Howl, The Mourning Sons, MoneyFor Rope @ The Espy, Melbourne(23/07/2010)

Sat 24th Jul, 2010 in Gig Reviews

An almost fully packed Espy front bar escaped the freeze as punters watched Money For Rope hurl themselves around the stage with their awesome blend of rock, soul and garage sounds.

The Melbourne sextet were led by a commanding lead vocalist, as the keyboardist, bassist and guitarist all added backing vocals to great effect. The most interesting aspect of their set up was the dual drummers, which, at times, could’ve been used to better effect. Regardless, it was quite a sight to see six obviously talented guys giving it their all.

The highlight of their set, amongst the many instrumental jams and freak outs, was undoubtedly when lead vocalist and guitarist swang away his guitar in favour of a saxophone, giving it a healthy solo and proving his musical aptitude: powerful singer, great guitarist and exciting saxophonist. Visibly delighted by just being there, they had no reason not to be consider alongside other fine up and coming bands.

Next up were The Mourning Sons, who had more grunge and mellow feel than the fun-times bands that surrounded them, seeming somewhat out of place on the bill. Nonetheless, certain parts of the crowd ate it up. There’s something there for rock fans, but to me it all seemed a little too contrived. Where Money For Rope’s solos came across as fun, The Mourning Sons came across as self-indulgent and boring.

Fronted by Dave Fazza, whose vocals will win a fair share of fans and may gain slight comparisons to Vines frontman Craig Nicholls, the four piece looked relatively boring on stage, barely filling it out compared to their predecessors. Having just released brutal lead single Burn Motherfucker Burn from their debut album Pipedreams and having just won over some more fans, it seems The Mourning Sons might be up for a pretty big year.

But when comparing any young band in Victoria to Howl, they almost always come off second best. Led by the duel vocal attack of Michael Belsar and Lachlan Morrish, the Ballarat six-piece are a party machine. With tunes like Anyone But Us, I Hear It’s Love and breakthrough track Blackout, it’s easy to see the appeal of the group.

A Howl gig is best summarised with the word: chaos. There’s always dancing, heaps of playing in the crowd, screams, plenty of drinking and other insane antics. Friday was no different from what one comes to expect from their show, and as they stormed the stage at a crazily late hour, the party began. But that’s just it about Howl, they bring the party and there are plenty of people ready to wait around for them to bring it.

While Howl are one of the wildest bands around, they also carry a strange professionalism about their show; somehow out of control but also under control.

With Money For Rope playing Splendour in the Grass and The Mourning Sons releasing their debut album soon, there was plenty of quality for a free show in the small surrounds of the Espy’s front bar.

That’s not even to mention Howl, who are gaining popularity by the day, topping lists, toppling chart stars from their pedestals and winning over boys and girls across the country. It seems like there might be no stopping this party machine.