As the crowd slowly trickled into new “it” night, JUST? at Club 77, The Vignettes launched into their set. While I’ve reviewed this band before (see it here), tonight I felt I was given a much more accurate taste as to what they were all about. Joel, for one, felt much more relaxed to say just about whatever he wanted – his discussions about his day at work, for example, involved a story about how he was physically anal fisted by customers.
Sure, some might be put off by such banter, but as Joel himself would say: fuck ‘em. They’re definitely one of the better two pieces around, and such banter only serves to liven up the room, which is a necessity for a band playing first. Their set sounded pretty similar to what I had heard in August; however they threw in a cover of “Pony” by Ginuwine, which was immensely entertaining. And while I originally said that they don’t sound like The White Stripes, I HAVE to admit the last track of the night was indeed rather Jack White-esque. But this is a good thing – I’m only pointing this out so I don’t have people saying “see! That one’s heaps like the White Stripes” somewhere down the track! But I still stand by my original statement 🙂
By the time Chicks Who Love Guns hit the stage, the club had filled up to about half capacity, which isn’t at all bad for a band’s first official gig… Especially considering they were almost ALL here to see them! Thankfully, they backed up this support with a killer sound. The songs, at their heart, are impressively simple. It’s kind of like they’ve taken some of the best songs around, stripped them down to their basic core, and then built it back up again. And it’s with skill that they manage to pull off such simple rock songs, where others may falter.
They’re still definitely finding their sound – some songs leaned towards the dance rock variety, others more focused on the rock – and I have a feeling they’ll settle somewhere in the middle. I certainly look forward to it. And like The Vignettes before them, they had a good bit of banter (albeit less vulgar) along the way – “Taste my Ghost”, for one, is apparently a song about a guy who gets possessed by David Hasslehoff. I wonder if he’s in hospital, too? Meanwhile, hilariously named “Vomit on the Dancefloor” finished up their set. A band to watch!
Headliners Ladies and Gentlemen followed shortly after, launching onto the stage impressively with some track music from one of The Matrix films, but one wouldn’t have known they were headliners – most of the crowd had disappeared outside or out back to have a smoke; to hang out with the preceding act. But nonetheless, there were a few fans in attendance, who watched as the track music became an impressive jam session. But what followed was far less impressive – put simply: placing themselves musically (and look…ally?) as one of the many “Panic at the Disco” (or the like) clones who have been born out of the Myspace generation, their music came off as generic, repetitive, and led me to head outside as well.
There’s been quite a lot of hype about JUST?, people not only calling it the new “it” night for local bands, but also the place to be seen on a Friday. I’m not sure I agree on the latter point, but for the former, JUST? is proving a decent challenger to MUM. Although after heading to World Bar in lieu of sticking around, I was greeted by Cloud Control (“surprise headliners” of the night), whose impressive performance reminded me that JUST? still have a lot of catching up to do. Nonetheless, I hope they keep it up. The more venues that support local music, the better!
