Grey Daturas, Secret Birds,Roshambo, No Anchor,Candlesnuffer @ Globe Theatre,Brisbane (11/07/08)

Sun 13th Jul, 2008 in Gig Reviews

There’s really nothing better than seeing a smorgasboard of loud, heavy and noisy rock bands on a Friday night and there are few venues better suited for it than Brisbane’s Globe Theatre. With gorgeous acoustics and a floor that slopes downwards (enabling the audience to enjoy the show seated), The Globe enables tonight’s audience to appreciate each band in a calm, thoughtful manner.

Although it is unclear if he is sound-checking or if he has actually started his set, Candlesnuffer gives the then disappointingly small audience half an hour of the most beautifully obnoxious, brutal noise with sounds completely indescribable on paper. Equipped with no more than a guitar, an amp and a bunch of pedals, Candlesnuffer’s set is improvised and entirely interesting right until its finish.

With a sound reminiscent of groups like Boris and Om, Brisbane’s own No Anchor fit in perfectly with tonight’s lineup. Consisting of no more than a drummer and a bassist, No Anchor manage to create a super-heavy fuzzed-out atmosphere that is more than enjoyable. Certainly, this is a band to keep an eye on.

Easily the odd band out in tonight’s lineup, Roshambo with their wicked sense of fun and catchy pop-punk tunes manage to hold their own amongst tonight’s drone and noise-rock fans. With plenty of jokes and crowd interaction between fun songs like My Other Ride Is Your Mother, Roshambo provide some comic relief to the night that somehow fits in perfectly. Why they were put on the lineup is, however, anyone’s guess.

For a while now, Secret Birds have been one of the most interesting bands in Brisbane to watch on stage. With two drummers, a keyboardist, a guitarist and a bassist, tonight’s set is no exception. Secret Birds seem to have a simple premise: heavy, hyponotic riffs over ridiculously powerful drumming and tonight’s set is a great example of it.

Right on midnight, Grey Daturas take the stage with a quick hello from bassist/drummer Robert Mayson. It’s both surprising and impressive right from the beginning how much noise they manage to make before Mayson even hops on the drums. From there on, it’s slow, brutal and ridiculously loud. The sheer volume of the show coupled with the hypnotic lighting is enough to nearly send a couple of punters to sleep while a couple of others stand up headbanging and air-guitarring. Guitarists Bonnie Mercer and Robert MacManus show considerable talent by making sounds that range from squeaky feedback to deep, doomy drones. Halfway through the set, MacManus drops his guitar at a rare quiet moment and hops on the drum stool, leaving Mayson to go back to playing bass. Mercer is interesting to watch for the entire set; at the beginning she breaks a string (and doesn’t bother changing it), she spends a lot of time working on the floor with her pedals and for good measure she regularly drives her guitar’s headstock into the ground to get feedback.

After an all too short 40 minutes, Grey Daturas exit the stage to a hearty applause, solidifying their status in Brisbane as Australia’s premier noise-rock group. Had they played for an extra half hour or so, this would have been a perfect performance.