developed a reputation for delivering a whole lot of exciting international performers from a variety of different genres. Unfortunately for us folks on the other side of the Murray, most of the festival's performances are usually exclusive to Sydney, but for one particular act this year I treated this as a minor inconvenience, as my heart was setting on seeing this performance. The performance of course was British psychedelic collective Spiritualized, who were bringing a full 30 musician ensemble into our country to fully render the entire tracklisting of their 1997 masterpiece Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space in all its cosmic glory. This is an album that's delighted pretty much every ear that's ever come across it, with near-universal critical acclaim since its release about fifteen years ago. In fact, the legendary music magazine NME awarded Ladies and Gentlemen... the title of "album of the year" in 1997 - quite an achievement when you consider that in that year, two other releases were Radiohead's OK Computer and The Verve's Urban Hymns, which were absolutely massive in Britain at the time and still have a big impact on music today. It's only in the past couple of years that Spiritualized visionary Jason Pierce (or J Spaceman if you prefer) has undertaken some special shows with his band to perform the album in its entirety, and after a well-received set at 2009's Australian edition of the ATP festival, Spiritualized returned to our shores to bring this amazing set of songs to life in the biggest way possible.
With no support act on the bill (and what band, especially an Australian one, could possibly be justified in opening such a magnificent event?), punters were through the Opera Theatre's doors and in their seats for a 9:00pm start. And start it did; the lights flickered off gradually and all 30 musicians made their way out onto the stage - first the strings and brass section (who unfortunately were hidden up the back pretty much entirely out of my view for the whole evening), then a white-robed choir, and finally the "main" Spiritualized band, comprised of two guitarists, one bassist, one keyboardist, one drummer and one percussionist. The loudest cheers were reserved for the eventual emergence of the Spaceman himself, donned in white and wearing sunglasses. As he took his position at the right of the stage, sitting down with guitar in hand and lyric sheets and mics in front of him, spontaneous appreciative shouts broke out amongst the crowd.
After a few tenuous seconds and some undesired feedback, a familiar disembodied voice announced "Ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in space" over the PA, and the show began, with a simplistic yet effective backdrop of shining star-like lights illuminating the stage. The title track from the album got things off to a nice slow steady start, with the audience's heads bobbing slightly and mouthing the words to the song. With the "whole album in order" format of the show, nobody was suprised at what song came next - some might see this as a bit of a downfall in that the usual element of unpredictability of a band's live setlist was lost. However, Come Together has long been held as a highlight of the band's career and seeing this modern classic in all its splendour got the crowd suitably revved up. Naturally, there was some pretty intense lighting accompanying the dizzying "wall of sound" approach to the band's music; hopefully there were no epilepsy sufferers in the audience!
The knowledge of the precise order of what songs would be played didn't take away from the magic of the show at all - if anything the familiarity was enjoyed by most punters as the band worked their way through some truly stunning renditions of the material. The more laidback numbers such as I Think I'm in Love and Stay With Me were accompanied with suitable slow moving lighting that provided the perfect accompaniment to Pierce's dreamy vocals. Somewhat ironically, it was while Pierce was singing "Stay with me... don't go", and during some other slower songs, that some members of the audience ducked out of the room briefly. I get it, slow songs are a good time to leave if you have to at all, but really, what the hell was the excuse? Drank a bit too much before the show? Ahh. The distractions of people leaving aside, there were many highlights in the show. The extra musicians onstage really made a difference in recreating the very full sound that was present on the studio recordings - after all, how could you have Come Together without brass, or Broken Heart without strings, or Cool Waves without a choir? The band faithfully recreated every moment that we all expected, and in the live setting, the amazing dynamic range of Spiritualized was really emphasised even more - blinding strobe lights accompanying the full band jamming freak-outs of Electricity and No God Only Religion, while the choir and gentle lights set the tone perfectly for the likes of Broken Heart and Cool Waves. Pierce is known for being a bit of an atypical frontman - he never once stood up from his chair, faced the audience or even acknowledged them at all with a "thank you" or any banter whatsoever. Yet somehow, this didn't even matter, as his musicianship spoke for itself and somehow his lack of stage presence drew even more attention to him - but also served to make sure the rest of the talented musicians got their moment in the sun.
