The last band added to the Soundwave bill, This Town Needs Guns, put on a stellar performance at The Toff in Town on Wednesday night, proving that one of “Britain’s best kept secrets” might not be a secret for much longer.
Support act To The North put in a decent shift, getting the crowd moving, but if I’m to be honest I found the lead vocals quite painful at times. With clever instrumental play, the vocals seemed out of place, forced, so much so it left the lead singer out of breath at the end of each song. It might be some peoples cup of tea, but much of the crowd didn’t seem to enjoy it.
Next support slot belonged to fellow Brisbane band Arrows, who continued where the aforementioned left off. Quietened melodic rock, which the husky, and at times, desperate voice of lead man Anthony Morgan led the charge to warm up for the headline act. Arrows sounded like a glossier version of To The North, similar in styles apart from the vocal approach, and they seemed to set the mood, the crowd much more receptive to their slow burning tracks. I even saw one gentleman light a lighter, albeit to check his camera settings… but nonetheless.
The anticipation was high for This Town Needs Guns. People had stopped going to the once full bar, pushing forward to get a better look at the Oxford quartet, who were bringing their brand of complex math rock to our shores for the first time. Kicking the evening off with ‘Chinchilla’, the band surprised a few people with stage energy few would expect from a band playing such elaborate music. Front man Stuart Smith’s striking vocals glided in every inch of the intimate venue.
The band continued through a batch of tracks off their 2008 album Animals, with exceptional guitar work from Tim Collis, whose fingers played the most intricate of riffs, in the manner his lungs would breathe. The quirky stage banter in between each song was a sideshow of the evening, as their nervous English accents cracked awkward jokes about frightening people off when they took their shirts off at the beach and whenever bassist Jamie Cooper was under-prepared for the next song (which happened a lot).
Clearly unimpressed by the energy the crowd was giving back, Stuart joked to the crowd ”for a room with so many people, it’s quite quiet”, which managed to draw some enthusiasm from the punters, as they was more receptive from that point onwards. The enchanting ‘Zebra’, was the highlight of the evening, with the band urging the crowd to remain perfectly silent, as the band twinkled through the glockenspiel driven song. It was a mesmerizing performance, but sadly short lived as the song is less than two minutes long.
Yells for older tracks did not go unheeded as the band busted out a few from the past, including a passionate performance of ‘If I Sit Still…’ which was one of the few times all night the crowd sang in unison. The band finished off with the punchy ’26 Is Dancier Than 4′, which appeared to be the crowd favourite, capping off the bands energetic performance and had people genuinely moving for the first time all night.
This Town Needs Guns were unsure if a return to our shores was on the cards in the future, but thanked the crowd for a wonderful night, and it seemed the feeling was mutual. If they manage to return, there is definitely potential for them to fill bigger venues, but everyone that was there last night will appreciate the intimacy of the show. A show that’s technical brilliance was equal to that of its energy.
