The New Yorks @ Hotel Steyne, Manly NSW Australia 18/08/2017 written by Brendan Lewis

You’re in the Northern Beaches area on a freezing cold Friday night, what do you do? You go

warm up with some rockin’ fresh new live music of course, and tonight, thats exactly what I’m

doing! A lively, nicely filled band room at the hotel indicates a lot of people had the same idea and

are all waiting in anticipation for Adelaide indie-rockers The New Yorks, who are, what? on time?

Not rock stars yet I’m afraid!

The bands first offering to the rock gods, ‘Red Or Green’ started the strong, precise beating of the

drums by drummer Jared. Heading further into the song, Vinnie on lead vocals proved he wasn’t

going to be a “statue” for the evening and rocked out in the little space he had on the tiny stage,

however Marcus and Carlos on guitar and bass respectively, weren’t so eager to move around

which did let Vinnies appropriate movements down a little sadly, but its only the first song right?

The band, not just lead vocalist Vinnie, addresses the audience and speaks rather confidently and

like a good ol’ rock band does at a sweaty pub gig, before heading into a well crafted, extended

intro to their track ‘Bad Man’ which caught the audiences attention and enticed them to move

closer to the sound like a moth to a flame. You know when you’re at the club and you’ve had a

couple of drinks, then a new song comes on that you like the sound of, so you casually sway

back and forth with your arms flailing around slightly in a dance-like way? Yep, thats what the

crowd were like for this song, which was good to see… ish, that the audience were actively

listening and enjoying the show so far. This said, it wasn’t enough to beckon a typical and wouldbe

appropriate clap along from the crowd in the songs bridge section, I think the band should’ve

instigated that, but Vinnie was still the only one moving around, at least noticeably.

Realising the crowds positivity towards ‘Bad Man’ Vinnie encourages the audience to “keep

dancin” for their sophomore-EP featured track ‘Truman’. This song certainly has the potential to

keep the crowd drunkenly staggering/dancing around with its stand out catchy guitar hooks and

melodies, along with Vinnies' powerful, wide vocal range resembling his beloved ‘The Strokes’

which he executed well on stage. This said however, I think the rest of the band needed to “rock

out” to show the audience how its done, to bring the nights vibe to a sufficient level worthy of the

music.

The next song apparently a cover of Paolo Nutinis’ ‘Jenny Don’t Be Hasty' showcased more

strong guitar rifts and hooks accompanied by Vinnies’ well trained rock vocals, polished off

adequately by the sound mixer. I mean, the sound mixing didn’t make the vocals shine brightly in

the set, but it was all clear and enjoyable. But really, the crowds dancing did subside a little and

didn’t sustain the previous songs energy.

Before the show, lead vocalist Vinnie told me how the band have always been influenced by blues

and jazz, this was shown in the next song ‘Claims And Judgemental Brains’ with its funky-town

bass and blues-rock vibes. The ear catching contrast of this song plus the band prompting the

crowd to stand up and buy a drink maybe? and Vinnie, but still only Vinnie, rocking out to the

funk, made up for the last songs loss of energy nicely, which did indeed draw the moths (drunken

patrons) ever so slightly closer to the flame.

After the funky blues feels the previous song left the audience with, the goal posts for the nights

hype were set and sustained for the next three songs, single ‘We Enjoy This Too Much’, ‘Head

Rest’ with its attention grabbing faster beats and creative effects, and ‘New Age’ with its strong

intro and familiar rockin’ hooks and rifts. At this stage now though, you’re probably thinking

‘hmmmm nice, I get the picture with the adjectives thanks, but I want something a bit more

exciting now before I stop reading’ right?

I couldn’t agree more, that’s why the bands cover of Franz Ferdinands ‘Take Me Out’ which the

band performed really accurately to the original and with Vinnies’ vocal style perfectly suited for

the song, got the audience properly-ish dancing around and moving up to the front of the stage

invading my personal bubble I’d cherished up until this point. This song perfectly caught

everyones attention and if it were played slightly earlier in the set with the whole band rocking out

on stage to it, it would’ve won the crowd over so much sooner and complimented their own

songs far more I believe! Because now there’s only two more songs left now right when we’re all

getting into the swing of it.

The New Yorks @ Hotel Steyne Manly 18/08/2017

Of course that killer cover of ‘Take Me Out’ gave a nice buzz to the night’s moths around the

camp fire (band) for the last two songs ‘I Hope He Knows’ and finally, thanking the crowd before

my personal favourite single from the band ‘Sir Wolf’. The songs’ ‘Kings Of Leon’ reflective rough

rock vocals and contrasting ‘The Kooks’-like melodies with candid lyrics, even got patrons

clapping along in the pre-choruses which should’ve happened in the first songs’ bridge section.

Now you want more after the raised hype aye? Well nope, that’s it, and luckily for me as I’m at 920

words now, and fresh out of suitable adjectives and metaphors for this episode!

I did enjoy this show, and for a band so young and early on in their music careers they’re definitely

got something good going for them with their sounds for sure, and with a bit of tidying up of their

set and performance they’ll be a force not to be under-estimated for sure!