Poison The Well, A SecretDeath, The Red Paintings @ TheHi-Fi, Brisbane (24/10/2009)

Sun 1st Nov, 2009 in Gig Reviews

Brisbane is overflowing with entertaining activities and quality shows this Saturday night but that doesn’t mean people will neglect the home grown art rock that is The Red Paintings. As usual there are outlandish outfits including kimonos and emperor robes, a LED skull that was impossible not to get transfixed on, face paint, full body painting of a man in a ram mask and a lady in the corner smashing paint onto canvas in the most ferocious display of art that could occur so early in the evening. They open with The Revolution Is Never Coming – a long winded opus that takes up the better part of the set, accompanied by It Is As It Was and Streets Fell Into My Window. Their efforts to incorporate theatre into their performances can often distract from their powerful and driven songs. Brisbane punters won’t be seeing them again for a while as they’re back to their adopted home of Los Angeles to finish The Revolution Is Never Coming which has been three years in the making.

Keeping it local tonight are A Secret Death. They’re hardcore even at their weakest moments, but tonight there is a viciousness and intensity missing from their set, though the ten people thrashing around at the front may dispute this. Vocalist Nathan consumes water at a rapid rate along with tiny bottles of magic elixir which one would assume meant he was having throat problems. At one point he even left the stage when all the tiny bottles were empty. On closer inspection, the magic elixir may have been baby bottles of Jagermeister. He didn’t return with any more but he did come back with beer in hand. Filling in for Jacob was a gent by the name of Lucas who received much praise from Nathan and for only having two jam sessions with the band under his belt, he did a bang up. Again the curse of the Hi-Fi strikes again; musically it was impossible to distinguish guitars and vocals screams faded out quickly.

While most Brisbane dwellers were braving the weather at Valley Fiesta a devoted group of people made the choice to forgo the free activities and spend the night with South Florida natives Poison The Well. It appears this is a choice most people regretted. While moshing isn’t for everyone a general approval can be drawn from observing the crowd who usually nod in unison, play air guitar, foot stomp or sing-a-long. Outside of the front area there is none of this sort of movement, in fact there is hardly movement at all. There has been more emotion drawn from cardboard cut outs than the crowd tonight.

How is this even possible? It is no fault of the five gents on stage. While Jeffery Moreira isn’t the kind of guy you’d like to meet in a Valley back alley, he is onstage one of the politest front men I’ve ever come across. I stop counting the “thanks for coming out” at five. Both Bradley Clifford and Ryan Primack make me wonder how someone can gyrate their neck so profusely and for such an extended period of time whilst still playing every note? Both of these gents achieve this and bass player Bradley Grace sings every melodic moment with gusto despite not being in the same vicinity as a microphone.

Antartica Inside Me, Botchla, Slice Paper Wrists, Apathy Is A Cold Body, Exist Underground, Cinema and Prematurito El Baby ensured that Moreira was hocking gollies all over The Hi-Fi stage and making the cleaner wince every time. The crowd favourite came in Letter Thing – and can only be deduced from the action going on at the front. Poison The Well offered a high energy, fast paced respectable show but the action going on elsewhere left much to be desired.