Lawrence @ Metro Theatre, Sydney 22/01/25

TIME FOR SOME FAMILY BUSINESS

Welcome to the family business right here with the soulful pop sensation that is, LAWRENCE.

Let me break it down for y’all, lead by siblings Clyde and Gracie Lawrence, this eight-piece pop/soul bands use of smokey, seductive and even moving use of brass and Clyde’s voice combined with dazzling ,energetic keyboard-lead pop elements with the funkiest of beats from drummer Sam, topped-off by Gracies incredible voice is testament to why despite this being the first time the band’s performed in Australia, both Sydney shows completely sold out well before these shows

The venue fills very quickly once doors open, and judging by the shrill excitement buzzing around me on the dancefloor, I’d normally expect this to be an indication of lots of pushing and getting all-up and personal with those around me, which I mean, if dinner and a drink is offered I normally don’t mind, but we’ll see. Luckily however, everyone around me is really polite, in good spirits and respectful of one another, it's a very good starting canvas for tonight!

So let’s start adding some colour and ‘zaz’ to that canvas shall we?

I honestly was dragging my feet a bit to bring me to the show tonight, I guess I just had a bit of start-of-year exhaustion, but straight away in opening song, touring album title track, ‘Family Business’ brings all those elements afore mentioned in my opening paragraph, and honestly, I can’t not smile and shake my booty, most likely to the horror of those behind me, but seriously you can’t not move to this funky music!

Clyde and Gracie interact with their audience from within their second song, and sustain the connection throughout the set, which is quite a lengthy one, filled with a beautifully curated blend of all the bands elements, highs, lows, sass, bite and everything in between.

I honestly am new to the bands’ music so I’m not too familiar with a lot of their tracks, but it really doesn’t matter, my interest, fascination and bum-wiggle stays throughout!

The sound you ask? Honestly, I can’t fault it, both from the sound mixer and the band! Both Clyde and Gracies vocals are nicely highlighted at the forefront of the sound, and I’m in awe in particular of Gracies voice! Going from happy, uplifting, attention-holding, to sassy, seductive, smokey, to larger than life brow-raising highs and deep serious melancholy.

The only somewhat negative thing I could say about the show, was I didn’t see a lot of movement of the band members. My friend did say after the show that Gracie did move around a lot, but still within her section of the stage. To be honest though, being an eight-piece band who need as much of their breath/energy for their instruments/vocals doesn’t leave a lot of space for moving around I wouldn’t imagine.

At the end of the day, the best most accurate thing I can say about one of Lawrence’s shows, is you can’t help but smile, get lost in the infectious blend of stunning sounds and dance shamelessly, ‘cause everyone else are too!

Definitely keen for the band to return to Australia, and I just hope wherever they perform, the venue has enough space for me to bring some of the friends to really well and truly break-out the dance moves!

Kane Brown 'In The Air Tour' @ Qudos Bank Arena Sydney 19/11/2024

GAME ON!

U.S country-pop superstar, gamer and all-round winning-guy, Kane Brown, has landed back down-under for his biggest Aussie tour yet, for his upcoming album ‘High Road’.

This champion was last here in 2022 for his headlining spot at Brisbane’s CMC Rocks Award Ceremony, plus a few extra stops around the country which launched Kane’s Aussie following straight up the high road to incredible heights, resulting in fans demanding his return!

I’m not usually into country music admittedly, but when my best mate saw him in 2022 and played his music for me, it intrigued me and caught my attention, so I guess I’m kinda like the villain in this game.

Let’s see if I can be turned from the dark side of the musical force…

So let me lay out the battlefield for y’all, I’m at the front barrier along the catwalk coming out from the middle of the main stage, well and truly impressed and warmed up by supporting artists Katie Bell and Cemeron Marlo, particularly Katie, as are the rest of the audience by the level of enthusiasm around me, and then it’s Kane’s turn.

Ima break this down into aspects, I guess kinda like Lego blocks.

