Sparkadia, The Dirty Secrets &Alex from Oh Mercy @Amplifier, 01/11/08

Wed 5th Nov, 2008 in Gig Reviews

A reasonable spattering of people had made it to the Amplifier when Alexander Gow from Oh Mercy walked on stage. Gow seems to have the gift of a songwriter that can make mundane, everyday activities sound beguiling. Not what you might expect from a 21-year-old but the few originals he played in amongst his covers of The Triffids and a Dave McCombe song showed they have the lyrical chops to stand beside those of these more proven artists. A perfect example was In My Stride, his song about doing the dishes for an older lover. Most of the songs were about love in some way, shape or form but his delivery was quite intriguing as he looked to be incensed throughout, giving an emotive and very articulate vocal with emphases on every syllable. He also had fixated his gaze to his left….either someone in the crowd had taken his fancy or he was watching Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure on the TV. Either way, the people who had decided he was worth the migration from the beer garden were absorbed and admirative.

After we almost got to hear The Vampire Weekend album in full during the break, local band The Dirty Secrets made a grand synthesized entrance. On first look, singer Jarrah McCleary is strikingly similar to Faker’s frontman Nathan Hudson…redheaded, the occasional pommy twinge and he looked a bit out of place in his 80s get-up and dance-moves as his bandmates didn’t seem to be subscribing to the dreaded fashion revival. Sound-wise they certainly subscribed to this new-wave full of synth and the first song made those not keen on this “cool” sound a bit worried for what was to come. But it would seem The Dirty Secrets have enough enthusiasm, catchy grooves, and solid instrumentals provided by Woody Taylor (drums), Mike Sanders (guitar) and Waz Page (bass) to almost win over any 80s/synth hater. My Heart Is On Fire did the trick up second and Five Feet of Snow was another winner. There were a couple low points when the songs sounded like nothing new but the faster, bass-heavy songs were certainly crowd pleasers, including their final song Lighthouse which saw bassist Page grooving along and Page rocking out.

And now for Sparkadia. They entered the stage and the first thing noticeable was how singer Alexander Burnett looked all the better for his normally upstanding hair being decidedly un-quiffed. Endearing the sold-out crowd with Up In The Air saw Burnett very sweetly unable to contain his joy by breaking into a smile during the Ah of the oh-ah-ah of the chorus. Kiss of Death allowed the enthralled crowd to sing-a-long and purge any bitterness from lost love or being done wrong. We got to hear Tiffany Preece ’s saccharine and on-the-mark harmonies first on Too Much To Do, which despite being their breakthrough single was a bit more plain and simple than their songs about love, bitterness and Jealousy.

Burnett’s vocals and all involved’s instrumentals are just so perfect that the band sounds quite similar live to their recordings. For some of the slower tracks like Our Own Way whilst still beautiful, for the crowd on this night it just didn’t seem to connect, neither did the b-side to Too Much To Do, The Plague. Morning Light brought back the joyous sing-a-long the crowd seemed to be yearning for. Animals ended the evening and although some cheeky crowd members got hold of the mic in the hope they would lure the band back with their chants, there was no encore.

Sparkadia certainly know how to write a catchy pop song that connects with most people lyrically, usually without being too obvious. With an almost faultless musicality, it will be interesting to see what they come up with post Postcards to flesh out their live set. Judging from the crowd it looks like they’ve made it big with the fashionistas and cool kids already so the future looks fairly promising for commercial success.

Unfortunately, along with this crowd comes the douche-bags who tag along waiting until Capitol opens up next-door, one such retard was distractingly yelling “funny” comments i.e. you suck and dancing in a mocking fashion for the entirety of Sparkadia’s performance. The joke’s on you fool…you paid good money to the band already, piss off and let the rest of us enjoy it. Another distraction from the band was a putrid stench emitted by some gas-bag, enough to fear the odour would permeate everything like a frightening re-enactment of the Seinfeld “The Smelly Car” episode. Note to Amplifier: get some ventilation!