Against Me! @ Fowler's Live,Adelaide (01/05/08)

Tue 6th May, 2008 in Gig Reviews

For a man who has so much to say about politics in his lyrics, Against Me! vocalist and guitarist Tom Gabel is surprisingly reserved between songs in his band’s live performances. Compared to the invective of the front-men of some other socially-aware bands, Gabel is Marcel Marceau. But it was not as though he had much time for banter when Against Me! played Fowler’s Live in Adelaide on Thursday. Second guitarist James Bowman, bass player Andrew Seward and drummer Warren Oakes barely paused long enough to wipe their brows as they whipped through an hour-long set.

Dressed in customary black, Against Me! set sail with four tracks from last year’s New Wave album, Up The Cuts, the title track, White People For Peace and Thrash Unreal. Played live the songs had a crunchier sound than on the album, where producer Butch Vig has smoothed some of the quartet’s rough edges. Gabel’s gruff voice was also more assertive in the live forum. Across four records, Against Me! have developed a strong arsenal of songs, as demonstrated when the group pulled two tracks from first record Reinventing Axl Rose, a rousing Pints Of Guinness Make You Strong and Walking Is Still Honest. Another older song, From Her Lip’s To God’s Ears (The Energizer) saw a change in guitar for Gabel because of a broken string, before the group returned to more recent material, self-questioning Americans Abroad, and Borne On The FM Waves Of The Heart where Tegan Quin’s vocals were sung by guitarist Bowman. This was followed by a brace of the group’s most infectious songs – Stop! and Don’t Lose Touch. An encore saw a handful of stage invaders try to share vocal duties with Gabel, and plastic bottles being lobbed at a roadie and bass player Seward. However, the band remained unperturbed, performing a three-song encore including an inspiring Baby, I’m an Anarchist.

Earlier, Coue Method and Crime in Stereo provided support. Although promoting their debut album, members of Melbourne’s Coue Method are not new to playing in Adelaide. Three of the group’s five members are from hardcore act Mid Youth Crisis (formerly One Inch Punch), and bass player Ben Reichman – although he was missing from the line-up Thursday night – was part of Adelaide powerviolence agitators Unit 11:74. The songs of Coue Method have a slower tempo than the band members’ preceding groups. The dozen or so tracks showcased on Thursday were also rich and melodic, containing shades of 1990s Melbourne group Forcefed and guitarist Adrian Lombardi’s other band Blueline Medic. I’ve been fond of Steve Milligan’s raspy vocals since he sang with Steadfast, and his voice Thursday night still sounded impressive 14 years on.

Crime in Stereo suffered a little from the fact that bands in Fowler’s Live can sometimes sound like they’re playing in a school gymnasium. Vocalist Kristian Hallbert shows some skill at reaching falsetto notes on record, but here his voice often sounded muddy and lost beneath the music. Taking inspiration from American bands such as Lifetime, the New York quintet had a clutch of catchy songs and some interesting tempo changes that helped to set the band apart sightly from others in the melodic hardcore genre.

On their return to Adelaide, Against Me! were powerful and heartfelt. For me, though, the problem is that they are now so well-drilled, the possibility of anything unpredictable from the band during a live show has almost been removed. This was the case Thursday night. Still, these niggles are minor and shouldn’t detract from the impressive live act these Americans abroad have become.