There’s some about its musty, lofty dancefloor and cheap beers that makes Jive the perfect setting for live music, and on Friday night live acts Jupiter Lead, Mona Lisa Overdrive and The Shiny Brights took full advantage as they each took a turn to bring a mixture of Indie-Pop, Grunge and a whole lotta’ god knows what else to the stage.
As an event serving as a charity to help fund the Shiny Brights’ trip to the USA in search of a record label, the night turned out to be a right old riot – with a free CD at the end of it too!
Newcomers to the Adelaide music scene Jupiter Lead were the entrée of the evening, playing out some soft rock reminiscent of a Ben Folds and Maroon Five mix. Despite the vocalist looking like he was experiencing the world’s first male pap smear while plonking on his keyboard, and albeit a little boring for the first act of the night, the troupe pulled off a substantial set that paraded some highly talented keyboard skills. The vocalist of this group is one to keep an eye on, as he showed budding talent.
Second up for the evening we had Mona Lisa Overdrive, an interesting outfit consisting of two guitarists, a drummer doubling as a vocalist and a keyboard player plonking on an old-school Yamaha. With their 70’s inspired trance-rock laced in with the drummer’s microphone yelps, they touched on a different kind of sound for the night. Despite the crowd being a little dance-floor shy during their set, they managed to spin out a fairly impressive performance that covered grunge to 80’s synth-pop, with a few Jimi Hendrix-esque solos along the way for good measure. A tight set overall, par the drummer’s constant, incomprehensible screeching into a microphone. Perhaps a vocalist could be employed in the future to curve this group in the right direction.
Just as the Mona Lisa Overdrive are wrapping up, out of nowhere they unleash a sudden can of absolute bad-ass. Let me paint the scene. Their twee, skinny-legged guitarist (who has stood with his legs permanently clamped together like a lamp-post all night) all of a sudden sheds his dorky façade by slamming his guitar on the floor and proceeding to rip out the strings. With his bare hands. For any guitar neophytes out there, hands plus razor-thin strings of steel equals some seriously nasty palm burns. But if abusing the fuck out of your guitar at the last minute gives you your kicks, so be it.
By now the lights had now dimmed, the drum cymbals had been replaced and the fan-girls had flocked to the stage. The time had come for local indie fivesome The Shiny Brights to prove just how brightly they can shine. Gracing the stage of their hometown for the last time before they jet off to America, let me waste no time in saying that their performance was – as per usual for these guys – effing crazy.
The gig opens with no less than a guitarist leaping off the bass drum, vocalist Wolfgang flailing, kicking and defying gravity in movement that resembled a drug-infused ballet, clap-a-thons with the girls below and the band members clambering off the stage into the mosh pit. Playing tracks popularised via Myspace Electric Tigerland and The Con, the Shiny Brights brought an insane, testosterone-driven, catatonic gusto to the table that put the other acts of the night to shame. Not only did they rock the fuck out, but also managed to maintain a smooth instrumental sound and vocals – even when the vocalist was jack-knifing and writhing on the stage floor. Well, what else would you expect from a man who goes by the pseudo-identity of “Wolfgang?”
The amount of punters in the crowd who had learned every word of the Shiny Bright’s lyrics was staggering. For a band who has a whole two songs available on the Internet, these fans had studied up good. After an hour-long erratic exhibition of some of finest indie-pop South Australia can deliver, the sweaty fivesome polished off their set with a few local favourites that really got people moving. A great way to kick off their journey to bigger, better and more North American things, the Shiny Brights proved tonight they are still (regardless of how many oceans they cross) one of Adelaide’s most promising growing live acts. Good luck in the States, boys!
