I entered the doors to the sounds of Melbourne via Munich trio Verdaine, who had deep dark tones and ploughed through their set like no-one’s business. I was standing there with drink in hand trying to think whether or not the band were giving off some sort of shoegaze vibe, but at the same time, the band were really into their songs and not conforming to that non-engagement with the crowd cliché that shoegaze seem to carry. The three piece delivered a dense sound with songs like ‘Unbeat’ and ‘Film’ which in brought a mysteriousness to the night.
The black sheep of this line up tonight were Teak. They seemed a little out of place,in that they gave power rock tunes with poses through the set. The songs were there, and you can tell that the outfit worked hard to craft them for a live performance, but in all honesty it just felt out of place to hear these crisp sounding guitars after the ragged sounds from Verdaine. ‘This Time’ was a case in point – this song had lyrics dealing with the subject matter of love and passion, which was an interesting juxtaposing with the ragged, haunting sounds of the bands before and after. Regardless, they were well received from the crowd which listened in to their songs with eagerness (strange considering other gigs here I’ve normally heard a bit of rumbling talk in back of the room).
GB3 is the brainchild of Glenn Bennie, who tonight had the audience in his hand with this project of his that has been bubbling away. Glenn directed his backing band with rough grace in that he provided the squalling noise of his guitar while the other three guitars did their thing to layer the sound upon the East Brunswick Club. Steve Kilbey and Philippa Nihill shared vocal duties throughout the set as well, and it provided an interesting exchange of mood through the set as well. Philippa’s sweet voice over the lingering tones in the set made for delicate listening, while Steve Kilbey had more drive about his vocals.
Songs such as ‘I’m The One’ and the title track from their ‘Damaged/Controlled’ album were standouts in a set of melody and mysteriousness. The night ended with a bit of nostalgia with Glenn and Philippa performing a couple of Underground Lovers songs in the encore. The mainly over-35 aged crowd erupted with excitement at that point understandably. At the same time, it also proved exciting form in that there will be future GB3 releases (which were mentioned by Steve during the set). Of course, it further fueled the anticipation of the upcoming Underground Lovers album slated to be released soon-ish, if reports are true.
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