Next Big Thing bands are generally unknown. They need honest and useful feedback, and you, the potential audience member, need to know whether they are worth going to see. It’s all well and good for a reviewer to say “the polyrhythms swirled through a haze of noise while Freudian-esque lyrics evoked a sense of post-millennial tension,” but both band and reader may very well ask, “yeah, but were we/they any good?” So I’m going to give a broad snapshot of the bands (general sound, similar bands, pros/cons, etc…) in the hope that the reader can then make an informed decision whether to check them out, and the band can take something constructive from what I thought.
And yes, “I”. As you will see at the end of the review, I saw this heat vastly differently to the judges. Ultimately, judging artistic endeavours in the guise of a band competition is really just a matter of personal perception. These are my views, noted in the spur of the moment on first impression. Take it as you will.
Band: Syrian Rue
General Sound: High-school alternative rock with fantasy elements.
Similar Bands: Queen, Muse
Originality: Avoided obvious song structures and showed good understanding on how to build mini-epics.
Stage Presence: None. Far too “nice” for a rock band… spit on the floor or something.
Songwriting: Treads a fine line between being too cheesy with synthesizers and “it’s the end of the world” and other mythical World of Warcraft inspired-lyrics.
Other Pros: n/a
Other Cons: Guys, don’t mention Christian rock. Once you said it, the non-confrontational stage presence, the uplifting chord progressions, everything… made sense.
Rating: 5.3/10
Band: Bravo Inferno
General Sound: Commercial pop/rock with a mildly dark alternative twist.
Similar Bands: Faker, Myles Vincent
Originality: Nothing new, but didn’t obviously rip anything off.
Stage Presence: Singer a natural performer, though some of the moves felt a little rehearsed and Australian Idol-ish.
Songwriting: Aimed at radio, but not completely to the expense of credibility. Just rein in some of the cheesiness e.g. if your lyrics contain the words “higher” or “baby”, scrap them. Listen to some The National records for an example of how to write more oblique lyrics in your general style of music. Some variety with piano may suit you too.
Other Pros: The band play for each other – tight with room for everyone to do their bit.
Other Cons: Cut out hammering home the melody lines as a series of vocal “doo doo’s”.
Rating: 7.1/10
Band: Jay Marriott
General Sound: Singer-songwriter, alternative folk with a British pop flavour.
Similar Bands: Noel Gallagher, Paul Kelly
Originality: Its hard to stand out as something new with this type of music.
Stage Presence: One guy with an acoustic guitar – short of adding fireworks, he did all he could. Professional.
Songwriting: Really good understanding and use of melody, though none of the songs had a particular standout hook to distinguish them from typical singer-songwriter fare.
Other Pros: Very strong voice and good use of harmonica.
Other Cons: Please please PLEASE do not choose to give only one other band at a band comp a massive big-up before you’ve even played a song.
Rating: 6.4/10
Band: Project Mayhem
General Sound: Rock, in the blandest sense of the word. Seem to want to be a punk band but couldn’t be further from it. Tight, polished and just plain awful like you’d expect from a Northbridge rock cover band.
Similar Bands: Airbag
Originality: None. They sounded like a cover band.
Stage Presence: Commanding, and they look the part. Except for the singer. Topless after one song and making corny hand actions and facial expressions, it was like Peter Allen trying to front the Misfits. Unless I missed the point – was he taking the piss? He wore a Ramones shirt. Surely that was tongue in cheek …right?
Songwriting: Beige. “Fuck yeah” as a repeated chorus does not make you hard. Likewise, “who gives a fuck” doesn’t have the necessary gravitas when you’re as intimidating as a marshmallow.
Other Pros: Bassist and guitarist both very talented musically.
Other Cons: The “stage invasion”, whether or not you had anything to do with it, was actually the lamest thing I’ve ever seen at a gig.
Rating: 4/10
Band: The Bullet HolesGeneral Sound: Groove driven indie rock, with twitchy guitar.
Similar Bands: Artic Monkeys, Babyshambles.
Originality: Ok. For a common style of music. They don’t particularly sound like any other specific band.
Stage Presence: They made good use of the stage and were interesting to watch. The “unhinged frontman” persona came off like bad acting though.
Songwriting: Excellent use of riffs meant that their songs were all distinguishable.
Other Pros: Since we saw them in the NBT 2 years ago they’d definitely be in line for most improved award – good to see they’ve stopped covering The Living End.
Other Cons: Lyrics borderline emo at times.
Rating: 6.9/10
Band: Bird to Prey
General Sound: Low-key two-piece (guitar and drums) garage blues suited to driving on lonely highways late at night.
Similar Bands: Johnny Cash, White Stripes, Mazzy Star
Originality: Quite unique in Perth.
Stage Presence: The music didn’t call for a massive visual presence but they looked at home on stage and performed well to a dwindling yet noisy crowd.
Songwriting: Second song was beautiful dream pop. The rest of the set sounded nice enough but nothing particularly stood out to grab attention.
Other Pros: Drums were a very handy addition and brought some subtle dynamic to songs that otherwise may have completely blended together. Powerful voice and well utilised to give the songs a sense of mourning.
Other Cons: Need to distinguish the songs a bit more.
Rating: 6.7/10
Stumbleine Rankings
First Place: Bravo Inferno
Second Place: The Bullet Holes
NBT Rankings
First Place: Project Mayhem
Second Place: The Typhoons
So there you have it. My worst scoring band was judged to be the best. What do I know? What do the judges know? It’s music, and one mans sludge noise is another’s ambient bliss. Aqua probably sold more records than Nirvana. Some people think Led Zeppelin are utter rubbish. Best of luck to both bands in the finals and my apologies to the Typhoons, but seriously, what gig starts before 8pm?
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