French Horns, The Scare,Brisk, Morti Viventi, ON/OX @610 Ann St, 27/08/2005

Mon 29th Aug, 2005 in Gig Reviews

A mini music festival at 610 tonight with six punk rock bands, all different in six unique ways. It is also a night of CD launches for all bands except The Scare. New boys on the block ON/OX click their drums sticks together to get the party started, featuring members of Death:Wolf!, The French Horns and The Kicks, this band is definitely dynamic in presence. They have a drummer in the back and at the front of the stage too, these boys obviously respect the art of keeping time and they keep it with a roaring effect of energy and excitable aggression. Quirky lyrics about being told they are not allowed to be girl scouts, keep us mentally entertained, which is more than I can say for the lyrics being screamed by following bands.

Brisk and Morti Viventi are the next two bands to punk out. If you’re from further south you may be aware of Morti Viventi, seems that is where they are from, but this is the first time I’ve layed eyes and ears on them. Their brand of high school punk rock is great for dancing and clapping to, and who can go wrong with an Elvis Presley haired and attractive lead singer? No one can, is the answer.

Brisk are quite different, they don’t use attractiveness to capture their audience, nor are they good with the in-between song banter, but when it comes to screamo rock, some lead singers are born to do it. The lead singer of Brisk screams as naturally as you would talk, he makes it look extremely easy as he hangs from the ceiling, reminding me strangely of King Kong ready to conquer the audience tonight. If you love a good screaming band, then they’re are definitely for you. If you like to actually understand a band’s lyrics, Brisk’s hyperactive sound may lead your mind to stray.

Summing up tonight’s music greatly in their band name, Nightcrash are to perform their duo rock song wonders. They only incorporate guitar and drums with no lyrics, but don’t get any ideas of The White Stripes in your head, if there was ever a band at the opposite spectrum, Nightcrash would make the list. Leigh plays the drums intensely and he is outrageously entertaining to watch. Dan on guitars lingers at the front, looking some what like a vampire and takes the band through fantastic rock songs, that even with no lyrics, are just as captivating to witness.They are not as energetic tonight as they usually are, but my opinion of them has not changed.

The Scare aren’t the headliners tonight, but I figured they would have a decent size fan base coming out to support them, especially with their Taste Of Chaos show with The Used coming up in October. In such an intimate place like 610, this is also a great opportunity to see a band like the Scare, in a venue their music was made for. Luke, the lead singer is very fun to watch on stage and to dance along with. He is also a rock photographer’s dream, because he is always doing something different, whether it’s singing into the fan, falling into drum kits or tormenting the audience members. The band are basically six different guys, from six different musical worlds, whom have all come together to create something pretty fucking awesome.

The five musicians behind Luke move around the stage carelessly in their five little worlds, bumping into each other and most of the time not even acknowledging that an audience is there. Even though they look as if their heads are in the clouds, that does not stop them from being good musicians at the same time, their timing is impecable. If you’ve seen the band before, you would know that the end of their shows, always end with a crash and a bang of Luke falling to the floor somewhere or another, with the others throwing down their instruments (a lot of the time on top of Luke) and shoving themselves into the audience. Hopefully with the Taste Of Chaos shows coming up, The Scare can launch their music onto a whole new larger audience and lead the way for Brisbane screamo punk, they are definitely the best guys for the job.

Now for the headliners tonight and to launch their new disc, get ready for the lovely French Horns! It’s the band’s night and who I’m mainly here to see. These boys have been racking up some great support slots recently with Whirlwind Heat, The Grates, Har Mar Superstar and coming up they will be supporting Detroit’s The Electric Six. At times Lachlan, lead vocals, seems to possess qualities of English musician Pete Doherty from musical saviours The Libertines, but without the annoying accompaniments (heroin, punching band members, Kate Moss). That’s not to say musically the French Horns are anything like the aforementioned, they definitely carry an art sound all of their own.

Lachlan has a fantastic way of turning each song into a theatric, not so much with what he does, but with the cry of his voice and his lyrics, which are minimalistic, dramatic and fun. One of my favourite songs of the year is the French Horn’s I Love Fire, which has some qualities of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in it, and that all members always deliver with great passion. Lachlan flops around the stage, at one time mounting Matt the guitarist, to Matt’s displeasure, he also gets thrown around by the audience, his mouth starts bleeding and he creates a new word, something along the lines of wick-rad [wicked and rad mixed together].

Go the French Horns, they have what it takes, without obviously copying any one band that is around today already. Uniqueness and the creation of cool are always aspects that will get a band far in the rock world, and in that case, the French Horns should have a long career ahead of them if they keep at it.