As the band scaled some amazing musical heights with the dizzying 17-minute epic Cop Shoot Cop..., it was clear to all the punters in the room that this, being the last track on Ladies and Gentlemen..., would probably signify something close to the end of the night. As the final notes rang out, there was a surprising repeat of the familiar "Ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space" announcement, but that served to be a definitive end to the set, and was the cue for the entire audience to rise to their feet, giving the band a much-deserved standing ovation. The musicians left the stage slowly, taking the time to soak in the audience appreciation, until finally only Pierce was left. He rose from his chair and actually spoke the words "Thank you" quite audibly, clearly happy with the reception he'd received. It even looked like he was smiling! However, as the band left the stage and a few roadies came on, the applause kept on going, and with the lights staying down, and the roadies seemingly just doing another quick sound check, it was clear that there would be an encore. Eventually Spiritualized returned to the stage, and treated the audience to a great rendition of Out of Sight, from their Let it Come Down album. Perhaps the only surprise of the evening, it was certainly well-appreciated by everyone, and as the band left the stage for good, there was no mistaking - Pierce was definitely grinning this time, and for good reason.
SETLIST:
Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (Can't Help Falling In Love)
Come Together
I Think I'm In Love
All of My Thoughts
Stay With Me
Electricity
Home of the Brave
The Individual
Broken Heart
No God Only Religion
Cool Waves
Cop Shoot Cop...
----Encore----
Out of Sight
With no support act on the bill (and what band, especially an Australian one, could possibly be justified in opening such a magnificent event?), punters were through the Opera Theatre's doors and in their seats for a 9:00pm start. And start it did; the lights flickered off gradually and all 30 musicians made their way out onto the stage - first the strings and brass section (who unfortunately were hidden up the back pretty much entirely out of my view for the whole evening), then a white-robed choir, and finally the "main" Spiritualized band, comprised of two guitarists, one bassist, one keyboardist, one drummer and one percussionist. The loudest cheers were reserved for the eventual emergence of the Spaceman himself, donned in white and wearing sunglasses. As he took his position at the right of the stage, sitting down with guitar in hand and lyric sheets and mics in front of him, spontaneous appreciative shouts broke out amongst the crowd.
After a few tenuous seconds and some undesired feedback, a familiar disembodied voice announced "Ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in space" over the PA, and the show began, with a simplistic yet effective backdrop of shining star-like lights illuminating the stage. The title track from the album got things off to a nice slow steady start, with the audience's heads bobbing slightly and mouthing the words to the song. With the "whole album in order" format of the show, nobody was suprised at what song came next - some might see this as a bit of a downfall in that the usual element of unpredictability of a band's live setlist was lost. However, Come Together has long been held as a highlight of the band's career and seeing this modern classic in all its splendour got the crowd suitably revved up. Naturally, there was some pretty intense lighting accompanying the dizzying "wall of sound" approach to the band's music; hopefully there were no epilepsy sufferers in the audience!
The knowledge of the precise order of what songs would be played didn't take away from the magic of the show at all - if anything the familiarity was enjoyed by most punters as the band worked their way through some truly stunning renditions of the material. The more laidback numbers such as I Think I'm in Love and Stay With Me were accompanied with suitable slow moving lighting that provided the perfect accompaniment to Pierce's dreamy vocals. Somewhat ironically, it was while Pierce was singing "Stay with me... don't go", and during some other slower songs, that some members of the audience ducked out of the room briefly. I get it, slow songs are a good time to leave if you have to at all, but really, what the hell was the excuse? Drank a bit too much before the show? Ahh. The distractions of people leaving aside, there were many highlights in the show. The extra musicians onstage really made a difference in recreating the very full sound that was present on the studio recordings - after all, how could you have Come Together without brass, or Broken Heart without strings, or Cool Waves without a choir? The band faithfully recreated every moment that we all expected, and in the live setting, the amazing dynamic range of Spiritualized was really emphasised even more - blinding strobe lights accompanying the full band jamming freak-outs of Electricity and No God Only Religion, while the choir and gentle lights set the tone perfectly for the likes of Broken Heart and Cool Waves. Pierce is known for being a bit of an atypical frontman - he never once stood up from his chair, faced the audience or even acknowledged them at all with a "thank you" or any banter whatsoever. Yet somehow, this didn't even matter, as his musicianship spoke for itself and somehow his lack of stage presence drew even more attention to him - but also served to make sure the rest of the talented musicians got their moment in the sun.
