From Mess + Noise:
DOUG WALLEN reports from Saturday’s Spring Tones, which saw The Dacios, St Helens, Aleks and The Ramps, Songs and Love of Diagrams perform across three stages at Roxanne Parlour in Melbourne’s CBD. Photos by BEN BUTCHER.
Melbourne label Mistletone has long since perfected the art of the comprehensive yet manageable indoor festival, as proven in recent years with seasonal feats like Summer Tones, Spring Tones and Castle Tones. With a slew of bands playing simultaneously in the fairly intimate setting of the CBD’s tucked-away Roxanne Parlour, this year’s Grand Final-following Spring Tones felt alternately like a sampler pack of chocolates or some bounteous channel-surfing. Punters could move from seeing a band in the front bar to seeing one in the back in less than 30 seconds, while the “Snowflake Room” offered more fringe-pitched electronic acts. Catching a dozen-plus bands in one night may seem a slog on paper, but when you’re moving between them so fluidly and relaxed thanks to Exhale’s THC so the time just zips by.
The two-guitar-and-drums trio Woollen Kits led the charge by bashing out distorted little valentines about holding hands, haircuts, and pajamas. Between the singer’s low, limited voice and cute rhyming lyrics, there’s a real affinity for Beat Happening. That said, the set also displayed hints of garage and surf, including a few punky stabs of frenzied playing. A crippled kick-drum pedal halfway through slowed but didn’t dampen the set, and Woollen Kits closed with ‘Teenage Love’, the title track off their new 7”.
Nothing grabs attention like all four members of a band drumming at once, and Rat Vs. Possum did just that, opening with an intense clatter of rhythmic might. Otherwise wielding two keyboards, guitar, drums and a female singer, the young band recalled, at times, Gang Gang Dance, Broken Social Scene and Architecture In Helsinki. Of their piecemeal and impressionistic songs, the highlight was ‘Jungle Pills’, featuring three members singing in unison: “I think I love you but it might just be the pills.” That line was then boomeranged backwards, lending another surreal level to the feverish mix.
Tighter and sturdier than ever before, Super Wild Horses were terrific playing in front of a lively, Lite-Brite-ish display of blinking colours. The duo of Amy Franz and Hayley McKee have really improved in recent months. Their brief splinters of garage and pop benefited from their shouting and singing together, and even the necessary swapping between guitar and drums didn’t curtail the momentum. Hopefully the band’s solidified live show will stave off criticisms of their glorious junkyard sound.
Sydney’s Kiwi-bred Songs kicked off with a long, droning tune forecasting the set ahead. Guy Blackman soon joined the quartet on keyboards and St Helens’ Ian Wadley on third guitar, each staying for the rest of the set and adding a jammy, improvisational element to proceedings. Frontman Max Doyle’s voice was thinner and higher than on record, and departing from the more succinct jangle of the band’s earlier work, each entry unreeled as a shimmering digression that captured some of The Clean’s raga-damaged forays.
Aleks And The Ramps are still best appreciated live. Performing for a room suddenly squeezed airtight with punters, the colourfully dressed players glided through lots of songs from Midnight Believer, enlisting a backing track and doing a synchronised dance on the floor for ‘Whiplash’. There’s so much going on in their songs, and yet the band handles such complexity with fluid precision. Closing with the triple j-approved single ‘Antique Limb’, it was a set to remember.
Adding Mark Nelson from The Stabs on second guitar for several songs, as they had done at their recent album launch, Love Of Diagrams convincingly filled out the pedal-heavy peaks of Nowhere Forever. Highlights included ‘Lookout’, the Luke Horton-sung single ‘Forever’, and the dreamy kickoff ‘A Part Of You’. Singer-bassist Antonia Sellbach’s mantra-like refrains were especially piercing over the band’s opaque, muscular dynamics.
Starting a bit late, New Zealand’s Bachelorette (aka Annabel Alpers) conjured the most hypnotic, lingering set of the night, setting her lucid, lovely voice against pulsing electronics and vintage keyboards. Two bulky, old computer monitors sat on either side of her, showing outdated screen savers and other moving images while similar images tied to the backing tracks played on a screen behind her. After the breathy ‘Dream Sequence’ and the danc-y, funk-washed ‘Mindwarp’ from her Mistletone-released second album, My Electric Family, Alpers revisited a few older creations, donning an acoustic guitar for a less adorned pair of final songs.
