Cruising in my Rolls Bayce……

Rolls Bayce with the sweet Psychadelic Rock

 

Squidums here, it’s a little late but here is the gig review from last week.

Being the good Squid I am, I took my lady squid out for a night on the town to catch some sweet live tunes. Pick of the litter that night was Rolls Bayce doing their first show for the year at The Brightside. This was my first gig at The Brightside (despite them having a never ending supply of sweet acts on) and was surprised to find it was the old Electric Playground and the old whatever it was before that and before that again. I certainly approve of this latest reincarnation of the venue on Warner St and seriously hope it sticks around, which it will with support from all of you!

I was looking forward to checking Rolls Bayce, which is the latest project for Dean McGrath (singer of the now defunct Hungry Kids of Hungary), Neal Apel and James Wright (from another Qld band Millions). The two supports were unknowns to me, Varsity and The Ninjas but we got in early to check them both out.

Varsity, another trio from Brissy, kicked off the night and was an awesome surprise. The guys had that real indie pop-punk sound which is becoming renown in Brisbane. Upbeat and catchy guitar hooks led smooth basslines and pounding drums (that dude pounded daily) brought together by the singer/guitarist Dion’s vocals. They were tight and looked to be enjoying themselves on the stage which came across in the performance. I could imagine most of the tunes getting airtime on Triple J, all had a cool pop sensibility and grabbed my attention. In particular, the tune “It’s In My Veins” off their EP Fever Pitch really grabbed me with a rad little guitar lick to lead and goes into an awesome Indie rock tune which had me exclaiming the magic words “It’s a HIT!!”. Cool band to start a night and got my attention enough check their FaceBook and SoundCloud, now it’s your turn.

https://www.facebook.com/varsitymusicofficial

Next up were another Brisbane crew, The Ninjas who also impressed. Their sound was reminiscent of Weezers “Buddy Holly” and seriously, who doesn’t like that song? It was all pretty jangly which got the increasing crowd moving. The guitarist, (who kinda looked a little like Manu from a terrible cooking show) even pulled out a cool shred on his Penguin, I loved it!

Now, I’ve been loving the choons from the main attraction Rolls Bayce and was seriously looking forward to the live set. As a fan of Dean’s former band Hungry Kids, I was excited to see how he would break through and shape a new sound. They opened up with a psychy slow jam which is the main direction the latest singles have all gone in and was a great start to the show, this led into a song they claimed to have finished just that morning called “Mutate” this was a rockier kinda 70’s style track that I was seriously digging. They banged through about the 4 songs when the drummer said the words all punters want to hear “Let’s play a hit!” Wooo!!! Triple J has been playing “Don’t Get Me Wrong” and “On My Own” on fairly high rotation the last few months and both went down with some sweet groove that had a few up the front really pulling some sick shapes, unexpected but cool nonetheless. All three guys had great banter and were happy chatting to the crowd and each other, the chemistry within a new band was cool to watch. All the guys are great musicians, and they were happy to show that off a few times including an awesome drum and bass jam as Dean tuned up. To close out the set we were treated to an epic 7 minute jam which really shone as the highlight of the set and really threw it out there that Rolls Bayce are a new band to look out for. The poppy melodies which made Hungry Kids are evident but this is a much more mature and rounded sound adding something so much more, putting the music front and centre.

Rolls Bayce have also announced a national tour which you can check the details out on their own page and I would seriously encourage you to do so. It will a night full of swag and rock n roll

https://www.facebook.com/rollsbayce

-Squidums

Hitting the Town with Magic Bones and Harts

Killing it on the synth

Harts doing his thing

So this is our first gig review of a couple of acts we caught at The Bearded Lady, a cool little joint in the West End down in Brisabne last Friday.

We arrived at Conchita Wursts’ establishment and ordered ourselves a couple of Bill “Fucking” Murrays and made our way to the back of The Bearded Lady looking forward to a rollicking night of punk, funk and rock n roll.

The show was a billed as a Co-Headline of Magic Bones and Harts, with the cool brissy band The Bacchanales to kick off proceedings. The Brisbane locals were a cool surprise, with a melodic rock vibe going on until the second to last song which climaxed to a fine guitar solo which sparked more than a few wild moves from some of the other patrons which only added to the spectacle.

Magic Bones followed and put on an amazing set which seriously caught me by surprise but you will have to see what The Bee had to say about them.

Now, I was more than a little excited for the headline Harts to beginning and I had a feeling that I wasn’t going to be disappointed. A drumkit and keys are ready and waiting for the man to begin, he strolls onto stage and some guy in the calls in the crowd “Are you going to bring the funk?’

Harts laughs it off and nods “Oh yes we are!” Bammm!

