Good Little Fox @ The SwanBasement, Perth (21/05/10)

Sun 23rd May, 2010 in Gig Reviews

The Swan Hotel is stuck between worlds; it sits awkwardly at the one side of the Fremantle traffic bridge, between the ever-trendy North Fremantle precinct and Fremantle proper. It seems like it doesn’t know whether to be a bogan infested pool hall or a live venue for fresh faced young bands, so it just decides to be both at once and it works, to an extent. Usually the two worlds are split by the public bar upstairs and the grungy-yet-hip Swan Basement downstairs. On Friday night, The Swan played host to eight bands across two stages, four upstairs in the public bar and the other four in the Basement.

Perhaps it was the rain, or perhaps it was the venue, but not many punters turned up for the WAMi showcase on Friday night. For those upstairs, it seemed like they were only playing to other band members, some family and the regular Swan Basement clientele who only seemed vaguely aware that there were bands playing at all. Such was the sentiment expressed by Cim Ciaru frontman Tristram Corbett when, after finishing up one of his bands rawer rock and roll numbers said “Thanks Dad, those guys over there and that guy with the hair’ to the sparse crowd.

Cim Ciaru were one of the more interesting bands to tread the Swan’s planks that night, playing a mélange of rock, punk and blues in matching blazers. Corbett’s raw, inexact vocal style suits the traditional old school, big balls blues they play. They’re at their best in their more toe-tapping rockabilly numbers, the undeniable rhythm making it easy to imagine getting down to them on the dance floor; had there been one.

Art in Algebra saw the biggest turnout; a flash crowd that appeared only for their set and was nowhere to be seen shortly after the final note. The turnout was justified by the band’s attractive pop melodies; drums, bass and keyboards all locked together to float Ross Pickersgill’s pleasant vocals. It was oh so very pop, but that’s ok once in a while, isn’t it? As The Bullet Holes’ singer Owen Hopwood would later note, it’s feel good music, music to put on after driving home from a shitty night where nothing seemed to go right. The positivity of Art In Algebra is infectious and downright lovely.

The Bullet Holes, who appear young enough to be playing a high school band night, rocked out some straight forward pop punk tunes; quiet-loud-quiet-loud sort of fare. Hopwood has a terrific voice, similar to that of a young Daniel Johns. The problem is that their tunes, although well crafted, are stuck in the nineties. Power chord drivel that doesn’t impress modern ears; but their show was not without its appeal. Hopwood was one of the more charming performers of the night and a great showman, with hair flinging and feet stamping about the stage like a seasoned rock and roller.

By the time Good Little Fox took the stage there was nary a punter left in the building. Just a few devoted souls at the front table who could mouth most of the catchy pop choruses. Everyone else in the thinned out crowd had performed already. It’s a shame, because Good Little Fox are a quality act, if a little unexciting at times. They started with the suspect number Let’s Fuck Like Crazy People which, not surprisingly, has a chorus that runs something along the lines of ‘let’s fuck like crazy people’. It’s a flamboyant track that, along with the very similar Let’s Make Party, sits self consciously and uncomfortably between the more serious pieces in the Good Little Fox œuvre. These songs might better have been covered under the band’s previous moniker, Shakedown.

Carl Fox is a wonderful singer and a confident performer, but it would be good to see him stretch out of his comfort zone and try a few new tricks. This performance seemed like a carbon copy of one a year ago at The Loft; except that the band seemed kind of… bored? Fox’s usually charming, humble and hilarious banter sounded more like arrogance with a bitter twist. The rest of the music is still as good as ever. Although it’s standard power pop the band are clever enough with arrangements and instrumentation to make it stand out from the rest and seem like something different. Friday’s performance was not that of a band on the rise, it felt like more of the same with the fun extracted.