Wave Rock Weekender 2010

Fri 1st Oct, 2010 in Gig Reviews

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The Wave Rock Weekender is an entirely different kind of festival to anything in Perth. As the beautiful scenery on the five hour drive gradually changes, so does the festival experience become further removed from the likes of Big Day Out and co.

The first band of the day, Split Seconds, had a tough job following up the anticlimactic tied AFL Grand Final but they managed to get the gathering crowd warmed up nicely (although the desert heat might have contributed). Started by New Rules For Boats front-man Sean Pollard as an outlet for his solo material and made up of people from various other Perth bands, the band played hook-laden indie, teasing those who were still setting up their tents.

With tents set up, the bar was now the hive of activity. Luckily for the next band, Umpire, it was straight ahead of the stage. Another Perth ‘supergroup’ playing indie-rock, borrowing a lot from 90’s alternative and college rock, whilst still keeping their own edge to it and managing to avoid any kind of indie moodiness. A highlight of the set was the brilliantly catchy Streamers, a song you’ll find yourself humming along to the next time you hear it, and you will want to hear it again.

Perth’s queen of the blues, Abbe May, no longer with The Fuzz or The Rockin’ Pneumonia but with a new band behind her. Even with the lineup changes, this is still unmistakably Abbe May with the same kind slow grooving blues that we know her for. As the sun started to set, the band started to heat things up, kicking up the blues jams to scorching but never quite blistering, always leaving you wanting more and the solid blues bass lines making it impossible for anyone not to move along to.

Sydney band The Jezabels, the first ‘non-local’ band of the weekend hit the stage shortly after the sun set with a real Triple J kind of sound, sitting somewhere between Florence And The Machine and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs but without sounding too derivative of either. Now after dark, the dance floor got packed and was kept grooving for the full hour that the band played. The Jezabels were one of the big hits for the weekend, and are a band with a lot of potential.

Whilst it would be easy to make comparisons to his uncle Paul, Dan Kelly And His Dream Band manage to stand out on their own legs, performing mighty fine pop filled with wit and energy. Dan Kelly came across as a natural entertainer, easily winning the audience not just with his delightful melodies but also with his amusing, sometimes self-deprecating stage banter and cheeky demeanour. Other bands so far had got the crowd moving and grooving but Dan Kelly And His Dream Band got them all dancing.

Bob Log III is a man with an outrageous reputation and there was an excitement in the air as he took to the stage. With so much hype around it would be tough to live up to expectations but he did it with style, purple skin-tight body suit with an ever-present helmet with visor kinda style. Bob Log is pure rock and roll, distilled and concentrated into one man and that much rock in one place explodes out onto the stage fast and dirty on the electric slide guitar and pounding into the bass drum at his feet whilst lo-fi lyrics burst through the mic built into his helmet. He’s even able to do all this while he bounces two ladies on his knees or whilst he sails his dingy over the audience. there is some kind of innate genius behind a secret identity that can be so captivating to so many.

Playing what seemed like the graveyard shift by now, to a very rowdy crowd were Melbourners, Graveyard Train. Describing themselves as Horror Country, such an apt way of summing it up. The bone chilling, boot stomping, train kept on rolling and the crowd kept on shaking. At this point, at a festival where nobody had to drive home that night, the everybody that was still up was going nuts and throwing out moves all over the place. Highlight of the set was the final pounding song featuring J.J Cadaver going to town on the hammer and chain (for the non-musicians, that is hitting a heavy chain with a large hammer). And so their set ended, everybody well partied out. A grand ending to the first night.

Sunday morning and Ruby Boots got the day off to what seemed like a very early start with many people still in their tents but it was such a lovely way to be woken up. Well structured songs with soulful vocals and a delicate balance between the guitar, banjo and violin and a set featuring a memorable, slowed down cover of Tom Petty’s I Wont Back Down.

The Joe Kings, appearing as a duo at Wave Rock, sans drummer and bass player, guitarists Jack Stirling and Phill Leggett did well without their rhythm section, still pushing out a full sound. This band is hardly innovating with their straight up blues based rock and clichéd stage banter but it doesn’t seem like that is what they are trying to do. What’s important is that these guys are playing with passion and they know the blues. Leggett has a talent for lead guitar without ever really overdoing it and Stirling has some surprisingly strong vocals and put together you got a super rock combo. A memorable part of the set was the ending, a mashed up cover of Michael Jackson’s 90’s super-hit Black Or White, a song that hasn’t aged well and was suitably reinvigorated here and blended into the ending of Led Zeppelins Whole Lotta Love, a song which really couldn’t be improved upon but rescued us from having to hear that rap part of the MJ song.

