Brian Jonestown Massacre @ TheHiFi Bar, Melbourne (20/02/10)

Mon 22nd Feb, 2010 in Gig Reviews

Having seen The Brian Jonestown Massacre three times now, Black Cab are certainly the weakest of a strong line in supporting artists. While their music is nothing if not pleasant, meandering through drone heavy shoegaze stylings, it isn’t interesting enough to stand on its own and the band do nothing to help this, standing around looking to the wings and avoiding eye contact with the crowd, there isn’t an ounce of enthusiasm or energy in them which leaves them in the lurch in comparison to the likes of The Lovetones or Demon Parade.

With each member receiving an increasing volume of applause as they take the stage The Brian Jonestown Massacre open by taking us on a trip through Supersonic, with Matt Hollywood beginning the night on timpani. Playing heavily on the return of Hollywood to the lineup the band pour over what could be seen as their halcyon days, with the focus put on their tremendous 90’s back catalogue. Strangely the band don’t play a single track from their new record.

Jonestown have the unnerving ability to craft an infinite amount of songs that once heard are never forgotten and constantly craved. Songs like Open Heart Surgery, Servo and Never The Less with their driving rhythms and catch call lyrics. The key to this is in part due to the simplistic tunes beefed up with infinitesimal instrumentation in the vein of Spacemen and Spiritualized of whom a founding member, Will Carruthers, is now playing bass. Will can be seen as cool and collected foundation of the band, in fact each member has a specific role to play.

Anton Newcombe the manic-self proclaimed genius-leader of the band, Matt Hollywood the his more level head offsider, Joel Gion the face of the band and so on. Along with Carruthers the other members drive the nuances of the tunes with Rob Campenella’s layered keys adding depth to tracks like Sailor and Dan Allaire cutting loose on a minimal drum kit throughout. To the right of stage Ricky Miami’s twelve string and Frankie Teardrop’s six intermingle in their own space. The HiFi Bar has the dingy close quarters quality that perfectly encapsulates and translates The BJM’s presence.

Anton’s tracks are broken up by Hollwood’s own distinctive tunes, like an excellent version of B.S.A. And I Got My Eye On You. In one of Hollywood’s tracks Joel lays down some hip spoken word stepping out from behind the tambourine briefly. The music is given an on edge quality as Anton continues to antagonise Frankie over who knows what, “He’s the genius, let him be the fucking genius!” While Hollywood can’t understand the need for the fight, “How can you guys be like this when all these people are having such a good time?” The audience is entranced by it. It’s more than just the chance of seeing a fight, it’s the sense of vulnerability, that the band could collapse at any moment. It brings a real sense of danger that makes the band seem more real and tactile connecting with the audience on a more primal human level. Frankie cops the brunt of Anton’s attacks, “This guy parks cars for a living.” leading him to retory “You know why? Because I don’t make enough from being in this shitty band.”

However he’s not alone, after telling the band to tune up for Evergreen Anton disappears for five minutes before returning. Seeing that Miami is still tuning he proclaims, “The Triffids and The Church wouldn’t put up with this, we’ve got five guitars let’s fucking play without him.” The highlights are to numerous to fully list but they include such tracks as, Anenome, That Girl Suicide, Wasted, Wisdom, Who (the best singalong song ever) and Going to Hell.

However the biggest highlight of the show is when the band announces that it’s their friends birthday and he’s going to get on stage with them for a song. No one would have guessed that said friend would be Brent ‘Fathead’ DeBoer, drummer with the The Dandy Warhols, and said song would be Not If You Were The Last Dandy On Earth. He jumps around clinging to maracas before leaving at which Frankie announces, “That would’ve been a great way to end the night, too bad for you we’re gonna keep playing.”

No one can be said to be disappointed when they continue with Hollywoods upbeat Oh Lord before closing with Satellite. Fathead, Hollywood and Miami hangout and smoke with fans after showing no signs of big headedness. I hear several patrons proclaim it the best gig they’ve ever seen and I have to concur.