A surprisingly small crowd featured at this Thursday night gig, and I myself missed the opening act Made in Japan, but nonetheless both The Silents from Perth and Sydney’s own Peabody put on a stirring performance for those who turned up, including The Silent’s label mates The Vines.
The Silents are easily one of the best band’s in Australia at the moment… the word ‘catchy’ immediately comes to mind… especially when you think of their most well-known singles ’23’ and ‘Little Girl Lost’. It was evident that much of the crowd knew these two tracks with quite a few singing along… and I’m sure if you listen to FBi, JJJ or even watch Rage you’d be able to do the same.
As musicians they are about as tight as they come for a band so young, and you feel a wide variety of influences come through their music, both in performance and recorded terms. Comparisons to The Vines are immediate, especially at times in lead singer Lloyd Stowe’s vocals… and they can certainly write a catchy number as well. But one could also say the same thing about a band such as The Vasco Era. What sets this band apart from the rest of the crowd are their infectious jams, brilliant lyrics “Let her tease sound around … As the sunlight falls … She’s the one she’d split … Of the little love girls” and their surprisingly confident and commanding stage presence. They indeed channel bands such as Radiohead, The Beatles, Hope of the States and even pioneers like AC/DC and Led Zeppelin in the most base of rock comparisons. Oh and I don’t mean a Andrew Stockdale-esque rip-off vibe… I just mean in a psycadelic live pop rock experience sort of vibe.
Does that make sense? I’m basically saying they are awesome.
With this in mind, I thoroughly enjoyed each and every song they pumped out, and the jam at the end of their set was nothing short of epic. Speaking of epic, next up were Peabody, who seem to be focused on the grunge jam sessions more than ever these days. I can’t say I’ve ever been a fan of these guys on album… I mean they’ve been around forever and I really couldn’t tell you one of their song titles. I certainly didn’t recognise any of the songs they played tonight. But no matter what one thinks of them in the recorded sense, they are fantastic musicians who are a pleasure to watch live. They are just as tight as you’d expect them to be after playing together for so many years, and can pull off some fantastic jams as a result… That said, you’re still not going to remember any of their songs when you leave the concert (as you do when you leave The Silents), and perhaps this is why they’ve never reached the status some may have argued they deserve. It just isn’t the catchy stuff that seems to be expected of the local up-and-coming artist. But nonetheless, they are some of the best performers and musicians in town and live by a mantra that they’ll always put on a great show – which you will definitely enjoy so long as this thing called ‘live rock music’ is YOUR thing.
The fact more people aren’t attending gigs like this is either an indication of the state of Sydney’s live scene, or simply there wasn’t enough publicity for the event. I do hope it’s the latter, but at any rate, next time they are in town be sure to check out The Silents. Really impressive stuff. And Peabody are always fantastic value. All in all, an excellent evening.
P.S. Candy’s Apartment actually has some excellent sound quality… arguably better than the Metro. Was definitely impressed as this was my first time seeing a live gig there. Great choice of bottled beer too 🙂
