Thee Oh Sees @ Amplifier Bar,Perth (08/01/11)

Wed 12th Jan, 2011 in Gig Reviews

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Astral Travel survived the first part of the night on powerchords and low expectations. Their sound is a revival of chick grunge of the 90’s. It’s loud, it’s angsty and rough around the edges. Aside from some sloppy timing, accompanied with the raw shouting and wailing female vocals, it’s not half bad.

Second act on the bill, The Sabre Tooth Tigers smashed out an amazing set. They’ve been lurking around Perth for a while so don’t expect cheap antics, this local act are all about getting straight into the music. Clusters of people outside stamped out their cigarettes to see what the ruckus was all about. Each minute of their set was dangerously loaded with toe tapping, hip thrusting and head bobbling worthy goodness; it’s grunge rock meets blues on a Saturday night.

They left us with a memorable slice of advice “Love each other, not glass each other.”

Leading man of the night, John Dwyer walked around the Amplifier bar, and helped set up the stage without much interruption from fans. A sparkly drum set sat close to the front of the stage; it was strange seeing an empty back corner where the drummers usually hide at Amps. When Thee Oh Sees were ready to play their set it looked a little cramped, but if there was any problem they didn’t let on.

They kicked off their set with Block Of Ice. If you aren’t familiar with Thee Oh Sees, you’re severely missing out. Their sound is low-fi and with a dash of psychedelic grunge. It’s the laid back twangy guitar riff and occasionally shouting “Hey! Oh! Ah!” (and a few other lyrics that are a bit hard to make out) added with some distortions that make it clear they are not just some Californian punk band.

Dwyer’s stage presence really drew in the crowd. Hardly relying on the strap, Dwyer found it easier to dance around in slight contortions by pulling his guitar close to his chest. I Was Denied from their latest Warm Slime album, had punters mimicking Dwyer’s jerky dance motions and heartily singing along to the “lalalas” of the chorus. Some slightly older tracks Meat Step Lively, Visit Colonel and Poison Finger also had punters in a spin. Dwyer worked his arse off, shouting and jumping up and down.

But it was drummer Mike Shoun that stole the show with a mad drum solo. It was baby making, gut busting, finger licking good! It was so clean, an exquisite execution of timing and so very fast paced that Shoun’s arms became a mere blur. You could actually feel your organs vibrate in glee to a sound almost worth developing tinnitus over.

But the night wasn’t over yet, their last song Rainbow got the blood pumping. A punter took the mic from the stage and placed it in the dance pit, forcing Dwyer to continue part of the song surrounded by a swarm of people getting a better look. Security came quickly, but didn’t bother to break it up when they saw it was a bit of harmless fun.