It’s fair to say that few people are willing to make the trek out on a Tuesday night to see a group of unknown local acts; but this fact hasn’t stopped Bondi’s Beach Road Hotel from putting on one such night. Dubbed “Tuesday Night Live”, groups of local acts play in a relaxed environment, where patrons can enjoy the music from the comfort of their own … for lack of a better word, comfy … chair. Such is just one of the many luxuries to heading out of the house on a Tuesday night … no doubt helping to entice the decent sized crowd to gather for the night.
Launching the evening were MUSHU (Visit their Myspace), a Sydney 4-piece with a focus on the earthly instrumental – 2 acoustic guitars, a cello and a drum kit forming a relaxing yet atmospheric live sound. They also had a guest from one of the other bands (I think Tales in Space?) on the African Drum. I’m sure it has a more technical name than that… but you get what I mean.
It was a perfect way to start the evening, and most of the songs were incredibly well developed… often starting slow but transforming into loud, vibrant crescendos. On the whole, it was “chilled”, sometimes even channelling a bit of the “hippy” vibe. Occasionally, combined with the music at hand, this didn’t work quite so well on a vocal level, but other times lead singer Simone sounded every bit as good as Katie Noonan, which worked beautifully. A stand-out act, who no doubt will play well at Bondi’s upcoming ‘Bohemia’ festival, and with further development of their music, will no doubt travel the country in years to come.
Next up were DECORATED GENERALS, who have featured on theAUreview a couple of times in the past. The quality of their performance remained as strong as always, with the drummer from The Spirits popping on for a dual drum session during Dark Glasses which made the already energetic song even more impressive. The new track of the night, Piccadilly Focus, was definitely the highlight. Faster than most of the tracks they usually perform, drummer Nick rose to new heights with this number, showing off his skills in tremendous fashion. He could kill a man with fast moves like that. Possibly has.
TALES IN SPACE, who helped put the night together (as you can see by the collaborations, most of these guys seem to be good mates), were up next. The three-piece are Bondi locals, and following a relatively relaxed affair, they ushered in the bass and “the rock” for the evening. The vibe I definitely got from them was Southern Californian Punk Rock, in the vein of early Green Day or Blink-182. Certainly helped that they live in a beach town. But this came more from the way they sung, than the music itself. At times, this seemed a bit displaced – punk rock vocals, with seemingly serious lyrics and some incredibly impressive riffs and loops. I think, at times, it needed to be a bit catchier; a bit “sillier”. There were one or two tracks in there which seemed to START moving in that direction, but I reckon if they took a step back, and had even more fun with it, while keeping a good balance between this and the tracks they already have up and running, a spectacular set would take form. It’s a sort of genre which is rarely tackled in Australia, let alone Sydney, and if anyone can do it, it’s these guys.
Finally, THE SPIRITS closed off the night to curfew. One thing that has to be said about these guys is that they know how to make music – their songs are terribly well constructed, and they perform with ease and confidence on stage (although do you really HAVE to play your bass guitar so high?). But where they falter is simply in making memorable songs – by the time a new song came on, I’d already forgotten the one before. Now this is one thing that’s easier said than done, but with most ‘hit-makers’ clueless about how to construct a song, The Spirits are definitely capable. And to be completely fair, it was mostly new tracks tonight, so I look forward to seeing how they develop, as their older tracks do seem to have a lot of what the new tracks were lacking.
They’re trying hard to make themselves a respected Sydney venue, and with free music nights on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Bondi’s Beach Road Hotel is definitely making a mark. Keep it up, and thanks for helping support local music.
