The Devoted Few @ ProducersBar, Adelaide (26/03/09)

Mon 30th Mar, 2009 in Gig Reviews

Lets get one thing clear right off the bat: we are long-time Devotees. Card-carrying Facebook-stalking We’re-You’re-Number-One-Fan types. We love their old stuff ( Sleepless, Billboard Noises). We love their new stuff ( Baby, You’re a Vampire ). We love the stuff that came in between and was remixed by the likes of Sarah Blasko and Paul Dempsey of Something For Kate, and released on an EP ( Schematic Tracks ). We’ve heard most of the songs from the (brilliant!) new album from the demo stage onwards. We’ve heard many of them played at Ben Fletcher’s solo gigs. We. Love. These. Guys. We, and a handful of our nearest and dearest, are the Devoted Few.

And that, really, is a shame. Not just shameful, but criminal. Criminal indeed that these guys aren’t the hugest band in Australia. We remember our first Devoted Few gig. Back in the day, dickety-four or something, at Jive. Half of the 80-ish strong crowd were there to see them, and the other half (us included) were there to see mates in the support band. Two thirds of the way through their set we looked around and there was no-one at the bar; no-one upstairs; no-one, even, sitting on the couches. Every single person in the room was standing transfixed in front of the stage. Every. Single. Person. Have you ever been to a gig where every single punter, even the ones who had never heard of the band, ended up rapt in front of the stage? Next to us a random guy nudged another random guy next to him and said, “Who are these guys? They’re orright!” That’s about the highest compliment a band can get: Who are these guys? I want to know because they’re bloody orright. But enough gushing for now, we should probably get onto the gig review!

When we heard that The Devoted Few were going to play Producers, we had only one thing to say: I hope to hell you guys have a bloody good mixer. The in-house talent managed to squeeze a passable mix out of the support bands, but The Devoted Few bought along a bona fide miracle worker (canonise that man!) because we have never, ever heard the concrete bunker which is the Producers Bar sound so bloody good.

Both the support bands did an admirable job of maintaining the energy in front of a small crowd. The Warsaw Flowers opened the evening, and had a lovely sound which unfortunately was hard to ascertain from the room and mix (thank God for MySpace, the songs sound great, guys!). It may have been the early start, but they didn’t really appear to warm up until the end. We know from experience how hard it can be to rock out to 20 punters, so we’d love to see them again in a better room, and with more people at the front. Soundwise, we think there’s a bit of The Cure in there, a bit of Augie March, maybe even the whole Candle records sound. We’ll see them again for sure.

Jimmy and the Mirrors came out with a whole lot of energy as well, which is always welcome, but they seem a little, well, nice for dirty old rockers like us. Don’t get us wrong, they were tight, the songs were good, and I’m pretty sure the crowd liked it, but we like even our pop music with a bit of a rough edge to it. We don’t want music to take us home to meet their mother, we want them to take us around to the back alley after the gig. Aural sex, we believe it’s called.

Which is exactly what the Devoted Few did for us, at least metaphorically. There’s only a small number of bands in this country who play every show like they’re playing at AAMI stadium, and it’s those bands I’ll see any day of the week. Ben Fletcher is one of Australia’s most charismatic frontmen, and the band he has assembled just get better every time we see them. The time he and guitarist Dave Hunt have spent playing in Sarah Blasko’s band appear to have not only improved their songwriting chops, but their confidence and stage presence. Their set consisted mostly of songs from new album Baby, You’re a Vampire , but old tracks like Desolation Angels were welcome, albeit reworked and rehashed. That’s the other great thing about the band; they don’t stand still for very long. They’re always looking forward, and constantly reworking old songs, much like Jeff Buckley used to do. Some people may find that frustrating (*Pennywise* fans would probably feel that way, I’d imagine!), but for us it just adds to the charm. Highlight of the night would have to be Ocean Beach Park , with it’s haunting group vocals at the conclusion of the song. Facebook song requests are always fun!

So we can debate the merits of the widespread popularity The Devoted Few undoubtedly deserve versus, well, a strongly-loyal devoted few who rock up at all their gigs and know the words to their songs, even the ones that aren’t singles (guilty!). Who knows what the band themselves would prefer. We were too drunk to ask last night. But you know what? You remember that scene in High Fidelity where John Cusack says “Watch me sell four copies of the Beta Band”? Take your yourself to the next Devoted Few show and realise we were right. We’ve converted many a friend to the beauty that is the Devoted Few. Some bands are too good to keep to yourself.