The Tigers @ Dada Records,Perth 19/03/11

Fri 25th Mar, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Dada Records is one of the pre-eminent underground record stores operating within Perth. Inside CDs lay piled upon one another; vinyls and old DVDs are crammed together in antiquated shelves conjuring the atmosphere of the local underground CD stores that were commonplace throughout the nineties. If you chose to walk through the store and out the back door you would find yourself in a derelict storage hangar. The main entrance to this hanger is via a heavily graffitied and dubious looking back alley on Pier Street. Last Saturday this hangar was the setting for a night of crazy, left-of-field (and most importantly free) music led by The Tigers celebrating the launch of Human Xerox. a compilation of different covers of the popular song by The Tigers Beautiful Florist.

Initially it seemed like a disaster, an hour in to the gig and hardly anybody had arrived. A few hardcore local music fanatics sat patiently on upturned milk crates upon the dirty warehouse floor, slowly being covered in concrete dust. Pigeons could be seen living in the rafters of this shabby backstreet venue, a place that would have gone down a treat for bands from the eighties and nineties punk scene. However it was somewhat worrying for a band of good repute such as The Tigers playing in this back-alley backdrop.

First up was a virtually unknown soloist playing under the pseudonym Pex. His quirky, loop based guitar tunes heralded the coming of a small horde of music devotees who shuffled in twos and threes, into the shady back alley. Like the pied piper he called in these strangely dressed musicophiles. Pex utilised his guitar and loop pedal to the best of his ability, creating interesting layers of guitar riffs and meshing them together. Unfortunately most of the time he came off sounding like a rhythm guitarist that had lost the rest of his band. There was no real energy being conveyed to the audience and while he was able to call them there, by about the third song there were signs that even the most indefatigable music lover’s mind was beginning to wonder. Though it may be the opposite to what Pex was aiming for, a solid backing band would have turned his promising guitar riffs into a set of high quality, listenable songs.
The slow start by Pex created a grim portent of the night to come, this however was quickly dispelled by Ghost Drums. Another soloist but one with a very different approach, sampling and looping his own drum and synth patterns live, in front of the audience. He was able to create interesting, genre-transitional tunes that ranged from light-hearted, folk influenced synth pop, to dark and ominous cacophonies. Vocals, shakers, drums, synth, cowbells, tambourines, and even a melodica were all wielded to great effect.

As the sun set the Perth quintet The Tigers donned the stage, from the start there had been no question that this was the band everyone came to see. Opening with a heart-filled blues-rock number they were instantly embraced by the crowd, which had now swelled to a startling size, considering the venue. Their next few numbers demonstrated an affinity for punkier, more in-your-face rock, showing an ability to move from harder to softer songs fluently.

The only handicap to the gig was the venue itself; the acoustics weren’t able to do a single band justice. The warehouse seemed more suited to punk and metal bands both aesthetically and acoustically and sadly it did not manage to do The Tigers, or any other act, justice. That said, the crowd were as quirky and unususual as the bands themselves and if The Tigers were to hold a gig there again it would be worth a visit, you never know who you’ll meet.