First, the sound. At the front barrier of a concert, I opt for wearing my custom earplugs with their live music filters to both take the distorting edges of the sound to balance things out and make things generally more enjoyable, and of course, to protect my ears from damage. Tonight, yes, I do have my ear plugs in, but loosely, I ALMOST don’t need them. The sound is uhm, a bullseye, K.O, killshot, basically just insert whatever gamer adjective suits you. All sounds, Kane’s warm seductive vocals, the drums, piano, guitar and violin are all even and really well balanced for optimum enjoyment which, at the end of the day, is the most crucial aspect of a concert, the music.

But wait, THERE’S MORE! More? Yes Oliver Twist, more. Judging by the heat off to my right at parts, and that influx of light, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that’s pyros coming up from the main stage. This, added with confetti blasting a couple of times and screens and pretty lights, it adds a nice layer to complement the music just like the graphics of a game, so that’s pretty awesome.

Thirdly, throughout the show which is nicely flowing from song to song for its energy and feeling to rise and fall strategically in parts, without losing the crowd's attention even in the lower parts, which I was honestly thinking that would happen for me as I’m not exactly a “country” fan, but no, it’s keeping even my attention… wait, where was I going with that, my attention span isn’t good sorry. 

Oh that’s right, even throughout the strategic song choices, it’s not just Kane strutting up and down the catwalk in front of me, apparently the guitarist and violinist are too, and not just once. I really like this, as a lot of the time it’s just the lead singer making use of the catwalk at shows and the rest of the band are back on the main stage left in the background, relatively unappreciated.

And finally, Kane’s nicely connected with the audience pretty constantly during and between songs, not personally connected with individuals that make some rare concerts truly special, but it’s far from fake with the way he connects with us.

All in all, the sound was pretty damn on-par, the stage setup and effect/niceties added a nice frosting to the cake, the length of the set was satisfying without dragging it out past the audience's expiration date, and the stage presence from Kane and his band were pretty damn ace too!

AND no cliche planned encore, just playing all the songs and telling us/getting us all pumped for the actual last song.

So, in summary, for someone who’s not really into country music, I’m actually going out of my way to play Kane Brown on my speakers now and finding it quite enjoyable, he balances country with pop and rock nicely! 

So I guess you could say this is that scene in Return Of The Jedi, where Darth Vader sacrifices himself to save Luke from Palpatine, ending his dark tyranny for Luke.

Meg Mac "Matter Of Time" album tour Sydney 15/04/2023

It was only a matter of time

Meg Mac @ Enmore Theatre Sydney 15/04/2023

We all know that great music from truly talented arts will Never Be snuffed out of this world by harsh times, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and if you thought the hiatus of music from artists like this, and my quirky reviews of their gigs, was a sign of the end on both fronts, well, you Should’ve Known better….you ain’t ever gonna shut me up! 

It was only a Matter Of Time until truly talented artists such as Meg Mac graced our stages again, we just had to Ride It out. Tonight, our anticipation has been met with Meg Mac bringing her ‘Matter Of Time’ tour to Sydney’s Enmore Theatre.

Tick, tock, tick…

The ticking of the clock on the speakers detonates into Meg Mac emerging on stage to open the set with album title track, ‘Matter Of Time’. This song brings forth a dark, warning minor-toned power surge, with Meg’s vocals sitting perfectly in the mix of crystal clear sounds, even when a massive bass-drop rumbles the theatre, Meg’s power-house vocals soar above the fray perfectly!

‘Matter Of Time’ is nicely flowed into the next song ‘Turning’ which brings with it a contrasting soulful, heart-aching essence full of emotion and confidence. This song is followed by ‘Every Lie’ and ‘Maybe It’s My First Time’. These songs lift the atmosphere with their rise in positive energy, as Meg really spreads her wings and sends her powerful voice soaring all around the theatre with precision, grace and control. While Meg’s voice flies around the venue, twirling, dazzling and gently lifting our spirits, supporting harmonies  help put more force behind Meg’s vocal flight, as if a flock of birds are trailing behind Meg. At this stage as my friend next to me reads this, she’s probably looking dubiously at the bar wondering what the f*** they put in my cider! 

