A gig at the Curtin never disappoints so it was no exception when Melbourne six piece The Solomons launched their first double A-side, Some Kind of Aid/Rise and Fall to a near full house of enthusiastic punters on Saturday.
Melbourne trio High Fangs opened for the night although the early signs predicted a dull evening ahead with a relatively empty band room. High Fangs have a cool rock sound – at times it’s almost grungy but fun to listen to. Their tunes are rather catchy, but whilst the crowd enjoyed their set, they probably didn’t do enough to really connect with the audience.
Things looked a little brighter when The Hondas hit the stage and the quirk of the band became contagious to the crowd who suddenly livened up with the humorous vibe. They shared a chuckle with Taka Honda who told us with a smile, ‘I’ve been in Melbourne for five years, but all the pretty girls, they keep breaking my heart!’ The Little Red side-project are an energetic bunch, whose on-stage presence translates to the audience as they slowly and subtly edged towards the stage, unable to resist the cheeky smile of Taka Honda!
By the time The Hovercrafts stepped under the lights, the Curtin had really started to fill out with an impressive crowd beginning to close in. The Hovercrafts really captured the audience as fans rocked along to some tunes from their EP, becoming progressively more excited as the crazy guitarist started splitting his drum stick on the cowbell. When the guys finished their set, sweaty and exhausted, there was almost a cloud of disappointment that shaded the room, but the air was instantly abuzz again with anticipation of the main act.
It seemed like they would never play, but The Solomons finally launched their CD. It was their first show in a couple of months so they’ve kept their fans waiting, but it was truly well worth the wait.
Opening up their set with Six Months, it seemed the sound guy had forgotten to turn the microphones up because you couldn’t really hear front man Victor Finkel over the heavy guitars. But his assault on the mic meant that you couldn’t miss him anyway, and once they got the volume right, he had no trouble drawing the crowd in with his crazy energy. Something to Happen was a newer tune that highlighted the different vocal abilities across the band. But when bassist/vocalist Cass Allan tore through Some Kind of Aid it was fairly clear why The Solomons had chosen to showcase the tune as one of the tracks on their CD. The bluesy bass combinations had shades of The Who throughout the track and Allan’s wild flailing hair and passion was reminiscent of an 80’s rock chick.
Sorry Grandma was very much a foot the floor rock song and you could tell the crowd loved it too with the sound of stamping feet heard beneath the thumping drumbeats. But it was Evening’s Empire that really impressed with Finkel and Allan creating a superb vocal harmony to blend with the clever instrumentation of the song. Old favourite Loaded was next as the sultry front-man sung about too much wine. Tearing himself away from the microphone to blast out a few solos on his trumpet, the bright brassy sounds added an extra edge to the music.
Whilst Finkel has a daring presence on stage his fellow vocalist and guitarist Doug Hind had his time to shine too, taking the reins in Ways of Escape. His low, brooding approach contrasts strongly with that of his band mate, and the different styles of the three strong vocalists adds diversity to the line up. Rise and Fall is the flip side of the CD; a cruisy rock tune with a bit of swank and a few jazzy undertones folded in.
The band closed off an impressive set with Gimme Shelter to a few encore calls from the audience. They had a good balance of songs that were different enough, but probably need a little extra variety in terms of genre. It would be good to see some more rock ballads, only because they would do it well and it would really add to their repertoire.
Having supported British India, Gun Street Girls and Oh Mercy, The Solomons seem to have a bit of potential and are definitely worth seeing again.
