Cheer Advisory Council, ByeBye Mountain, Jon Marco @ TheGrace Emily, Adelaide(25/04/09)

Mon 27th Apr, 2009 in Gig Reviews

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JON MARCO
Our opening act tonight is a solo acoustic act, which in any other occassion would be a recipe for disaster. As a general rule I’ve never understood the appeal of it, as I’ve had this entire genre effectively ruined for me by arsehats at every house party I’ve ever attended in the last ten years or so tearing into an acoustic in the mistaken belief that they’re the next Bernard Fanning, or worse; the next Jeff Buckley. I realise I’ve said this all before, but it bears repeating. Still there’s always exceptions to the rule. The first is in hosting this shit in The Grace Emily tonight: which is bar none the perfect venue for any acoustic gig, and better yet on a night when it’s raining: as it just adds that little extra. The second is how one approaches the acoustic in a way that’s actually entertaining, engrossing and in no way makes you want to claw your own face off screaming for it to end; and Jon Marco is one such solo performer. You may recognise him as the lead singer for The Honey Pies, and before that, as one of the co-vocalists from Poly & The Statics. You may also recognise him as that kid who was hilariously miscast as Darth Vader in that first Star Wars prequel, or maybe as that other infamous child actor from Home Alone you always wanted to punch in the head (as apparently playing under the name of “Macaulay Calkin” would’ve just been asking for too much trouble). Oh and would you also believe he suffers from the same congenital birth defect Gary Coleman has, and despite all appearances is in actual fact at least 34 years old!? No probably not, although it may begin to explain two things: firstly the “stubble” that Jon’s sporting in effort to look older tonight and secondly his iconic shitcrazy singing voice. You can’t miss it. It’s one of the many reasons why he’s so entertaining: whether he’s performing solo or as a lead vocalist. It sounds like a pre-pubescent mashup between Matt Bellamy, Devendra Banhart, Craig Nicholls and Bobcat Goldthwait out of Police Academy after he’s huffed too much helium; and with his hysterical yodeling and incoherent high pitched yammering it’s like the BEST shit ever. Combined with his staccato guitar technique and his endlessly whimsical lyrics it makes for a totally batshit insane, yet utterly captivating live performance. Overall I’d equated it to being rather much like The Libertines as performed by a chihuahua; and it’s a brilliant way to start the evening!

BYE BYE MOUNTAIN
Three members of our second act tonight will be familiar to some of you as the artists formerly known as “Little Ice Age”: an iconic, melancholic “semi-acoustic” act very much beloved with Adelaide’s “sadsack sorority”. As such if ever you’ve been fond of quaffing a few too many glasses of red, been known to frequent the Wheatsheaf more nights in a week than is ever considered healthy for vitamin D intake; and in doing so have accidently found yourself as one of the founding members of either Steering By Stars, Love Stereo, Aviator Lane or Horse & Cart (aaaaah haven’t we all at some time or another!?) then chances are this new band of theirs really won’t need any further introduction. If however you don’t fit any of the above criteria (and I know it’s natural to be confused: you MAY need to make a few phonecalls first) then all you need to know is back in the day Little Ice Age did some freakingly amazing shit. For me personally, I remember rather fondly a gig that they played in Rocket Bar back in February 2006: thanks to a female bass player Rebecca Burge, and a desk fan that blew her hair about like a geek fantasy ahem but that’s neither here or there; as regrettably she’s not even IN this band. Still there IS a lot to like about Bye Bye Mountain. What strikes me the most is the gentle vocal harmonies they weave that sit somewhere between the kermit tones of Jim James from My Morning Jacket to the softer refrains of Fleet Foxes, Chris Isaac and Neil Young. It’s in those harmonies that the band finds most of their strength: lifting their ethereal sound ever skyward and in turn lifting every one of our hairs on our heads electrified to the gobsmacking majesty of it. The rest of their instrumentation in accompaniment (which they constantly take turns in playing) alternates in a softer palette between a winter wonderland of lightly flecked acoustic six string and electric (that channels a somewhat Roy Orbison feel), to slow simmering bass and drum fills building a layered crescendo that best resembles that of a Mazzy Star. Combine as a whole it’s like the chills you get from Radiohead’s “Street Spirit (Fade Out)”, or pretty much like every OTHER awesome song you’ve ever heard close an album that makes you wanna bawl your eyes out like an infant; or simply picture that dweeb out of American Beauty who loses his shit everytime a plastic bag pisses about in a breeze and that’s them in a nutshell. That’s Bye Bye Mountain. As much as they couldn’t fight themselves out of a brown paper bag to save their own lives; they perform some truly awe inspiring stuff.

CHEER ADVISORY COUNCIL
Which brings us to our headlining act fronted by the “familiar” sight of none other than Ben Revi. Granted he’s probably only familiar to ME as I’ve used his iconic look and demeanor as not only the origin point for the “newborn giraffe”: a term first used to describe, rather graphically, the way in which Ben Revi would twist his gangly frame about whilst performing with his former band “Meanwell College” (and latter used to describe just about any awkward “first timer” I’d ever see perform on a live stage), but also as a handy shorthand for describing just about anything I’d otherwise call “geeky”, “nerdly”, or “hilariously dorky” (aka: “pulling a Ben Revi”). Not only is his whimsical appearance on a live stage an endless source of amusement for me: as he often reminds me of what the illegitimate lovechild would look like if Steven Spielberg ever fucked ET (and check out that awesome “jewfro” he’s rocking under the stagelights tonight.. SCORE!!), but also because he’s never short of an endless supply of witty anecdotes. In short he’s good value to have around. He’s a natural storyteller both articulate, academic, endlessly self effacing to a fault; and it is these innate qualities that he brings to every band. Which is very much the “star power” he brings to Cheer Advisory Council. But clearly he’s not alone, as this band is a nerdly übergroup of sorts featuring such luminaries as: Neil Clarke (formerly from Taught By Animals), Adam Osborn (formerly from 200 Motels), Carly Whittaker (from Humble Bee) and a brilliantly accomplished “bird beak” by the name of Brendan Moyse (from.. whoever the fuck knows where!?). Combined as one, their performance tonight is next to indescribable to my usual “musical thesaurus”, except to say that they’ll draw you in; and disarmingly so. It’s soaringly autobiographical: both semi-acoustic and cinematic in its scope with sweeping strings, group harmonies, sparsely plucked guitar, bass, keys and light drum fills. It’s also the best band Ben Revi’s ever been in. Beyond that I’m next to utterly clueless. Any band or song that come to mind I swear sounds like an insult. I can think of Elvis Costello, Darren Hanlon or a Death Cab For Cutie which might be a good starting point; but beyond that all I end up with junk like Coldplay’s “Spies”, Silverchair’s “Emotion Sickness” or dare I say it Billy Joel’s “Piano Man”!? (yeeeouch!) Yeah I know. Clearly they’re NOTHING like that, I’m embarassing myself, in fact forget I’m even mentioning it now. Quite simply Cheer Advisory Council is Ben Revi and friends banging out one hell of an epic soundtrack to a life not necessarily lived in regret, but one lived in constant fuckup, faux pas and heartfelt apology. Think of them as “Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Musical!” only at least ten times better than that actually sounds.

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