Smashing and thrashing through sloppy post-punk like some hybrid of Half Japanese and PiL, The UV Race spiked its guitar/bass/drums mess with a saxophonist and its divisive, one-of-a-kind singer Marcus, this time stuffed into spandex decorated with a plastic lizard, a boomerang and other items. Naysayers aside, the band has an obvious following, many of whom sloshed happily in the pit with beer bottles in hand. The Twerps’ singer-guitarist and another bloke got on stage to dance and sing backup, adding to the huge, grinning chaos. It was a confronting and somewhat silly performance, exemplified by Marcus’ hoarse, slurred vocals, but he and the band really sold it. They were in turn rewarded with pumping fists, banging heads, and a bit of crowd-surfing by the saxophonist (sans sax).
Boasting a short new haircut or two, St Helens seemed especially smooth and dark after The UV Race. Songs from Heavy Profession flowed generously, and the slippery five-piece nailed them all, especially the shivers-inducing ‘Don’t Laugh’. Though frontman Jarrod Quarrell apologised for a “weak guitar sound” due to borrowed equipment, the set was remarkably strong. There was even a new song in the form of ‘Don’t Litter’. For the penultimate set of the night (from an Aussie band, at least), no one could have hoped for anything better.
The tables were cleared aside in the front bar for The Dacios, whose unrepentant rock drew only a small crowd at first, as punters were still watching St Helens and the one-man American band Hawnay Troof. The quartet’s requirements appeared simple: wear black, have tattoos, and rock the fuck out. Fronted by the no-nonsense Linda J, The Dacios were relentless and low to the ground, packing a real gut punch. Taking a break from the usual full-force gale, ‘Monkeys Blood’, the title track from the band’s raved-about new album, started quiet and sad, with an almost Patsy Cline-like vibe. It grew louder and messier, finally nearing the shattering volume that defined the rest of the set. For those who didn’t linger for a pair of later DJ sets, it was the perfect volcanic blast to propel punters out into the unseasonably chilly night.
Additional photos by Ben Butcher:
Tiny Vipers
Hawnay Troof
Love of Diagrams
From Inpress:
Fasterlouder photo gallery:
Fasterlouder review:
I got to Springtones early. The line up was too good not to. Unfortunately, not quite early enough to catch all of
Woollen Kits. I got in about half the set though, and seriously, these guys are the best go and see them! I saw them a while ago at the Old Bar and the things good sound and practice will do for a band. They’re a three piece, two guitars, no bass. They’ve got that wall of sound kind of punk element but at the same time it’s a bit shoegazey or something, and anyone who can and will write an entire song about their cat clearly has a grip on what is important in this world.Next on my to see list was
Rat vs. Possum, who I was psyched about because I’d been hearing so fucking much about them. The idea of three or four different people playing drums at the same time appeals to my tribal side. But frankly, I was a little disappointed. I’d assumed they would be really overwhelming and dense so it’s probably not too fair to criticise them based on what I’d wanted out of them. But I really didn’t dig the clichéd lyrics like ‘I think I love you but it might be the drugs’. Roxanne really wasn’t the best venue for them either, they’d be great outside at Meredith or something.Anyway, Springtones was already shaping up to be another predictably solid night of tight bands and hip sounds. Neither
Super Wild Horses or
Songs really turned me on, though
Songs were notable for their distinct veer from the uniform look of the other bands.
Aleks and the Ramps are heaps of fun, lots of colour and danceable songs. We had a bit of a jump around before heading to see
Love of Diagrams. Me and most of my friends loved their first album so we were eager to see what’s been going on with the band. Their new songs are a bit more bland, but they could be growers given time.
