There’s nothing like a little bit of dirty guitar to wake you up at the end of a long week. And so too, the launch of Bendigo-born band Mother and Father’s debut album Nothin’, was a wake up call that grunge is not dead, yet.
The Tote has seen it all. And so it was the perfect setting for the launch of an album by a band of self-proclaimed originality cynics, who were in turn supported by a mis-matched mix of fellow fringe-dwellers.
The Twerps floated around on their nostalgia bubble of indie-twee-pop, starting sometime long ago (like Buddy Holly or the Righteous Brothers), and ending up in a dingy pub somewhere on the outskirts of Melbourne. Parading crashed out some waves of dark noise that started off well, but veered a little unpleasantly as the vocals began.
Space Cactus, sole artist Daniel Gordon, played some very pleasant experimental pop-ambience: lilting yet interesting, akin to the Boards of Canada’s Music has the Right to Children, or Manitoba’s first album, Start Breaking My Heart. It was a strange mix, but enjoyable nevertheless.
And finally, with stringy hair and nonchalant gaze, Mather and Father claimed the stage to launch Nothin’, an appropriately dismissive, glottal, too-cool-for-school title for the solid chunk of white-kid angsty rock that followed.
The voice of lead singer Greg Kerslake in Left Alone was raspy and grating, reminiscent of early 90s grunge. There was some head-banging, some mosh, and some bending over the guitar with an intense rock-urge in Overtired. This was nicely balanced with some more considered, lighter, more catchy melodies, such as Oh No.
There was a bit of mosh and a bit of flannel in that sticky-carpet room, mixed with a little bit stovepipe jean, and a little bit of something more interesting. “Dirtier, inferior and more abrasive than most common tragedies” is the quote from the band’s myspace. I’m not really sure what that means. Perhaps when Mother and Father lose their inferiority pretensions, this will clear some space out for them to grow. Their launch was a sign of good things. Something to watch out for.