He’s carrying what could well be a signature axe one day and lays down the funky bass line for his first single “Leavin’ It All Behind” on the synth and hits on loop. The drums kick in and are a welcome sight as the guy is too good on the skins to be replaced by a drum machine or backing track. It isn’t long into the first song that we are treated to the first of many sweet guitar solos by the young Melbourne dude. This is a guy with confidence in his own abilities and flys through a set of hits off his self-made, self-produced and self-released solo album “Daydreamer”. The banter is fairly minimal but this is a guy all about the business, switching between the guitar and the synth and often doing both at the same time. The crowd is dancing and getting down to a man that has drawn comparisons from Prince to Hendrix. The similarities are evident as he lets his showmanship loose by dropping to his knees as he shreds up the fret board and even giving the crowd a face melter behind his head in the big hit “Red and Blue”

At the end of the show we caught up briefly and asked him about his thoughts on the fresh sound he his bringing to our radios “Funk rock, that’s for the Chilli Peppers. No one is doing what I’m doing”. He isn’t wrong, in the studio it is a one man band where he his flying this ship solo, from the playing, recording and getting it out there to the masses through his own label and his wicked YouTube channel. Harts is a fresh and much needed injection into the worldwide music scene. This is a guy who is causing serious ripples and a ripple that is gonna cause a tidal wave in this pond. I look forward to the Harts takeover.

Hottest 100 – Hip haters gon’ hate

Now that the hangover has subsided and the friction burns from the slip n slide have started to heal I thought it would be good time to reflect over the Hottest 100. Australia day means a lot to me, not only is it a day to see how novelty Australian flags and paraphernalia you can put on yourself but it’s also a day of reflecting over the best songs of the past year and what a year it was. This year’s countdown saw a record breaking 2,099,707 votes from all over the world and the highest number of entries by Australian artists a total of 59. Despite the lead up to the countdown being shrouded in Taylor Swift related controversy thanks to an on line media outlet that obviously has no idea how Triple J’s Hottest 100 voting system actually works it was a great countdown and left me feeling incredibly proud of the talent produced by Australian artist last year and how they were represented on Triple J. So when the countdown had concluded I thought I’d have a look see at what some my peers were saying on social media about the annual celebration. I was shocked by the amount of bitching and complaining that I saw. Shocked! Posts that read like “am I listening to a commercial radio station right? Disappointing top 10” and of coarse the classic “I can’t believe insert song name here got higher than generic song title. this is bullshit, Triple J has changed”. To posts like that I say lets have a look at what the Hottest 100 is when you break it down. It’s not just the country’s largest musical democracy but the worlds. It’s a countdown of songs for people who don’t like countdowns of songs but this poll isn’t decided by the ARIA charts or who’s buying what on Itunes. This poll is decided by Triple J listeners and I can’t think of a fairer way to decide the outcome. Even if ‘ol Swifty had of been eligible, even with all of the support from media trolls and greasy chicken restaurants she would have only reached as high as 12th position, now I’m real happy for you and Imma let you finish but Chet Faker had the greatest song have all time! well 2014 anyway. Then there is the top 10 songs, most of these songs have had a commercially successful year but it was Triple J playing them long before commercial radio got their over saturating hands on them. The truth is its just a list of cool alternative songs voted by cool alternative thinking people, so why not have fun listening and enjoy.

-Bumblebee

Pass that Dutch ….

Dutch wünderkîd Armeen Business has burst outta nowhere with his new track “Devil Wants My Soul”. This über fresh producer delivered the freshest sound all year.  The dance floor banger is a four to floor stomper until 2:36 and a jazzy tempo change, BAMMMMM!! An in your face Bassoon solo of the likes I haven’t heard since Jerry O’Farrell and his Hoard of Gypsys! Its out of nowhere and unexpected but this Basson lets fly like a Dutch electro “Devil Went Down to Georgia” cover version!
Armeen is a Bassoon afficionado and earned his chops and paid his dues on the streets of Amsterdam with that bad boy. When I asked him what drew him to the long lost instrument he replied
“I come from a line of players my grandfather made one for the Duke of Woking in ’47 while my father was lead in the Dutch orchestra,  I guess it’s just in my blood!”
Wow!
Eargasm is a word I see too often and doesnt really apply here because Mr Business takes you to climax twice then gives you a cigar to bask in afterwards. I can’t wait to see where he takes us next

The Age old ? ….

OK, so we all know Funk is back in town. Mark Ronson has been suckling at his tasty teets and he has liked it, a lot. New one man band, Harts is rocking the funk hat and it looks good on him I will admit (also gig review next week on that funky cat) but what else is the sound to define 2015?

I have an inclining of what is to come, it’s fresh, brash and loud. Kids will love it! Hailing from the South East corner of France, Jaques Giroux and the Magic Potion is bringing the sound that will define this year, French-indie-scooter-punk. It comes crashing through your speaker like a angry 12 yr old at Christmas and doesn’t stop until all has been laid to waste all in it’s path. the man is regarded a genius in his home town of Saint-Agnes and have been raving of his indoor scooter exhibitions inside the local Cathedral and who’s surprised with hits like “Jésus Monte un Macreuse” (Jesus Rides A Scooter)

Deep house has had it’s time and we are ready for this new sonic explosion

Jouir

-Squidums

It’s Only A Come Back…

Barry Mingus, what hasn’t been said about this man that hasn’t been said before. The man is a musical genius, a Mozart for the generation, a Lennon for the now….. you get the point. Well, he is back with the Slovakian Surf School with another amazing tune “Too Cold To Surf”, it’s an uptempo jazzy-funky fusion with flavours of a rich Cuban Cigar that captures the imagination and takes you to another time and an another place. Check it out