As the band scaled some amazing musical heights with the dizzying 17-minute epic Cop Shoot Cop..., it was clear to all the punters in the room that this, being the last track on Ladies and Gentlemen..., would probably signify something close to the end of the night. As the final notes rang out, there was a surprising repeat of the familiar "Ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space" announcement, but that served to be a definitive end to the set, and was the cue for the entire audience to rise to their feet, giving the band a much-deserved standing ovation. The musicians left the stage slowly, taking the time to soak in the audience appreciation, until finally only Pierce was left. He rose from his chair and actually spoke the words "Thank you" quite audibly, clearly happy with the reception he'd received. It even looked like he was smiling! However, as the band left the stage and a few roadies came on, the applause kept on going, and with the lights staying down, and the roadies seemingly just doing another quick sound check, it was clear that there would be an encore. Eventually Spiritualized returned to the stage, and treated the audience to a great rendition of Out of Sight, from their Let it Come Down album. Perhaps the only surprise of the evening, it was certainly well-appreciated by everyone, and as the band left the stage for good, there was no mistaking - Pierce was definitely grinning this time, and for good reason.
SETLIST:
Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (Can't Help Falling In Love)
Come Together
I Think I'm In Love
All of My Thoughts
Stay With Me
Electricity
Home of the Brave
The Individual
Broken Heart
No God Only Religion
Cool Waves
Cop Shoot Cop...
----Encore----
Out of Sight
Monday, May 9, 2011
"And I want to know... did you all enjoy the show?" - Kyuss, Palace Theatre, 08/05/2011
Last year, John Garcia, frontman of the desert rock gods Kyuss, decided to revisit the band that he was most known for and went on a small European tour with a bunch of musicians from around that area, under the bill Garcia Plays Kyuss. Funnily enough, the sets consisted entirely of material from the amazing yet oh-so-brief discography of that band. There were some interested murmurs when the lineups were announced of certain festivals that noted that while Garcia was in town, so too would be his former bandmates Nick Oliveri and Brant Bjork, playing with other bands of theirs. The dream jam did indeed eventuate, with Oliveri and Bjork first joining Garcia onstage at Hellfest in France, an event that was repeated numerous times throughout the course of the tour. The seeds were sown, and in November 2010, there came the official announcement that this lineup of the band were reuniting for a full world tour. Everyone understandably weighed in with their two cents about the absence of founding axeman Josh Homme, and it was due to his absence that the tour has gone ahead under the banner of Kyuss Lives! His replacement has been the very capable Bruno Fevery, of Belgian band Arsenal and who also played on the GPK shows. With or without Homme, the tour has been a massive success, selling out just about every show and earning rave reviews across the board. I'd be lying if I said the news that Kyuss Lives were coming to Australia didn't excite me in the pants region, and on a pretty wet Sunday evening, Garcia, Oliveri, Bjork and Fevery tore Melbourne a new one with a fantastic set, spanning the best part of the Kyuss career. Byron Bay's Fort had the honours of opening the show, and put on a pretty capable set with a sound that was quite an appropriate match to the headliners. However, everyone was just waiting for the main event!
10:30 rolled around, the lights went down and a typical symphonic introduction blared over the PA. The tension in the crowd was absolutely electric, and when the silhouettes of the band made their way to their instruments, the crowd roared appreciatively. Brant Bjork raised his hands and with that immense pounding rhythm, the crowd was in the band's pocket as they recognised the familiar intro of Spaceship Landing. The sceptics among us would like to ask questions such as, "Well, why are they really doing this? Why not Josh? Isn't this all just a big cash-in/nostalgia trip?" Well, undoubtedly they are going to earn quite a bit of money from this, but from the way they were playing onstage, it was obvious that a far more important motive for doing this tour is because they're having a good fucking time. There were smiles all around onstage, and plenty of enthusiasm evident in the way they were playing and roaming around the stage. As for the setlist, there was a great mix of tunes from all of their studio albums except for debut Wretch, and they even threw in a few relative rarities, Fatso Forgotso and Un Sandpiper, in the middle of the set. But for pretty much the entire set, the crowd was in awe of this classic material getting an airing in this country for the first time in about 18 years (Kyuss last toured Australia in 1993, as support for Metallica incidentally). Garcia even mentioned that at one point, stating, "It's nice to be back," before correcting himself. "No, it's not nice to be back, it's fucking GREAT to be back!" he exclaimed, to suitable crowd approval. Homme or no Homme, the band sounded absolutely amazing, with just the right level of each instrument present in the mix - it was understandably quite loud, but not unbearably so, and the trademark rumble and groove of the low-end based riffs was maintained with surprising clarity. The band made up for lost time with an impressive 19-song setlist, including TWO encores, and just about everything you'd want to hear from them - Whitewater, Hurricane, Gardenia, they were all in there! What was also great is the jamming nature of the band doesn't seem to have died, as they faithfully replicated some of the more long-winded passages in some songs. Fevery seems to be fitting into the band very well too, replicating the old Homme solos faithfully but with just enough of his own take on things thrown into the mix. The crowd's enthusiasm never died, as they sung along to every word and of course, smoked a few cheeky jazz cigarettes. One even made its way onto the stage, where it was picked up and enjoyed by Garcia! After a blistering rendition of 100°, the band finally made their way offstage. The three instrumentalists returned first for a blistering rendition of instrumental favourite Molten Universe, before Garcia returned to finish off the encore with the extremely awesome 50 Million Year Trip and Allen's Wrench. But there was one more track missing, and they returned for one final time to blast out Green Machine. Garcia was far from the only one bellowing out "I've got a war inside my head!" as the sold-out Palace crowd joined in for one last singalong, before it was finally over and the long-haired and bearded masses spilled out onto Bourke St, absolutely in rapture at witnessing this momentous occasion. One can only hope this isn't the last we see of them.