Meg thanks the crowd and briefly speaks to us, quite shyly and void of the confidence she so elegantly displays in her music. I do remember Meg telling me in our interview in 2017 that she can be quite shy and withdrawn, and it’s through music that she’s really free, or along those lines at least, c’mon, it was six years ago you can’t really expect me to remember word for word!

Sitting here, enjoying the cocktail of delicious sounds so perfectly mixed together (shaken, not stirred) not clashing or overpowering one another, even when we get bone-shaking bass, I’m truly impressed with how Meg so beautifully transitions the flavour of her vocals from serious, dark warning, to soulful heart-aching, to sweet, bouncing joyful, to sassy, and everything in between. she could probably even pull off heavy-metal screams if she wanted to! 

These attributes are scattered across genres such as Pop, Indie, Alternative, Motown, R&B and Gospel, all held together in the one body like the vivid colours on a bird… yes we’re back to the birds thing.

Just to mess you around with the whole bird analogies, as the show goes on, Meg’s confidence and stage presence starts a freshly hatched bird, but then grows and takes off, chasing her musical confidence and power, quickly catching up to then merge into one being, let’s say a stunning, burning Phoenix, exuding both fearsome power and exquisite grace! 

Meg tells us stories with more and more confidence, such as how she scrapped a whole album because it just wasn't right for her to the point of keeping her up at night , so she scrapped it and started all over again to eventually become the album that has become “Matter Of Time'' with the opening track “Is it Worth Being Sad?” representing her feelings about starting fresh. 

Meg then goes on to tell us how she played the song ‘Don’t You Cry’ in Africa, I think she said? Before playing the sweet acoustic track, then onto talking about writing and performing before playing songs like the intense drum pulses and vocal hook of ‘Grace Gold’ then the heart-filled emotion of ‘Letter’, with Meg demonstrating her talent on the Piano, with the songs nice blend of block-chords, broken-chords and melody.

As the show nears its final flight, the energy in the venue is palpable and electric with the crowd seeming to feed off Meg’s energy and giving it back to her to further aid Meg’s Flight Of The Phoenix that she’s become! The 'final' song for the evening is fan favourite ‘Never Be’ which has a more defined powerful drum beat lifting Meg’s voice even higher, like hard flaps of wings to push the main body to new heights!

Well that’s all folks, yep, go home… Oh wait, there’s an encore that totally doesn’t happen at ALL shows, that we NEVER  see coming and totally isn’t written out already on the band/artists setlists!

The actual final song is breakthrough massive hit, ‘Should’ve Known’ which as Meg tells us how this year marks ten years since she flew onto the music scene with an audible smile on her face, makes the crowd go nuts and is a perfect way to land the show back down to earth but not before the house is brought down with the crowd singing along to every word in full captivation!

This show tonight was a real treat, with its musical diversity, emerging stage presence and perfectly balanced sounds!

Just like a Phoenix rising from its ashes time and time again, I have no doubt Meg Mac will rise and take flight again, soon!

Hilltop Hoods 'Show Business' Tour - Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney 03/09/2022

LET’S CHASE THAT FEELING!

Tonight, I’ma Chase That Feeling down here at the front barrier of Qudos Bank Arena in The Nosebleed Section, because Aussie hip-hop icons Hilltop Hoods are Still Standing after the involuntary hiatus on the music scene caused by the pandemic, and Hilltop Hoods are ready to party and remind us why we need to hold on tight to live music and why they’re at the top of the Aussie hip-hop scene, on the bands’ ‘Show Business’ Tour! 

Now, if you’re familiar with my reviews you’d know I normally take my readers through an in-depth, song-by-song analysis. Tonight though, I don’t feel that’s necessary and I’d just be repeating myself… a-lot! No no, it doesn’t mean this show is repetitive and anything short of special, quite the opposite.

The energy, excitement and sheer fun-happy vibes skyrocketed straight away with opening song ‘Leave Me Lonely’, with a notable suspense-building sudden stop in the bridge section to raise the impact for the final chorus, then straight into one of my all-time favourites, ‘Chase That Feeling’. Which I should note, that for the live experience this song features an extra ‘synth’ sound added into the songs intro.

