Times New Viking, Cobwebbs,Meat Thump @ Woodland,Brisbane (26/08/11)

Tue 30th Aug, 2011 in Gig Reviews

The weather resembles something of a dark graphic novel, the streets bare in comparison to any other Friday night in Fortitude Valley. Unfortunately the streets reflect the crowd within Woodland, which is a shame for Ohio’s kings of lo-fi, Times New Viking who have made their inaugural trip down to play Australia. Following on a widely successful show in Sydney the night before, hopes are high for a repeat performance, in what would be an intimate setting for the band.

Starting ten minutes late, the much disorganised Meat Thump launch into their first track without all their instruments plugged in. The band shows little concern for the six or so people watching, with the keyboardist playing with his back to the crowd which felt neither charismatic nor mysterious. The young band constantly had timing and sound issues and would have benefited from more rehearsal sessions. Though a number of their tracks had a lot of interesting ideas behind them, tonight a lot of their set issues just seemed due to laziness. Even their adopted sense of style from the likes of Modest Mouse and Neutral Milk Hotel looked more like it came from The Hills Have Eyes.

Cobwebbs are starting to get quite the following and tonight it is clear why as they’re tight and energetic on stage. Vocalist Sam Wightman is lively across the board as he jumps around the stage, into the crowd and in between verses adopts a mean harmonica. Equipped with only two guitars, Cobwebbs fill the sound of two bands even with their drummer opting for a minimalist four piece kit sans hi-hats. Finishing with the noisy We Are Not Who We Are these young Brisbanites show a lot of potential.

Attendance picks up by the time Times New Viking take to the stage, despite still only filling out to about half capacity. With the drum kit reversed for lefty Jared Phillips, the band demand attention from the start but the crowd seems a little shy at first, forming a semi-circle between the band and the stage. This space is soon utilised as the fuzzed out synth of No Time, No Hope from the band’s 2009 album, Born Again Revisited made the ears bleed.

Phillips’ drum kit falls apart mid song, the remnants making a good seat for Stephen Malkmus’ doppelganger and guitarist Adam Elliott. In the following track Elliot had his own instrument woes when he breaks a string, forcing the band to pull off some rather impressive improvisation. Elliott pulls off one of the quickest instrument turnarounds ever and rejoins the group mid-song. Beth Murphy takes lead vocals as the band launch into the slightly calmer track No Room To Live from album Dancer Equired! In between tracks, Phillips banters with the crowd asking if there were any questions, to which the crowd responds, “What time is it?”

It’s easy to see lo-fi / shitgaze sounds suffer in the live arena, with contemporaries Eat Skull suffering this fate during their performance at Woodland earlier this year. However, Times New Viking seem to overcome this, the walls of distortion and brutalisation of the drum kit feeling like a slap in the face with a cold wet fish. Teen Drama is as rough around the edges as on record and a joy to see on stage while Move To California also sounds as brash as its VHS recording quality on Born Again Revisited.

By the end of their set Times New Viking have the audience eating out of their hands, the hour of entertainment provided being nothing short of stellar. While the crowd was well under sold, those in attendance can safely say that they got their money’s worth.