SETLIST:
Spaceship Landing
Gardenia
Hurricane
One Inch Man
Thumb
Conan Troutman
Freedom Run
Asteroid
Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop
Fatso Forgotso
Un Sandpiper
Odyssey
Whitewater
El Rodeo
1oo°
----Encore 1----
Molten Universe
50 Million Year Trip (Downside Up)
Allen's Wrench
----Encore 2(!)----
Green Machine
10:30 rolled around, the lights went down and a typical symphonic introduction blared over the PA. The tension in the crowd was absolutely electric, and when the silhouettes of the band made their way to their instruments, the crowd roared appreciatively. Brant Bjork raised his hands and with that immense pounding rhythm, the crowd was in the band's pocket as they recognised the familiar intro of Spaceship Landing. The sceptics among us would like to ask questions such as, "Well, why are they really doing this? Why not Josh? Isn't this all just a big cash-in/nostalgia trip?" Well, undoubtedly they are going to earn quite a bit of money from this, but from the way they were playing onstage, it was obvious that a far more important motive for doing this tour is because they're having a good fucking time. There were smiles all around onstage, and plenty of enthusiasm evident in the way they were playing and roaming around the stage. As for the setlist, there was a great mix of tunes from all of their studio albums except for debut Wretch, and they even threw in a few relative rarities, Fatso Forgotso and Un Sandpiper, in the middle of the set. But for pretty much the entire set, the crowd was in awe of this classic material getting an airing in this country for the first time in about 18 years (Kyuss last toured Australia in 1993, as support for Metallica incidentally). Garcia even mentioned that at one point, stating, "It's nice to be back," before correcting himself. "No, it's not nice to be back, it's fucking GREAT to be back!" he exclaimed, to suitable crowd approval. Homme or no Homme, the band sounded absolutely amazing, with just the right level of each instrument present in the mix - it was understandably quite loud, but not unbearably so, and the trademark rumble and groove of the low-end based riffs was maintained with surprising clarity. The band made up for lost time with an impressive 19-song setlist, including TWO encores, and just about everything you'd want to hear from them - Whitewater, Hurricane, Gardenia, they were all in there! What was also great is the jamming nature of the band doesn't seem to have died, as they faithfully replicated some of the more long-winded passages in some songs. Fevery seems to be fitting into the band very well too, replicating the old Homme solos faithfully but with just enough of his own take on things thrown into the mix. The crowd's enthusiasm never died, as they sung along to every word and of course, smoked a few cheeky jazz cigarettes. One even made its way onto the stage, where it was picked up and enjoyed by Garcia! After a blistering rendition of 100°, the band finally made their way offstage. The three instrumentalists returned first for a blistering rendition of instrumental favourite Molten Universe, before Garcia returned to finish off the encore with the extremely awesome 50 Million Year Trip and Allen's Wrench. But there was one more track missing, and they returned for one final time to blast out Green Machine. Garcia was far from the only one bellowing out "I've got a war inside my head!" as the sold-out Palace crowd joined in for one last singalong, before it was finally over and the long-haired and bearded masses spilled out onto Bourke St, absolutely in rapture at witnessing this momentous occasion. One can only hope this isn't the last we see of them.
SETLIST:
Spaceship Landing
Gardenia
Hurricane
One Inch Man
Thumb
Conan Troutman
Freedom Run
Asteroid
Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop
Fatso Forgotso
Un Sandpiper
Odyssey
Whitewater
El Rodeo
1oo°
----Encore 1----
Molten Universe
50 Million Year Trip (Downside Up)
Allen's Wrench
----Encore 2(!)----
Green Machine
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