Now, picture this, you’re in the crowd at Qudos Bank arena, if you’re not wearing protective ear-plug down here at the front of the standing crowd (I am THANK JEEBUS!) you’re bombarded by bones-rattling bass, but luckily, astonishingly, it doesn’t even come close to drowning out the vocals and other musical layers, I mean, there could be a smidgen more mid-range in the mix, but that’s me looking for any gaps, but by the sheer excitement emanating from fans around me from the band racing around the stage, feeding off our energy and each others on stage perfectly surrounded by a dazzling light show, you’d think this is as good as it gets and that it’ll be more of the same throughout the performance right? You know, fans sing along at the top of their lungs… in my ears, the band revs us up between songs, we clap along to beats, jump when the band tells us to, maybe a bit of confetti for us to bat-away from our faces like cats etc etc.

Well yes, that does all happen as I described but with a few key differences that make this show truly special and memorable. First off, after the band play ‘Chase That Feeling’, they ask “has anyone here not seen us before?” which the young girl to my right calls out that she hasn’t, it’s her first time. (you never forget your first) Then, the band member who asked the question pointed the girl out and ask what her name is, “Mia!” then the band say hi to Mia, thank her and the rest of us for being here, mention Mia a few more times as the band rev us up leading into ‘The Nosebleed Section’, which was perfect for the songs’ lyrics in the chorus “I fell in love with the people in the front row”... but apparently my blind eyes missed one little, iddy-bitty detail. After Mia called out her name and one of the band members confirmed it, he unfastened his watch and gave it to Mia! No, I doubt it was a $10,000 Rolex or anything, more likely one of the custom Hilltop Hoods G-Shock watches, which if anything I think is better!

But the special moments don’t end there! After the band play ‘I Love It’, one of the band members “where’s the blind guy with the sign?” (yes, me) and wants me to hold it up for him to read out. Apparently he has it shown on the big screens for everyone to see while he reads it out, calls me a bloody legend and asks “who reckons I should give him a drum stick” which he does. And he calls ME a bloody legend?! Then a couple of songs later, after nearly burning my eyebrows off with pyro-technics and covering us all in confetti (definitely not the last time for either!), the bloody-legend who gave me the drum stick and gave Mia his watch came off the stage to connect with us in the front row more personally, including giving me a hug during one of their song.

Now I could go on and on about the insane energy from start to finish, the perfect flow of musical energy from one song to the next, being absolutely covered in several rounds of confetti, not to mention losing my eyebrows and beautiful Irish-red beard to at least three separate occasions of flames shooting up from the stage about five metres in front of us here at the front, and how the band performed each song perfectly, but the most important thing to point out is this.

It’s one thing to talk to the crowd at an arena concert with roughly 22,000 fans, rev us up and what not, but Hilltop Hoods have shown, no scratch that, proven to us that their fans do really mean so much to them and they will go out of their way to connect with us even in a massive venue with rules, regulations, precise time restriction, complex stage set ups etc. They perfectly blended the intimacy of a small venue like they played at in their early days where they could be closer to their fans, and a full-scale arena show with all the fancy trimmings and effects.

This night, finished with the grand finale of ‘Cosby Sweater’ which Hilltop Hoods brought Elsy Wamaro and A.B Originals on stage to do some extra parts and join in on the fun, was truly a special, fun happy celebration of the music we all love, being back to witness it live on stages again, and sharing it with fans, friends and loved-ones alike, venue sizes and limitations be-damned!

I Love It!

Amy Shark 'See U Somewhere Tour' @ The Art House, Wyong June 29 2022

THE LOVE MONSTER IS BACK!

Tonight, we’re here to talk about love and intimacy, as after-all, this is the most intimate show yet on the tour. I’m sure this sensational Love Monster needs no introduction, but I’m sure she’d love one anyway, and if not, well, tell her I Said Hi. So C’Mon, Everybody Rise like the excitement and anticipation here tonight for…

Amy Shark! …or at least that’s the name on the neon sign as the stage’s backdrop my friend tells me, just in case we had any doubt of who we were here to see. This reminds me of the beginning of an adult film warning that the following film may contain sexually explicit content… uhm, may?! Moving right along, even before the lights go out and Amy and her band take over the stage, the energy in this intimate theatre is electric and full of keen anticipation, made even greater I suspect, from the concert dry-spell thanks to COVID.

