Pig Destroyer @ Fowler's Live,Adelaide (27/10/08)

Thu 30th Oct, 2008 in Gig Reviews

CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS HERE

I had looked forward to Pig Destroyer ’s first tour of Australia ever since JR Hayes hinted in an interview with me in 2007 that they’d be coming out this year. When the tour was confirmed I was excited, literally, for months.

Getting to the venue half an hour after the gig was due to start, I was a bit anxious that the first band might have already played; but they were still setting up. It had been a big weekend – DragonForce on the Friday, Metal4Relief on the Saturday – I didn’t think there would be a huge crowd at the show. What I didn’t expect was to see Fowler’s Live pretty starkly echoing for want of people. While it wasn’t too much of a surprise, it did strike me as a bit odd considering Captain Cleenoff has a good following locally, and the Adelaide grinders usually turn out in force to get some live action.

The first band up for the night, locals Robotosaurus, also surprised me – but not in a good way. I honestly didn’t think they would be as hard on the ears as they were. For a change, the sound at Fowler’s was reasonable, but Robotosaurus just didn’t do it for me. In fact, if I am to be brutally honest – brutal being the word! – I stood in front of this band thinking, ‘Christ, I haven’t seen a garage band for a long, long time.’

One of the things that particularly irritated me about the set was the fact that the whole band spent nearly the entire time facing the back of the stage. Well, all except the drummer, and him only because the kit was facing the front of the stage, I’ll wager. It is never, ever going to go down well with any critic if you can’t at least acknowledge that the crowd exists. For all this band seemed to care, we could all fuck off back to the bar.

While I can forgive this to some extent, given that Robotosaurus are evidently a very young band, it’s incredibly off-putting to be watching the backs of a band for a whole set. Compounding this was the fact that the vocals were poorly executed, the guitar work wasn’t flash, the sound was awful, and the whole performance would have to rank as – sorry fellas – the worst I have seen all year.

In fact, it was so bad that I spent the entire time I could stand to be in the same room exclaiming, ‘we are here! The audience is this way!’ In the end, I had to go out for a smoke rather than feel like I was being turned against this band more and more, the longer they played.

One further criticism is that, while it’s cool to acknowledge the promoters for putting you on the bill, it’s less cool to say it like you don’t think you’re worthy – and then not even to acknowledge the main act at all, nor the second support act, as the vocalist for this band did. It was sadly disappointing to see a set that rankled to this degree. Hopefully these guys can get their shit together a lot more before I next see them take to the stage.

Having said that, there appeared to be a real apathy amongst the bands that played. They played their hardest of course, and kudos for that, but there seemed to be a real lack of enthusiasm amongst them throughout the entire night.

After the first act, Captain Cleenoff were absolutely incredible. They always put on a good show, and this one was no different. They blasted through their set with alacrity, put on a tight performance, and were just generally very good. There was no crowd interaction, but with a set that was great, it’s easier to get past. Interestingly, Cleenoff’s drummer really struck a chord with several people. He’s one of the most chilled, relaxed looking drummers I’ve had the pleasure to watch, and it belies the effort that he puts into his work. More than one person commented on how bizarre it looked, but all of the comments were quite positive. Well done, dude!

The Cleenoff set went down a treat with the punters, all of whom were jaded after the first act, and thereupon threw themselves into what the second band had to offer even more than would perhaps have done otherwise.

One thing that really seemed odd amongst the supports was that not one of them mentioned the main act; not one of them thanked them for coming to Australia, not one of them talked them up to the crowd. Usually that is the done thing, especially with such an excellent grind band as Pig Destroyer, and especially with a band’s first visit to our shores. It was a little bit weird.

Re-reading some of this, I feel like I am being unduly unjust. Maybe I am. Or maybe that’s just the way it was.

Pig Destroyer came out after a short break and launched into a set that was nearly unstoppable. Nearly, because the levels in the foldbacks broke up the set repeatedly until they were fixed up. Not the most exciting band in the world to watch, Pig Destroyer howled their way through material from Terrifyer, Prowler in the Yard and, of course, their latest release Phantom Limb. It was fantastic to hear Naked Trees live! The punters got into it more and more the longer the set went on, and if Pig Destroyer they had played for another half hour it would have been damn near brilliant. As it was, they finished at around 11.15 pm, which is early by anybody’s standards.

Fairly recent addition to the band, Blake Harrison, noise artist, was the most active on stage and appeared to really enjoy himself. Well, he looked like the only band member enjoying himself, especially once he got on a mike himself during the encores. Without Harrison, this set wouldn’t have had half the panache it did. Though, I do have to say that guitarist Scott Hull provided a mindblowing performance on his seven-string, apparently hardly breaking a sweat. I heard more than one person exclaim, – œsmart arse!’ while watching Hull open-mouthed.

The headlining act played a short, intense, and brutal set. While I’d partially expected a slightly more out-there set of samples to go with the show, what Harrison provided was excellent. We got everything from screaming women to large cats, atmospheric sounds and various samples culled and edited down to fit the show.

While vocalist Hayes was hardly the talkative type – he barely said four words the whole gig – and despite the entire band appearing rather surly and fed up, I could forgive them after finding out that they are doing their entire tour in a 12-seater bus. Hardly a comfortable trip, I’d imagine, and not one I personally would want to do.

My excitement in the end was justified. Captain Cleenoff and Pig Destroyer, despite downfalls from both bands, gave us a blasting none of us are going to forget in a hurry. If the crowd had been larger – or if the show had been somewhere smaller, like Enigma – then I don’t doubt that it would have had far more intensity and a greater vibe than it did. At Fowler’s the small crowd (around a hundred or less – I suspect far less) seemed a little bit self-conscious. In a smaller venue, it wouldn’t have mattered quite so much.

Let’s hope Pig Destroyer aren’t put off touring Australia, or at the very least, Adelaide, by this show, and that they come back again. Preferably soon. Hearing these dudes live was awesome – it was just a shame that there were so many elements of this gig that caused parts of it to sink into the mud.

CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS HERE