The Frowning Clouds, The DeltaRiggs, Here Comes The Sun @The Workers Club, Melbourne(06/06/2010)

Mon 7th Jun, 2010 in Gig Reviews

A relatively empty Workers Club was on hand to watch Here Comes The Sun open the first night of The Frowning Clouds’ June residency. The trio, composing of two acoustic guitars and one drummer/bassist, were later described by The Delta Riggs’ frontman Eliott Hammond as ‘reggae, and a little bit of roots’. It became evident as the other bands took to the stage throughout the night that Here Comes The Sun played to an audience of the co-headliners and only a handful of other punters. They finished with all three members contributing vocals, which was quite an impressive sight.

Seven-piece The Delta Riggs, hailing from the Blue Mountains, squeezed onto the Workers Club stage as the room began to fill up. Those who had not heard the band before are likely to have walked away from the evening with a new outlook on rhythm and blues music. Theirs is an interesting take on the genre; the addition of bongo drums lending them a unique sound and their irresistible on-stage energy making their live show highly enjoyable.

They started strongly with a longish jam before powering through several tracks from their self-titled debut EP. A cover of The Roots/Cody Chestnut’s The Seed was played in an attempt to loosen up the room as entertaining lead vocalist Hammond joked that his band wasn’t poisonous. Their set included EP tracks Ode To Jeremiah and Soul Train, as well as Teacher and set-closer Tractor Beat , which perhaps wasn’t the most thrilling end to an otherwise great set. Kudos to Hammond, not only for his dancing and stage presence but also for his gratitude throughout the set- he thanked the crowd and gave the other bands on the bill a decent plug.

The Frowning Clouds hopped on stage for an incredibly quick soundcheck and caught most punters off guard as they announced their first song- as they did before every song- and got going. Tiger Heart, off the Diamonds & Clubs EP, started off the set, before Please Yo’ Self, from their debut album Listen Closelier saw the maracas bought out for the first of several times. The band powered through a few more tunes, including Lovin’ You, before the lead vocals swapped between Nick VanBakel and Zak Olsen.

Olsen then led the band through album songs Purple Heart and Snake Charmer, which started to get the crowd moving- including an overly animated drunk man at the front and Little Birdy’s Katy Steele (who had just come from her own show in Melbourne). Both VanBakel and Olsen demand attention on stage, their dancing and enthusiastic harmonica and tambourine playing captured the crowd (which had slightly diminished following Delta Riggs). The band rounded up their relatively short set with a slower song, ‘because it’s Sunday’, and closed with ‘a gospel number’- a cover of The Rolling Stones’ version of Bo Diddley’s I’m Alright. They cheekily worked in a chorus of The Isley Brother’s Shout to cap off the night.

A pleasing first night of The Delta Riggs and The Frowning Clouds’ duel residency, which showed that these two young bands are definitely ones to look out for in the next few years.

CHECK OUT SOME OF THE PHOTOS FROM THE NIGHT HERE