Sorry I haven’t made any updates recently. I haven’t walked away from this blog again - I’ve just been in the middle of nowhere, New Zealand, and didn’t have the opportunity to process any more photos before my departure. I’ve got images of Sunn O))) and US Girls to come, followed by more archival content.
Unfortunately in my absence from Melbourne I’m missing some good gigs. I would’ve thoroughly enjoyed seeing Miles Brown (The Night Terrors) launch his solo album yesterday. And if you’re looking for something to do this week I recommend you head down to Saatsuma’s first headline show at Shebeen on Friday. Then the next night return to Shebeen for Jack Stirling and The Perfect.
Built to Spill - 2016-02-12, Corner Hotel, Richmond, VIC
Ben Salter and Seja joined Built to Spill on cowbell for an encore of “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper“:
Doug Martsch’s pedalboard:
Brief review:
This
was fantastic from the first note – literally. Because that note meant they
were playing “Goin’ Against Your Mind”, my favourite Built to Spill song and
one that I did not get to hear the previous time I saw them live in 2011. It was
everything I hoped too, a fantastic opening jam that typifies the band and
reels you into their live show. Indeed
I got a whole bunch of personal highlights through the first half of the show, like
“Center of the Universe”, “Hindsight”, “Time Trap”, and one of their best new
songs, “Living Zoo”. Throughout the show the
triple guitar interplay of the band really is remarkable, with each of the guitars well
balanced in the mix.
My
first time seeing Built to Spill was marred by one of the most memorable and
unbearable dickheads I have ever encountered in an audience, so overbearing he
put the band off. He, fortunately, was not present tonight and I’m glad to have now had a very good
Built to Spill live experience.
Ben Salter - 2016-02-12, Corner Hotel, Richmond, VIC
You can’t quite read it fully, but Ben’s wearing a great shirt, “I am making noise to end violence against women”:
Yep, that’s Seja Vogel on keys (I wish she’d busted out “I’ll Get to You”, one of the best Aussie songs of the last ten years):
Brief review: Ben Salter made some good discussion with the audience. It’s safe to say he achieved a big dream in supporting Built to Spill, based on his speech about how much Perfect From Now On meant to him. He also joked about what to call his currently nameless backing band
:
he had considered “The Pre-Christians” but discarded it as too pretentious, and
one of the other band members reminded him the original name was “Hot Piss” –
but he didn’t think “Ben Salter’s Hot Piss” would’ve gone down too well. As for the set itself?
It
took me a couple of songs to warm up to it, but from a track introduced as
“Dark Forces” I found myself tapping my foot to his reasonably atmospheric, sometimes bluesy rock.
Orb - 2016-02-12, Corner Hotel, Richmond, VIC
Nice touch with the band shirt over the foldback, in case you were unsure who they were:
The band shirt didn’t exactly want to stay, though:
Brief review: I
saw Orb, somewhat briefly, last year playing in the Tote’s front bar. They
struck me then as possessing an immersive, heavy sound drawn from psych and
stoner classics without being a pastiche and it was nice to see them play a
full set. They don’t stray
from the psychedelic riffs, the solid rhythms, and the echo-laden vocals – because
they’ve found their niche. It would be nice, however, if they were a bit less
still on stage. But I found this a really enjoyable warmup for Built to Spill.
First was this guy talking about how happy he was to be in Melbourne, having escaped Japanese bikies (Godspeed You! Black Emperor) in Adelaide:
But then in came the Japanese bikies, aka the rest of Vampillia:
They had a dual drum attack, with Tatsuya Yoshida (obscured at right, but visible in photos above) joining their regular drummer (at left):
Never mind crowdsurfing; how about climbing a ladder in the middle of the venue?
Brief review:
Where
to even begin? This was a set like nothing else.
There
are these extraordinarily heavy moments punctuated by lengthy passages of truly
beautiful keyboard or violin-driven music – sometimes mashed together. And then
there are the operatic vocals contrasted with the growls in a way entirely
divorced from the clichés of genres such as goth metal.
The band, led by the manic frontman, were energetic and gradually shed items of clothing. Would
I listen to this of my own accord? Perhaps not. But I’m glad my desire to see
Laura drew me to this show because I doubt I will witness another band quite
like this.
Laura - 2016-03-11, Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy, VIC
Brief review:
Laura
had not played live in about three years, so this was billed as a return show –
and, ominously, as possibly a final show. It was a shame about the unpleasant, somewhat violent guys up the front (where was security?), but this was a great return. The
cello was really prominent in the mix, probably moreso than I’ve heard at previous Laura gigs.
The
set drew widely across the band’s career. It picked up what may be called, with
tongue in cheek, the hits, e.g. “Every Light”. But it also touched on an EP
track – “Cardboard Cutout Robot Hero Children”, one of their heaviest numbers –
and paid attention to all three of their albums. I really hope this is not the
end for Laura, but if it is, this was a good career retrospective.
Brief review:
How
do you even describe Ruins Alone, aka Tatsuya Yoshida? This was a solo set of
drumming virtuosity the likes of which you will rarely see – but one that was
no drum solo. He played to backing tracks that were pretty synth-heavy, though
there was at least one with a chugging metal guitar riff, and he added vocals
from time to time. It was in general a proggy set, but the really frequent
variations in time signature felt more like math rock than prog.
Hotel Wrecking City Traders - 2016-03-11, Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy, VIC
Brief review: I
hadn’t seen HWCT for over three years, so I was pleased to see them on this lineup – a lineup which,
in a conversation I had later, I learnt was also meant to include Bear the
Mammoth but one of the trio was at Golden Plains so they couldn’t play. The
guitarist of HWCT does not exactly try to
engage the audience. He was busy facing his amp for a lot of the set, playing crushing sludgy riffs.
If you’re not an enthusiast for post-metal or similar instrumentals, maybe this
might have been boring. But if you love this stuff, as I do, this set was
really sweet, with the powerful drumming combining with immense riffs to create
a great sound.
I attended the second of Sleater-Kinney’s three nights at the Croxton, my first visit to this venue since it opened late last year and positioned itself as a larger club for touring acts. Not sure what the capacity is but it felt more spacious than the likes of the Corner or Max Watt’s.
Note at left the extra touring multi-instrumentalist who joined S-K for over half the songs:
Printed set, which doesn’t list the encore:
Brief review:
The
whole band seemed in lockstep with each other, with Janet Weiss providing a
firm foundation for the riffs and strong vocals of Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker. Brownstein in front of me was an energetic presence all night, especially during the fiery run at the end of the main set: “Words and Guitar” was the best song of the night and she gave everything for “Jumpers”, knocking her microphone into the audience.
Material
from No Cities to Love was strongly represented, with opener “Price Tag”
and “A New Wave” proving to be standouts of the night. S-K drew widely from the older records, though personally I thought The Woods was comparatively over-represented and I would’ve liked a bit more from Dig Me Out. But it was mostly great.
The
only part of the show I found expendable was the encore. To be
honest I’d have enjoyed myself no more or less if they had foregone it.
Ouch My Face - 2016-02-10, Croxton Hotel, Thornbury, VIC
Brief review: Ouch My Face (who joked during the set about changing their name) are
a
forceful punk band with obvious take-no-prisoners influences from headliners
Sleater-Kinney. You could tell how excited they were to support their heroes
and they put in an engaging performance. My favourite songs were those that
veered towards hardcore with impassioned vocals and blistering instrumentation. Ouch My Face were also fortunate in that although they blew up multiple amps that day, that all happened during soundcheck and everything worked correctly for the actual performance!