It turns out that Breakers is a great place for live music. It has an island bar in the centre of the room, and plenty of space for punters to sit at bar stools, or in couches, or dance if they wish. One corner has decks set up for Djs, and the sound system is large. The sound technician actually listens to make sure the bands sound good. The only black mark was the limp playlist of meh American hip hop that dumped us between sets.
The Order of the Black Werewolf had cancelled their Rocket Room gig the previous night because drummer Royce was suffering from pleurisy or pneumonia ( Mike didn’t seem to care which, when he explained) and Ant was crippled with a neck injury; leaving him unable to properly throw himself around behind his bass on stage. He had also been stopped, mug-shot and fingerprinted by police halfway to this gig and had to leave his unlicensed car and call a taxi. The audience was properly sympathetic and prepared to go easy on the band, but concessions proved unnecessary, since the set was hugely entertaining, and even though they looked thoroughly lost, the music sounded great, even the vocals weren’t drowned in the surf. So you don’t like westerns? You don’t like surf punk? Have you ever held your breath through the chase scene in a film? Have you ever hidden behind the couch to watch TV with your dad, heart thumping in fear but unable to tear your eyes away? Have you ever wanted to yell but stayed silent because you weren’t supposed to be there? Have you taken a long drive with only your memories for company?
Go and see this band. Nothing you expect will be what you get, and what you get will be what you love.
The well-branded boys from Space Race don’t claim to have anything in particular to get across to their audience, they just want a hobby that keeps them in the pool halls and on the streets whenever possible. Accordingly, their set was an inoffensive one, that is, unless you’re a bass player, because then it was mildly frightening; apparently in space you only ever need 5 notes and one string. Bass players who have worked hard to master the entire fret-board and all four strings might be dreading a Space Race future where their skills are not required. Their fourth song, Get Over It was delivered with such vehemence that despite Ben 9000’s protestations, this song might actually mean something important. In a male-suffragist kind of way, it has universal appeal, and would do well as a single. The title would also be a great aphorism on their merchandise. Think of it as an answer to man-hating-lesbian-music if you will; Not that it’s misogynist at all, just disinterested, disdainful, and frankly, about time.
It is amazing the difference a decent sound engineer makes. The members of Genghis are all skilled musicians, however you could be forgiven for not noticing in the past, since some venues just turn everything up to eleven and yell rock n roll.
What the audience discovered on Saturday night, was that Zoe James has a beautifully dark and powerful voice, (think Love Outside Andromeda,) an excellent complement to her bass. Both guitarists Glen and Greg Sanders played towards each other’s sound to create some very complex riffs that seemed to weave in and out of Robbie’s somewhat disco drumbeat, which dissolved just in time, into a punk thrashing that made everything work perfectly. Even the distortion is used to complement the melody rather than to cover up inaccuracies. Sanders’ vocals were not particularly audible on Saturday night, but judging from the hidden talents thus far discovered, it won’t be at all surprising to hear him sing more in future.
Genghis has a synergy about it that stems from each member contributing to the whole instead of trying to be the star. The result of course, is a successful creation of something more than the four individual parts, and hopefully soon, the recording of more tracks to keep us going in between gigs.