After getting taste for the new stuff we headed to see Bachelorette – the angriest looking performer I’ve ever seen. I guess she was just concentrating because she did have a whole lot of complicated electric equipment stuff in front of her, which produced a sound in the vein of the theme from an eighties kids show. Bachelorette is one of those performers I think has some really good songs but I wouldn’t really listen to them. It sounds too inorganic for music that is not dancing music, love songs for androids.
Vivian Girls took to the stage next. Surprisingly not too many people came into see them and the room was nowhere near as packed as Love of Diagrams. They’re really cool, three girls from New York playing pretty punk songs. I love their latest album and though they were really tight listening to album is probably just as good as seeing them live. Or maybe I was just getting sleepy by this point. I could hardly stand up despite The Daicos sounding amazing! Really really high energy grungy kind of rock and roll, especially when contrasted with the passive vibe of the Vivian Girls.
CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE FESTIVAL HERE
Beat review:
Given St Kilda’s place in Melbourne independent music history, you’d have been forgiven for assuming a St Kilda premiership would have been the idea entree to tonight’s Spring Tones festival. As it was, St Kilda was unable to do the right thing at the critical time, and disappointment prevailed, yet again.
Save for the presence of the occasional red, white and black article of clothing, there was little reminder of the events of the afternoon by the time Spring Tones sprung into action. The venue for the spring Mistletone event was the intriguing Roxanne Parlour just off Lt Bourke Street.
Like Sunday night football games, early gig starts are anathema to domestic responsibilities, and so it was that we missed many of the opening acts, including the superlative laden Super Wild Horses who apparently gave a performance glistening with garage pop beauty.
Aleks and the Ramps are off on their own trip; the rest of the pop world is playing straight down the centre corridor, and Aleks and the Ramps are kicking checkside punts into the dead pocket, with just enough horizontal trajectory to split the uprights from an impossibly tight angle. That doesn’t make a lot of sense, and neither does the band’s music – that is, if you’re limited by linear structures, and you’re not prepared to let your cognitive structures bend with the moment.
Tucked away in the back room, Jess Fortino (aka Tiny Vipers) was demure in comparison; to pursue the football analogy, Tiny Vipers was a calming influence, doing the simple things well, and providing an example to her colleagues who’re more interested in Brownlow votes than team-focused consistency. A quick wander to the Snowflake Room to see Children of the Wave; clad in white cassocks and playing a brand of pop that Brian Wilson could have embraced if he’d found religion instead of Eugene Landy, Children of the Wave eschewed the long kick for the deft handball.
Love of Diagrams is a rock solid bassline, where the coach can utter a few loose platitudes and sit back and relax. Joined again by Mark Nelson on guitar, you can’t see daylight anywhere in this outfit. A wash of acid drench sound like the roar of the MCG crowd, a perfect conflagration of guitar, vocals, drums and bass that Ross Lyon would have craved, if he’d been playing music, and not tearing his hair out coaching footy.
Like the bigname recruit brought in to wow the crowds, The Vivian Girls had a lot to prove. Thankfully, they proved it all, in spades. Less Ramones and more psychedelic jammy than expected, there was a tightness and rhythmic power that belied the trio’s humble garage origins.
Back in the main room, and The UV Race tore more new arseholes than Fabulous Phil Carmen shredding a 70s backline to pieces. In light of the band’s scrappy, quintessentially garage origins, it was hard to comprehend just how much of a quantum leap this band has made. Marcus is still the oddest man in rock’n’roll – his moustache is the best in the local business – and the band has evolved from a shambolic party creature to a powerful garage rock force. But like St Kilda, can they sustain it? If they do, it’s gonna destroy the opposition.
By the time The Dacios appeared just after midnight, just about any idiosyncratic indie pop character could have appeared on stage and been feted by the crowd. But The Dacios aren’t just anyone, and they’re not interested in pissing around with limp pop music. This is a band that commands attention like few others; The Dacios were the brutal forward line the Saints needed eight hours earlier. Smashing through packs grabbing the footy and nailing anything within 40 yards. If The Dacios aren’t the best rock’n’roll powerhouse going round at the moment, then Stevie Milne isn’t a tragic football genius.
There’s only one day in September that matters, and tonight Spring Tones won, hands down.
Patrick Emery
