Cheer Advisory Council @ Jive,Adelaide (30/04/11)

Tue 3rd May, 2011 in Gig Reviews

There is nothing in Danvers & Ghost Knife (winners of best freaking band name EVER) that is reminiscent of singer/guitarist Dave Williams’ and Samuel Stearne’s other band Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire!. I was a bit late in coming to the F!SR,F! party, but maintain 2010’s Sea Priest was one of the albums of the year. D&GK have a much darker, PJ Harvey-ish vibe about them. Dave doesn’t really touch on that in F!SR,F!, and that makes this band so much more intriguing. Rory from Steering By Stars plays bass, and I must admit I always like seeing guitarists play the bass. It gives the band a whole different vibe. These guys are getting better every time I see them, and I highly recommend you check them out, especially if you like swampy Tom-Waits-style rock.

Steering By Stars have been extremely quiet recently, as they’ve been working on new songs. I’ve been lucky enough to hear them rehearsing once or twice, but NOTHING prepared me for this set. I’ve always rated these guys pretty highly, but I think this was the gig where they stopped being a good band and became a great band. They played a handful of songs from their first album (Closer is always a favourite), but there were 2 or 3 new songs that made the hairs on my arms stand up. I’m always pretty humble about our scene, but if the album is filled with more songs like the several new ones they played tonight, there’s no reason they can’t be world-beating. There was only one small thing, and it’s purely a subjective one. Singer Lachlan Wilson often has multiple delays and reverbs on his voice. It can be a great effect at times, but after seeing his performance on Rip It Up’s 6 On The Street, it’s pretty obvious Lachlan has an outstanding voice (I played the song a few times over on youtube). Can I hear a little more of it please?

The night, of course, belonged to beloved locals Cheer Advisory Council. Ringleader Ben Revi has assembled a stellar cast to create their debut album, Distance. The live set followed the running order of the album, which (funnily enough) made it all flow perfectly. With this band, Revi uses space to great effect, allowing a variety of instruments to take centre stage during the performance. With a band full of multi-instrumentalists, it’s inevitable there will be some moving about onstage, but it was all done quickly and didn’t detract from the show. Matt Hills mixed it up a treat as always, allowing the violin and harmonies to be heard as clearly as the drums and guitars. Sonically, Cheer Advisory Council take cues from bands like Low and Art Of Fighting, so sometimes conversation threatened to over-ride the sound from onstage, but for most of the set the audience were rapt. The evening ended with a cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s Cecilia, a heartfelt way to send the band off. As it appears to happen way too often with Adelaide bands, this was apparently the last show with this lineup. This is heartbreaking, as I’m not sure we’re going to see an extended lineup half as good as this again!