Young Melburnian Lawrence Greenwood, best known as Whitley, has been a very busy musician. Early this year, Whitley toured the US of A. He constantly expressed on his MySpace blog that he missed home; saying he missed the taste of the Aussie meat pie, and his drunken friends (salute!). Throughout May, virtually straight off the plane home, Whitley toured nationally with fellow Australian muso Seagull and US legend Howie Day. He is now on the road, again – supporting Powderfinger on their Upstairs at the Downstairs National Tour.
Originally Whitley and support Seagull were meant to hit Canberra’s ANU Bar last month but unfortunately due to illness, the show was postponed for one gruelling long month. ANU Bar (after seeing a huge month of music) opened its doors for the re-scheduled Whitley show. Around 8pm, local Pete Akhurst began a tuneful ambient-folk set. Hopefully Pete plays alongside Josh Pyke when he hits Canberra next. Following Pete was Ashley Maddox, who has developed quite a reputation in the Canberra scene, already having supported big acts such as Mr Pyke earlier this year.
Whitley was in a “strange mood,” when he arrived on stage – he was pretty out of it. Firstly apologising for his lateness saying, “We kind of almost drove to Wollongong, thinking we were close to Canberra.” He played only with the assistance of his guitar, and loved engineer The Chad for support. He played songs from his album The Submarine – Cheap Clothes, Lost In Time, More Than Life and more. Whitley’s cover of Bjork’s Hyperballad (which features on the No Man’s Woman soundtrack) was enthusiastically welcomed. Also, new tracks like Hello Stranger were one that could rekindle your love for that alt-country sound. Whitley was welcoming to the participation of those to sing along, however the audience remained quiet – ANU’s ventilation system would occasionally get loud with its own wicked 4/4 beat. Whitley referred to this as a solo from The Terminator.
Known for his banter, Whitley was very smug with his audience, joking about government and that 200 dollars he still owes Centrelink; which apparently they’re never getting back! The Centrelink joke went on throughout the night (a bit worrying!) With a sigh, Greenwood said, “It’s nice to see there are no bogans here screaming where the f@#$ is Powderfinger?!” This comment somehow lead to the highlight of the night – a song about a bogan-ex (fictional) who’s a true sheila by the name of Sharon (pronounced She-ron) sung from the perspective of a bogan male who’s ideal re-bound girl is a blue ute. You had to be there…maybe it’ll be on the album number 2? It was a bit of a random acoustic ballad, pulled off well.
Whitley gave a secret to Canberra – saying that we were the first to know. “Okay, you’re not really the first, I’ve told my mum. Cool.” He went on to reveal album two will be titled Go Forth, Find Mammoth. He then spoke using metaphorical ying yang plus gibberish, and shot words full of wisdom out to the audience. Whitley finished the night as good boy without swearing more than twice or drinking too much booze. There was no encore, which was kind of relieving. Instead, Whitley jumped off stage and chit-chatted exclusively to those who wanted to talk. So, in conclusion with the advice Whitley left for the small audience: “Go forth, go find your mammoth.” Whether it is a blue ute, a bogan named Sharon, or maybe even Whitley’s CD (buy it, and if you have already, buy it again – they need money and support), go find your mammoth.
