Friday night at One Movement Festival saw me heading to the showcase organised by indie label Dew Process. One of the things I love about these showcases are the weird and wonderful places they are set up – though the common theme seems to be that of car parks and laneways.
But what is so wonderful is that they work really well as live venues, to the extent that you wonder why they aren’t used more often. The Dew Process showcase was not an industry only event, instead it was open to the public for a pretty reasonable door fee, and you got a free CD if you got down early. What more could you possibly ask for? The inclusion of paying fans really created a different atmosphere than the previous nights, and now the festival was getting into full swing.
Up first were indie/electro group Guineafowl. From the outset they were fun and energetic, with the lead singer bounding and jumping all over the stage. For a band that is still firmly in its infancy, they were remarkably confident and assured on stage, with a healthy number of great songs to fill out there thirty minute set.
The set was chock-full of great sparkling jangling guitar riffs and tremendously catchy hooks. There was a real sense of youthful optimism about the band, an optimism that was catchy. The sheer fun nature of the band and their songs make it so it’s incredibly hard not to like the band, they are just so endearing. Even though the crowd was minimal at this point, those that were there really seemed to be enjoying the set, and the band certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves … what with the leaping around the stage inter-band dancing. I was left wanting more once the set had finished and that is never a bad thing.
Can’t wait to see these guys play live again, and to buy their first release.
Second up were locals The Chemist. I must admit I only caught the tail end of their set due to a few parking issues, however from what I saw I was impressed. They were confident and assured on stage, and really reminded me of some of the great British indie bands, to the extent at first I thought they were actually from the UK.
There was great guitar work throughout, and I was particularly impressed by the vocal aspect of the band, especially their ability to harmonise, something which I am always amazed to see in rock bands. Ben Witt has a great voice on him, full of depth and character which really adds to the songs. I quite liked the use of the looping for the final song, it really gave that particular song character and made it memorable for me – not to mention highlighting Witt’s vocals again. The band managed to garner a pretty large crowd considering their relatively early billing – but from what little I heard, it was a crowd that was completely justifiable in size.
Up next were a band who are quickly becoming my favourite band of the festival, Delta Spirit, showing us just what to do when one drum kit just isn’t enough. They really managed to channel a great old-school-rock-and-roll-and-bluesy-vibe into what is essentially modern rock music.
It was a pretty intense set all up, with the band cutting quite the figure up on stage. Frontman Matthew Vasquez has a great stage presence; he is both aloof and engaging all at the same time, and really offers up some striking and powerful vocals. There is a wonderful twang to them that resonates through the compositions, which really serves to ground their music.
It was a pretty upbeat and rocky set, which seemed to get the crowd on their side, not to mention warming the crowd up sufficiently for Bluejuice. What shone through was not only the sheer quality of the musicianship from everyone in the band, but also the sheer quality of their songs; there was not a dud in the set, nor one that failed to grab the audience. A quality, high energy performance from start to finish.
Closing out the night were Bluejuice. Now I knew nothing about the band, had never seen them before, never heard the music; so you can imagine the slight bewilderment I felt when the band walked out dressed in unitards with fluorescent tape all over the place, and the oddest white feathered jackets and leggings; a distinctively more psychedelic take on Brandon Flower’s feathered coat.
What followed was one of the most high energy shows I have seen in quite a while. This was definitely who everyone was here to see, with people outside fighting to get in. There is an element of glam rock to the band. You can just imagine some of those 70s bands coming out in a similar get up. The crowd was certainly into it, as you can imagine, with crowd and band feeding off their respective energies.
I was really impressed by their songs as well, and indeed slightly surprised by their sound as a whole, I was expecting something that would be invariably electronica based, so was pleasantly surprised when I saw a full band on stage, guitars and drums and all. Furthermore, I was particularly impressed that they managed to sustain their initial energy throughout the whole set – there was no dip at all!
I do feel that I perhaps got to see a bit too much of Jake Stone, however, who had managed to strip down to his underwear by the end of the set. Though from the lack of reaction from the rest of the crowd and the band, that would appear to be norm. But all together I thought this was a great show, incredibly enjoyable and fun – they are a band who undeniably know how to put on a brilliant live show.
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