The Gallant, The Orange CitySings, The Room @ The Zoo,Brisbane (17/09/2009)

Tue 29th Sep, 2009 in Gig Reviews

It’s hard to dislike what The Room are attempting to do here, as we don’t see much of this heavy melodic rock these days and it’s always good to see a band giving it a crack. Sure, there’s The Butterfly Effect and Birds of Tokyo who’ve enjoyed success on a national level, but it’s not a rampant form of popular music these days, with the likes of Grizzly Bear and Fleet Foxes dominating the past few years. The Room are reminiscent of A Perfect Circle in infancy, although perhaps what the band is aiming at is Tool in their prime.

Unfortunately though their set tonight feels like they are playing the same song for 40 minutes, which is tiring to say the least. A big problem here is that the vocals are mixed far too loud – which is exacerbated by singer Jay Haddon – œs whining falsetto. Guitars sit low in the mix and there’s not much of the keyboards either. While the band isn’t awful, the highlight came at the very end of their set with an instrumental breakdown which guitarist Tristan Chu threw a lot of energy into. There’s a lot of showmanship here which is pretty much distilled in frontman Haddon, but with little in the way of quality, well-written songs it just comes across as a bit silly.

The Orange City Sings make it immediately evident that they have something going for them. It may be their change of pace from song to song, or the natural exuberance and throw-off comments, or maybe, their straight ahead approach to attacking each of their tunes. It’s all of these elements, perhaps, but their secret weapon it appears is drummer Sammy J, who makes it clear by the end of the set that he’s the band stand-out. His playing is energising, interesting and he pushes all of these tracks froward. It’s a striking comparison to what Brandan Chu had to offer earlier in the night, who is perhaps that group’s liability. The track Sammy J sings lead vocals on is the set highlight in both the vocal melody and song ferocity. Lead vocalist and guitarist Zac Gould certainly leads the band well, though his vocal range settles on one-note pop-punk, and as a result most songs lack individual character. This is where it’s fantastic to see Sammy J and bassist Jonathan Jeffrey share the load and help expand the band’s range (and Jeffrey’s vocal/slap bass medley brought a little smile to my face). A band to watch and this reviewer’s highlight of the night.

Firstly, the fairy lights on stage – terrible and tacky. Forgiving that it’s evident The Gallant are far and away the more technically proficient band on the bill tonight with a surplus of interesting ideas. Front man James See’s amazing presence and vocal delivery during the opening song is a curious mixture of rapping and speaking which turned a few heads. He has energy, enthusiasm and charisma in bounds and one can see him easily revving up a larger, more enthusiastic crowd. The textures the band creates are impressive, though hard to categorise. Like The Room, it’s as if See gets continually get bogged down with words and won’t let the songs just roll on. They’re joined for most of the set by violinist Kate, who can’t really be heard or appreciated. There were moments during the set that were thrilling and it’s certain the band will just continue to get better and bigger in the near future. Here’s hoping we’ll see them supporting a much bigger band with a sizeable crowd that’s keen to let loose.