Premodernists, Orange Room @Cherry Bar, Melbourne(19/02/10)

Mon 22nd Feb, 2010 in Gig Reviews

Sometimes bands introduce themselves. Or their opening song follows a conventional song writing style so it’s clear they’ve started. Orange Room did neither and it was difficult to tell whether they were showing off their guitar pedals during sound check or were having technical difficulties. But by the time they did eventually get into the swing of things with their first track Two Left Feet, Orange Room really started to impress the crowd.

Technically people can’t sing in accents, but British brothers and guitarists Lee and Phil Peers honestly brought a very sexy Brit vibe to their music. Perhaps it was the Union Jack flag on the amp or the delightful English accents during their between-song banter, but there were definitely overtones of Led Zeppelin, Kasabian and Oasis, and really full drumming reminiscent of Them Crooked Vultures (who are technically a third British).

Perhaps the only thing really holding them back from the superstardom of their influencers was their dynamics. With the exception of Coming Down, they seemed to be afraid to use rests or silences – it was literally high volume guitars, drums or Jet-esque basslines from the very first beat to the last. Their set included Big Mouth, So Good, Just Another Night Out, a cover of The Spencer Davis Group’s Keep On Running, Slip Away and Get No Love.

It was also one of the punter’s birthdays, and much to her excitement the band sang her happy birthday. “We have a present for you,” the band said as they passed her one of their CDs and joked, “Sorry we didn’t wrap it. You can also use it as a coaster…” Judging by how much the crowd seemed to dig their music, it’s safe to say the CD will probably end up in her stereo not the coffee table.

People always say you should end things on a high note… and headlining band Premodernists certainly did. They started their awesomely-long set on a rather low-point with the very cruisey instrumental Turn On Tune In Drop Out. While laidback, psychedelic instrumentals work exceptionally well on recordings, they’re really not what punters want to hear if they’re ready to get rowdy at Cherry Bar on a Friday night. It wasn’t until guitarist Aswin Lakshman broke a string (the G-string, much to bassist Brad Elphinstone’s juvenile enjoyment) that the band seemed to stop caring so much about hitting the right notes and started to enjoy themselves.

And the crowd followed the foursome’s suit by getting equally as debaucherous. Melburnians have this horrible stereotype of being the crowd that show their appreciation by bobbing their heads and tapping their feet to the music ever so slightly – but by the time that Premodernists got to their excellent cover of the B-52s’ Rock Lobster the Cherry crowd proved that Victorians do actually love to rock out with their crustaceans out. The surf-rock cover with the B-52s trademark call-answer format worked particularly well with co-frontmen Lakshman and Nicholas Leggatt’s distinctive voices, and it certainly got a large gaggle of girls drinking up the back to get onto the dance floor. They broke out into their second cover of the night while playing their flange-happy tune Drive – drummer Tyse Axford and Leggatt started to grin cheekily at each other before playing the instantly recognisable riff of The White Stripes’ Hardest Button to Button.

An hour is long enough to get suitably sloshed, and the crowd certainly made the bartenders earn their money that night. There was plenty of drunken dancing, fist pumping and singing along by hardcore fans as the Melbourne band played tracks like Dead Zebras, the mariachi-inspired OCD, Avionics, Migrant Son, The Accused, Modern Man, Hey Sylvana and crowd favourite Flicker Little Lights. Their songs may not be high in pitch, but that was definitely a high note they ended on.