Dave McCormack stepped up with the sun now high in the air and everyone having finished their breakfast calzones and ready for the Sunday session. Dave was alone at Wave Rock, standing with an electric guitar and a microphone, he even wrote a song about it titled “If You’re Famous And You Know It, Sack Your Band” – a song he says was based on a true story. He is of course best known for his time in the 90’s with Custard and then with subsequent acts The Titanics and David McCormack And The Polaroids.

Dave is a funny and charming man, and a brilliant songwriter. Although he was giving warnings before his guitar solos, solos which would have sounded better with a backing band but weren’t without their charms, everything else he did was fantastic. And he’s nice as well, helping a man find his housemates and his pot.

It was great to hear Custard hit Girls Like That (Don’t Go For Guys Like Us), the crowd, who were mostly hiding in the shade, were loving it. And then towards the end he played a brilliant cover of late 90’s Britpop hit Your Woman by White Town, where he was joined on stage by event organiser Paul Sloan on drums who showed some skill, including being able to drum with one hand whilst he used the other to grab a drink. Dave McCormack’s set was one of the highlights for the weekend and it was over all too soon.

Melbourne girl Emily Ulman summed up what a lot of poeple were thinking when she said between songs “It’s so fucking awesome to be here”, surprising language from such a lovely young lady. She sang heartfelt songs, each with a story behind them, whilst she strummed the guitar and was accompanied by some very smooth double bass but the highlight was her superb and honest voice.

Stoney Joe play an entirely different kind of country music to what you may be used to. In such a defined genre, Stoney Joe do a brilliant job of standing out. Part of what makes them stand out is the dizzying array of instruments in the band. There was mandolin, ukulele, slide guitar, harmonica, synthesiser, drum machine, ocarina, various percussion instruments and even a plain old acoustic guitar and a bass. And this was all just in the first song. Not bad for four guys. Each instrument was used to great effect, bringing new dynamics to an otherwise simple song.

The odd mix of the synthesiser and drum loops with the more traditional instruments works surprisingly well and they didn’t shy away from some of the stranger synth sounds. One song sounded like a soundtrack to some kind of space-cowboy film whilst some of the more upbeat tracks spurred on impromptu hoe-downs in front of the stage, with people literally running to join in. They ended the set with the theme from The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, sounding great on the ocarina.

Charlie Parr is a man with amazing talent, switching between the guitar and the banjo and sounding like something from fifty odd years ago, playing some of the most amazing blues on the slide guitar and some truly impressive finger-picking skills. He appears to be an unassuming man, as content to play to 1000 people as he would be to 10. He just seems to be happy to play and he does it damn well.

Coming on stage as the sun was setting, the Sunshine Brothers were ready to get the party started after the mostly chilled out day time acts. They mix reggae and ska and add in their own kind of party flavour. The powerful bass and drums carry the songs along (including one of the biggest sounding snares ever on Air Fire Water, with plenty of trippy delay) and the organ and trumpet bring the melody and they have taken the melodica from gimmick to signature.

Carrying on in a similar style to Sunshine Brothers, but with an electro edge were Tijuana Cartel, a band from the Gold Coast, come to take the party to the next level. These guys are a dance party machine, and more. They blend elements from various musical style together so seamlessly to create something very unique. Behind everything is electronic drums and solid grooving bass and then layered on top in varying quantities are synths, tribal beats and percussion, Spanish guitar and more to make something that is so rhythmic and incredibly danceable .

Chico Mann, the genre fusing, generation spanning, “James Brown of the Casio” really does bring so much together to make something so funky that you just gotta get down to it. A member of New York afro-beat band Antibalas, here he blends afro-beat, afro-cuban and freestyle hip-hop to make up the tracks that next year’s DJs will be making the remixes of. But catching it live now is the best way to party and made a great end to the live part of the weekend.

After that it was just DJs Shock One and Charlie Bucket to keep the party rolling for as long as there were people dancing.

And so as many partied into the night, many more headed back to their tents ready for the long drive home in the morning.

The Wave Rock Weekender really is something special. It’s got beautiful scenery, great music, a relaxed atmosphere, friendly staff, the best festival food, the best festival facilities, a capacity of only 800 people, and if you see the five hour drive down there as a bad thing, well then you’re just missing the point entirely.

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