Degrees of Freedom, TheSidetracked Fiasco, EarwigMantra @ Greenroom, Canberra,26/07/08

Tue 29th Jul, 2008 in Gig Reviews

You know you’ve travelled south when the ladies are wearing high heels with track-pants! It seemed like it was a bad night for bassists. The Sidetrack Fiasco’s bass effects pedals had chose not to make the journey down to Canberra, opting to remain on the floor of vocalist Ryan’s lounge room in Sydney. Johnny had to instead borrow some pedals from fellow bassist, Degrees of Freedom’s Joel. Joel wasn’t without his own bass related troubles though, leaving his guitar in the boot of the taxi he caught to the gig. Despite the bass mishaps, the Greenroom was in for a solid night of solid rock.

Early on, the crowd largely consisted of friends and family of Canberra band, Earwig Mantra, and lead vocalist Andrew did his best to encourage the audience to move forward and get into it more. But alas the night was early and the punters were sober. Considering this was only their second ever gig, Earwig Mantra put on a relatively decent show, in spite of the frontman clichés.

Pedal problems notwithstanding, drum and bass combo The Sidetracked Fiasco livened up the place with their fun funk filled grooves. When I say drum and bass, it’s not the typical – œdoof doof’ drum and bass, the Fiasco are simply drums, bass guitar, vocals and a whole heap of energy. Where Earwig Mantra actively encouraged the punters to push forward, Sidetracked Fiasco simply emanated infectious fun, resulting in audience members joining in. To say these guys are funky is an understatement. Funk Rock. Funk Rap. Funkcore. Punk Funk. Fun Funk. Groovy Funk. The Sidetrack Fiasco had more funk than a blaxploitation film soundtrack. Highlights included Freebass, Interruption, and during their final number when they slipped into a cover of Cypress Hill’s I Ain’t Going Out Like That.

By now, the crowd was pretty energised and it would be a job for Degrees of Freedom to steer the crowd from the Fiasco’s upbeat funk, to their own brand of melodic hard rock. Degrees, who are hotly tipped to have scored the support spot for the Canberra leg of the Birds of Tokyo tour, came out swinging, letting the music do the talking and the crowd were eating out of their hand. So much so, that the audience surprised DoF guitarist/vocalist Ben with their enthusiastic reaction to an untitled number he later told everyone was “easily our worst song.” Members of the audience shouted requests for the band to play Massive Attack’s song Angel, a track they covered on an older EP. Joel obliged with the opening bass line, but the song progressed no further.

After clinically mesmerising the crowd with a solid and professional set, Ben turned to Joel and drummer Marty and said “you wanna do [Jeff Buckley’s] Eternal Life?” Thankfully the response was – œhell yeah.’
While everyone wanted more, the cover was a perfect hard rocking end to a great set and a top night of music at the Greenroom.