Will tonight meet our expectations and alleviate our musical-frustrations?

When the lights finally go out and the action begins, we’re assaulted with a colossal burst of full-band energy that sends the energy up to 11 straight off the starting line! I’m left, however, with a fear, “oh no, I can’t hear Amy’s vocals, have they messed up the sound mix?”... Then Amy apparently walks out onto the stage to start the first song… by the way, did I mention I’m blind?

Amy opens with a fan favourite with the perfect opening attention-commanding essence, ‘Everybody Rise’. The sound mix? No, they most certainly did NOT mess it up! I’m blown away with how not just good, but incredible, clear and balanced the sounds are with Amy’s potent voice penetrating the audience and resonating throughout! Starting off softly and slowly clearly isn’t Amy’s vibe, not with the way she prowls the stage with ease and confidence like a lioness, leaving the audience her obedient purring kitties, ready to do her bidding, like when she riles us up in the bridge section, to build up for a climactic finish!

After the second song, Amy greets us and talks us through what she’ll do to us tonight and that this isn’t your typical concert! (I do love a girl who’s straight up with what she’ll do). She tells us how there’ll be highs, lows, happiness, sorrow and then she’ll pounce when we’re not expecting it… or at least along those lines.

The next few songs do pretty much that, we’re dropped into nostalgic bittersweet depths with ‘Miss You’, then charged full-force out of the depths with ‘Blood Brothers’. ‘Blood Brothers’ is bright, playful and sweet like cherry blossoms… if you think that’s a weird thing to say then you really are new to my writing! Then Amy tops off the elevated vibe perfectly with some vocal cheekiness to get a reaction from us.

Then Amy tells us how every day when she wakes up, she just knows what kind of day she’ll have, and this next song was about one of those days when she woke up and “I just knew that today was going to be a shit day”. ‘Worst Day Of My Life’ keeps the musical energy ramped up pleasantly, whilst giving a somber lyrical paradox, which transitions nicely into the next song before introducing an enticing dark swagger feel, then stripping everything down for ‘Never Meet Anyone Like Me Again’ with Amy on an acoustic guitar which, wow! Her voice is so incredibly potent and beautiful and is perfectly demonstrated in this song!

I find that if an artist/band talks after every song it often tends to mess up the rhythm and flow of the gig. Amy however, talks to us in a perfect mix of rehearsed stories, and natural chatting, like how the next song, ‘Psycho’, (I didn’t know Amy wrote a song about me?) features Mark Hoppus from Blink 182 who is like, her all time favourite band! This is followed up by another song featuring a member of Blink 182, this time, one of the greatest drummers of all time, Travis Barker in ‘C’Mon’. Amy informs us that sadly Travis isn’t here, he’s with the Kardashians, then, just to soften the blow to her drummer uses this opportunity to introduce her band, including one of the best drummers in Australia. This is a little like a woman saying to her partner “baby you did great, really, you did”. I’m no drumming expert but I am very fond of the song ‘C’Mon’ and I honestly think the drummer tonight out performed Travis and put that extra heart-wrenching force behind the lyrics that drove the emotion home that much harder! As for ‘Psycho’ Amy played Mark’s part perfectly which didn’t leave any empty spaces in the song for not having Mark, and having these two songs back-to-back, as different as they are, go down perfectly with the audience!

You know how we’re talking about intimacy tonight? Well it’s not JUST me being a cheeky dork, the show tonight really is intimate, from the venue to Amy sharing hilarious, personal and serious stories about herself between her lyrically and musically emotive songs, you really do get a feeling of getting to know Amy in-depth, which really does make tonight feel special. Even to the point where Amy confesses that she doesn’t like encores, she find them a little bit cheeky, so she tells us that she’ll tell us this is the last song, then they’ll walk off stage, have a sip of beer, catch their breath, then we’ll all chant her name because it’s good for her self esteem, then they’ll come back out and play three of the biggest songs she’s ever released. Again, I love a woman that’s straight-up with what she’ll do!

