Caminniss’s Gallery

The Temper Trap’s sold out Perth show at the normally fantastic live venue, Metro City, certainly left the crowd with mixed feelings. A band that relies so heavily on the purity of the vocals and the layering of so many instruments is in trouble when they find themselves plagued with sound problems. Maybe they’re just tired from playing massive international festivals, or maybe someone needs to fire the sound guy, but from the very beginning the levels were out, with the lead guitar far too loud and the bassist’s microphone way too low, and the normally breathtaking high-end vocals were frequently distorted. Worst of all was much beloved Sweet Disposition, sung at the finale of the evening, which reverberated so badly that the audience nearer to the speakers were actually cringing.

It wasn’t all bad by any means, Fader and Love Lost definitely lived up to their success, and as always, Down River was a lot of fun. The definite highlight of the evening was an absolutely epic performance of Resurrection followed seamlessly by The Drum Song, which had people grinning in euphoria and stomping and cheering like wild animals.

That may have been one of the only times the crowd showed much emotion unfortunately, it might be because it was a Thursday night, or maybe the crowd consisted mostly of Nova kiddies who were just there to hear Sweet Disposition, (maybe all the appreciative music fans were busy watching Karnivool…) Getting through a whole song without having to overhear the oh-so important social intrigues of the crowd was nigh on impossible, and cheering for an encore seemed to be a completely foreign concept.

They played us a few new numbers, but both were slow songs, which seemed to be the ones that made sound issues most prominent. Considering that their recorded sound is amazing in contrast to this show, it will definitely be worth giving these new songs another chance; to be heard the way they are supposed to sound, before we go writing them off completely.

The band themselves have really come out of their shell, especially lead vocalist Dougy Mandagi, who just last year at V Festival was shyly decked in beanie and jumper, but is now a confidently strutting, well-muscled front man, getting amongst the crowd and showing his passion for music with involuntary hand motions that would make any R ‘n’ B artist proud. Bassist Jonathon Aherneis was also absolutely entertaining to watch, as he felt the music with his whole body, swirling around the neck of the bass like he was mixing a giant pudding.

Kudos must be given for a band with a social conscience, as we were invited to purchase a postcard for whatever amount we thought was appropriate; the proceeds going to the Buzz Off project, a charity that is working towards the prevention of mosquito-born diseases, like malaria and Dengue fever, in Myanmar (Burma). As a bonus for the charitable, the post cards had a code on them which unlocks B-side track Little Boy.

Caminniss’s Gallery