The Mess Hall put on a great night with their high quality live show that had the audience enthralled, more than ably supported by The Scare and Loene Carmen, those who attended the Greenroom on 4 April received a combination of authenticity, subtlety and homage.
Duo Jed Kurzel and Cec Condon, the Mess Hall, gave a heartfelt and comfortably dirty rock and roll show. Where some have mistakenly compared them to the White Stripes this band has instead skipped such homage groups and firmly footed themselves in the grand old traditions of blues masters and country rock and rollers long past. These two also manage to infuse the honest elements of early punk that would feed Joy Division and New Order into a live show that is part of the great tradition of the Australian pub rock scene. In doing this they have avoided the overt retro of bands such as Wolfmother, instead creating something new from a heritage that Johnny Cash, Ian Curtis and Kurt Cobain would all understand – without the clichés.
The Greenroom was happily crowded for a band with a reputation as best listened to live. This night, likely fueled by what Jed Kurzel admitted was a less than stellar previous performance in Newcastle, The Mess Hall played with an intensity that swallowed everything like the thunder of a freight train passing the platform. Cec Condon rumbled and pounded on through every song with a rhythm that while varying in mood never lost intensity. Jed Kurzel’s guitar and vocals barreled down the rails forged by these hammering drums and the crowd loved every minute of it. Never struggling to engage everyone in the Greenroom, the passion of The Mess Hall instead sparked spontaneous singing during their first set and their encore, and plenty of enthusiastic dancing too. With plenty of tour dates coming up if you have the chance to see the Mess Hall live and do not take it you are missing out.
The audience either got The Scare or they did not, as the band put on a horror show in the vein of the aptly named the Horrors, whispering from the Greenroom was the distinct voice of the Cure. Kiss Reid on vocals does a great job of playing the deranged lead singer, and where the Mess Hall would later in the evening construct something from these punk roots; The Scare’s Kiss Reid instead paid homage to Robert Smith. Between Reid and the lineup of Brock Alexander Fitzgerald, Wade Keighan and Liam O’Brien on guitars and drummer Samuel Pearton, the Scare had the charisma to pull off this deference and presented a show that had most of the Greenroom at least following their show, and a few committed fans getting up front to take part. From the screaming attention grabbing opening to Reid storming off the stage and through the crowd in a melodramatic finale everyone at least watched the band and the crowd’s split reviews, ranging from “awesome!” to “more bravado than substance” are unlikely to deter these guys.
Loene Carmen opened the night, with musicians Sam on bass and members of the Scare Sam and Brock also assisting. Again the crowd gave a mixed reception, from a small coterie in rapt attention to total indifference. But nothing stopped Loene Carmen from presenting a rock and roll subtlety, infused with the long cold death of blues, the edge of punk that many punk bands miss completely, and an understanding of country sensibilities that can be picked up within many of the songs of others with a deep heritage; the diverse Hank Williams III springs to mind. Loene Carmen is someone that like The Mess Hall is busy building out of Rock and Rolls diverse history. Check out her live performance.
