Little Red, The Rocketsmiths,The Dawn Collective @ QUTGuild Bar, Brisbane (24/10/08)

Wed 29th Oct, 2008 in Gig Reviews

It’s hard to compete with the sheer wall of destruction pummelling the QUT Guild Bar tonight with Slipknot and Machine Head doing their best to tear Brisbane’s Riverstage apart. However, Little Red are boy scouts and do their best to convince us that they too, know how to tear it up.

The ex-Wollongong-now-Sydney-based lads and lass of The Dawn Collective open this evening’s proceedings with a set of crafty indie chic. They dress really well, they play with precision and apart from a fairly understated stage performance, they have got the goods. Playing cuts from their recent LP release, Save A Place For Us, as well as their backlog of EPs proves that this band has a wealth of musical creativity to share with us. The Dawn Collective is definitely a band to see again.

Local lads, The Rocketsmiths blast straight into a set of rock-a-psycho-billy that has an unerring tendency to indulge in 6/8 oohmpah-pahing at the most unpredictable moments. Vocalist, Dominic Miller, simply needs to apply a couple of handfuls of brylcreem to his locks, and Dan Michael to swap his bass guitar for an oversized double-bass for the image to be complete. The dB meter climbed up, the pace became more and more frenetic with each passing song, and finally it was all over, leaving both band and crowd in a sweaty, mouth frothing mess.

After grabbing a beer. No wait, it was 3 beers in between The Rocketsmiths and headliners, Little Red, who took over 45 minutes to take to the stage. This is one punter who hates to be kept waiting, particularly when it’s obvious that the stage and the sound tech and the crowd are all ready. It seems a tad arrogant is all. Finally, Little Red take the stage to cheers of relief, and then promptly wasted the first 5 minutes dithering around with a keyboard due to – œtechnical problems’. Not happy.

It was with Witchdoctor that things actually started to go well. A very catchy and well-balanced tune reminiscent of classic Beach Boys, the crowd responded with fitting enthusiasm. In fact, every time bassist, Quang Dinh, took the lead vocals, the songs were better and the crowd response was telling. There’s your front-man guys, get him in the centre and stop with the shuffling around stage to change singers for each song.

I realise that this band is buzzing right now, and that’s great and all, but why does every second song seem to be a direct rip-off of another band? For example, It’s Alright is too close to Supergrass for my liking, including chord progression and even the chorus lyric, and Coca Cola speaks of too many clichés to mention.

Look, Little Red are a good band. They write catchy songs, although the obvious rip-offs could be turned down, they have great harmonies, and they’re young and excited by the rock n roll lifestyle. However, I think that they need another album or two before the maturity of writing and performing can really come out and shine. Until then, keep the set changes short, let Quang sing more, and just play through your technical difficulties, and above all, tear it up!