The “encore” plays out just like that and is hilarious at how accurate to other concerts it is! What’s also hilarious is Amy’s story of not-so casually dropping how she recorded with Ed Sheeran “no big deal, Eddie, as I’ve got him saved in my phone”, into the story of winning over an Aunty-in-law who previously despised her, that she recorded a song with the Aunties Kyryptonite Keith Urban, and suddenly the Aunty was next to her at the table leaning in, “about to make-out”. And yes, Amy finishes with her massive hit ‘I Said Hi’ which after the incredible energy build up leading to this moment, has us all singing along at the top of our lungs and on our feet!

For me personally, this show was just what I needed after a stressful few days to take my mind off everything and leave a smile on my face! I honestly can’t fault the show tonight. The sound was incredible from both the venue and the performers, the setlist including placement of songs for the flow of energy and Amy’s charisma!

If anyone disagrees and has anything negative to say about the show or this review, well… 

Just tell them I Said Hi.

The Rubens 'Live Loud & Local' - Coogee Bay Hotel Sydney 03/02/2021

AN ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE!

The Rubens ‘Coopers Live Loud & Local’ @ Coogee Bay Hotel 03/02/21

Much loved Sydney soul-pop/rock connoisseurs, The Rubens just released the Masterpiece of a fourth album that is ‘0202’... on 12/02. To bring their live music back to fans after the forced hiatus from COVID-19 lockdowns and to get fans excited for the album with a taste of new music, The Rubens, brought to you by Live Nation Australia and Coopers Beer (the latter supplying a generous amount of their products to the band, who in turn gave me full access to when I interviewed them before the show, Hallelujah!).

Free beer, catching up with an awesome bunch of musicians for an awesome interview and live music after so long, understandably I’m feeling like a Million Man!

Free beer aside though, Masterpiece indeed…

Like all masterpieces from the likes of Van Gough, Da Vinci and those Ninja Turtles ones, each piece has its own complexity and layers, this show is no different.

Let’s start with the background, a simple uncrowded, modestly spaced canvas in which each stand-out focal point, in this case, the band members both individually and as a whole, are highlighted by simple, but highly effective lighting of differing colours and pattern which literally highlight each member, being more-so effective as each member has their own designated space, diffusing their own personal touches of complementive splashes of movement to the musical colour.

You know when you look at a piece of art, and something nags at you, a finite, subtle detail that may or may not have been intentional? Well, when the lights go down, and the chosen song for the band to walk out to blasts out of the speakers, building up the excitement to a fever pitch, the next few seconds that follow (the crucial elevated point in which to grab and carry) are filled with silence? This could be intended, as the opening song ‘Muddy Evil Pain’ paints the mid-ground of the shows canvas in a cooling, exciting, bright (and for those of us with Synesthesia) blue synth pallet for Sam’s warm, and I say this in a completely manly analytical way, seductive vocals

I find that the effectiveness of the use of colour and how they contrast, largely defines a painting. In the concert scene, likewise does the effectiveness of how all the sounds in a performance are balanced. My first reaction to the balance of sound is “wow! Sam’s voice sits perfectly in the mix, but wow that bass is a bit overwhelming” but when I really think about it, yes, the bass is very prominent, but thankfully all of the other musical elements still shine through adequately and so as the show progresses, my focus is drawn to the bass at times like the raspy guitar and bass hooks in ‘Best We Got’, but in a pleasant way. Although the guitar and bass riff do risk drawing my focus away from Sam and his passionate voice.

This masterpiece is not a conceptual piece, it has true authenticity throughout it! Each song is bang-on to the way it was recorded, new and old songs alike. Not just the sound has true authenticity though, the way Sam talks to us between songs expressing how he was nearly brought to tears of joy as he walked out on stage at the start of the show, to the funky wiggles and dance moves he whips out during some of the more seductive songs, like ‘Go On’, ‘My Gun’ which Sam adds slight personal expressive adjustments to the rhythm of his vocals in the verses, which gives the song a more unique to the night feel, and of course, ‘Hoops’ which isn’t actually at the end of the set. That brings me to another important aspect of this work of art.

