Or the 'volver (say it with an ausie accent) as a friendly dude on the tram told me. Despite the nature of the venue, as we've said before, I like the place; there's a nice lounge room feel to the place. Possibly a bit too comfortable as I fell asleep during the second band so I even missed their name. Always an entry fee - mostly a fair price, plenty of drink variety at average prices, reasonable sound and a surprisingly good crowd (i think the bands are too early for the regulars). Based my previously defined criteria I'd give it a 70% plus 10% for comfort, equates to a total venue score of 80%, but I've always been a fan of the 'volver.
Jbs'
These guys were pretty neat and I remember liking them - what's not to like about a song called 'shit! Werewolves!'. They had an interesting thing going with a drum machine; I dislike drum machines in general and this was no exception. They were using for some of the less interesting repetitive stuff like hand claps and the like. Other than that minor distraction, we did enjoy the show and like what they're doing. I'd give 33%, keep it up dudes.
The Good China
As usual we got a great show from these guys featuring some cool songs we hadn't heard before. This time - thankfully - with proper mixing so we could hear everyone. I have to say also there was a noticeable and welcome lack of ego coming from the stage which I have disliked at previous shows. Their EP is highly recommended, it has some great tracks, all/most of which they played. These guys have more stage presence than most gigs we've been to in terms of headcount! They also put on a good show that was well worth seeing, I like that it's a different set overtime I see them; many bands underestimate the necessity of this. I'll give them 67%.
I do have a brief question for them though (because I have reason to believe you google your band name - everyone does it, don't worry): I am a massive fan of the violin work in general, particularly at the end of the opening track on your EP, why have you suddenly ditched it when playing it live? the song didn't climax for me without it! it felt like when wolfmother used to be played on the radio but the commercial stations would cut out the guitar solos to dumb it down for the public; a tad disappointing! Still, you're doing something great though, all the best.
Overall I'd give this gig 48%. Seems a bit harsh I know, but this is compared to any other gig and I haven't ruled out negative scores as a possibility: a certain gig we saw at the evelyn would classify for this honour!
Hey guys
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to come to our show and to write about it as well, we appreciate it!
Just on the violin lines at the end of "All Nothing"... they are still there and are always played live every time we play that track! It's just usually a struggle for the violin to be heard above the mix when everyone else is playing so hard in the build-up. :) Vive le violin!!
Cheers and good luck with your 100-gig mission!