The Filth feat. The Protectors& Young & Restless @ Beach RdHotel, Sydney (06/05/09)

Mon 11th May, 2009 in Gig Reviews

If I tell you that the Protectors are the future of rock ‘n roll in this country, you may not believe me. But picture this: a local pub stage filled with androgynous types dressed in their girlfriend’s clothes, pounding out raw tunes like there’s no tomorrow. A crowd of hipsters who’ve spent hours in front of the mirror trying to look indie enough for Bondi Beach stopping dead in their tracks and staring. A band who sound like the equivalent of Mick Jagger fronting The Strokes, primarily because the lead singer, with his huge smile and long locks, looks a hell of a lot like Mick Jagger.

The Protectors are easily one of the most shambolic groups to have taken the Beach Rd stage in a long time, but it’s a refreshing kick in the butt. With a frontman who sounds like he just dropped out of the original recording of Pink Floyd’s Great Gig In the Sky, there is nothing about the group that doesn’t demand attention. The fact that all three boys wearing guitars are also dangerously skinny, have lustrous hair that is irking many of the females in the room and, on that note, look so much like women catwalk models, doesn’t hurt their appeal either.

But most tellingly, they play their 40-minute set like it’s the last they’ll ever have, ripping into their instruments, fitting together as tight as their outfits and offering up every trick from the handbook of glam rock in the same show. Rhythmic unison, deceptive endings, huge squealing outros and the propensity of any of them to yell into the microphone at any moment all makes for one hell of a set. I’m a convert, and I didn’t even come to see this band!

As with most, Beach Rd holds allure tonight due to the arrival of Canberra’s finest, Young and Restless. Girls flock to catch a glimpse of style icon Karina Utomo, and the boys hang on for her deliciously evil screaming. She delivers the latter in droves, scaring the bejesus out of anybody who might have just wandered in for a beer.

Despite a false start, after which the guitarist jokes, “Beach Rd and I have a special relationship, I always fuck up and you always forgive me anyway”, the band launch into a series of new tunes which will undoubtedly form the basis of their sophomore record. Initial impressions show the group leaning towards a more melodic sound, especially given that Utomo spends a lot of the time singing as opposed to ranting and/or roaring.

Just looking at the way she bends her body over to let out those blood-curdling screams makes you wonder how she handles it night after night. By the end of their set, the answer is simple: Y+R have become a tighter unit. This has allowed Karina to rein in some of her more physically demanding vocal work in the process. That’s not to say she isn’t amazing, but the punk viciousness seems to have dampened from months on the road. For everyone except Noogie, that is, who decides to play old tracks twice as fast, just for the hell of it. They’re still restless, this lot.

Props must go to Tony from the Filth. The man has an uncanny ability to put on a great night whenever he steps up to the challenge, and this one is no exception.