A lot of concerts and paintings alike, will display a bold exciting element at the start to draw the viewers attention and raise excitement, then save the best finishing touch to last, but in some cases, if you look at all the details in between, it dips and curves, which don’t get me wrong, in some instances is effective yes, but I’m in awe of how the show tonight is like a painting of a speeding train, it just keeps building up momentum as it travels which is largely done through the placement of the songs in the set, being so placed for the flow of the songs energy regardless of popularity, which even though smash hit ‘Hoops’ does of course raise the energy in the crowd, the energy just keeps rising in the proceeding songs!

Ah now for the actual song ‘Masterpiece’! Sam very excitedly prompts the crowd to stand up at our COVID-friendly seating positions, getting caught up in the moment, which is a brilliant burst of colour in the middle of the set and as intended, raises the energy level in the room immensely! A lot of that energy is from security racing around ordering people to sit back down, not just in ‘Masterpiece’ but here and there for the rest of the show especially in ‘Million Man’… whoopsy! To be fair, Sam does apologise profusely to security after ‘Masterpiece’.

This show from the dazzling colours and textures of electronic-pop mixed with indie-rock, soul, funk and pinches of gospel flavour truly does leave me with that feeling like when you lay eyes on a true masterpiece that will stand the test of time, and leaves you entranced and mesmorized in it’s beauty! 

A message to The Rubens… Better get your musical and performance brushes ready guys, ‘cause after that masterpiece, you’ve left a large anticipatory canvas to fill on your album tour in April!

Dip Road Dogs, Shakshuka EP review

READY FOR SOMETHING NEW?

The EP is blasted off the starting mark with electrifying and exciting distorted guitar strikes in ‘Chaos In Kherson’. To follow the excitement building guitar riff, the fast-paced taps of the drums leaps forth in a burst of energetic patterns which perfectly raises the anticipation for the sequential ray of warm, hypnotic vocals, laced with spacey reverb, reminiscent of The Cure and David Bowie. These attributes are carried all the way throughout the song, filling me with a bright nostalgic feel like that of when looking back on a pleasant time in the past.

‘Labour Day’ up next, offers a similar musical flavour, with warm reverb-laden vocals and a fast-paced drum beat, yet offers a static wave of violin-like sound in its intro, a pulsing psychedelic guitar riff plus what seems to be possibly a harmonica nearing the songs end, giving a dash of diversity whilst keeping to a soul sound.

Third song in, I personally like to hear something a little bit different whilst still in the general realm of sound, ‘Lazy’ fits that criterion! Although yes, it does still feature the previously heard warm, hypnotic retro vocals in the previous two songs, plus a bright and similarly warm major-key tonal colour, the even more calming rhythmic sway of the violin plus the addition of dual-layered vocals in the chorus, give this sweet little track a suitable potency to the record.

My personal favourite on this record is the next track ‘Serenity Now’. This song lifts you out of the calm trance ‘Lazy’ left you in, with it’s blues/roots edge in the form of the swaggering drum beat, with the sharp guitar riffs riding the storm cloud-vibe, as it gets ready to unleash the clap of thunder that is the chorus, with elevated guitars and soaring vocals not heard on this record prior!

‘McClurkin Ave Blues’ brings a more country/blues feel to it, with it’s wailing guitar outcalls, walking bass lines and cruisy vocals, which isn’t my personal cup of tea, but I can appreciate it, and who knows, when I feel like leaning back and chilling out on a lazy Sunday arvo, this song might appeal to my tastes more?

What does appeal to my tastes however, is the final track on this record ‘Something New’ which, forgive my pun, offers something new in the form of crisp piano, and progressing drum beats from the start to the finish. What really appeals to me however, apart from the addition of piano, is the mix of a nice chord progression plus soothing yet urging dual-layer serene/mellow vocals, squirting guitars and rushing drums in the chorus. 

All good things must come to an end, but in my opinion that’s a pretty bloody-good way to cap off an easy to like musical journey with elements of indie, rock, retro 80’s, blues and pop such as this!

Check out the Q&A interview with lead singer Dave Chirnside here