Cut Off Your Hands @ The EdCastle, Adelaide (12/11/11)

Thu 17th Nov, 2011 in Gig Reviews

A late Saturday night at the Ed Castle saw New Zealand band Cut Off Your Hands return to Australian shores. There was obviously an attempt to build the suspense (or increase the insobriety of punters) before the gig, as the first support act set up on the small intimate stage only once punters had reached eleventh hour drinks, either in the balmy beer garden or at the bar in front of the appropriate New Zealand zombie-sheep flick showing on the TVs.

Opening band Bad Dreams punched out hearty three-course riffs enough to wake anyone from slumberland. A few standout tunes introduced the band to the crowd, as Bad Dreams warmed the stage and brought the grime to the floor. Portions of the crowd were languid in the nursing of their drinks, but the bright young things in the front section were ready for anything.

Messrs hit the ears as the new incarnation of local around-town band The Touch, weaving guitar and synth layers like a giant playable onion. One favourite that got a showing before the dance-ready audience was Everyone Knows, a song that has had a play around the gig circuit and builds atmosphere from chants and rising synth-filled intricacies.

Cut Off Your Hands began past the zombie-hour when half the room was sloshed and open to the suggestion of dancing. The band raised the energy levels in admirable inebriated fashion, but at times at the sacrifice of perfect pitch. Cut Off Your Hands does catchy winsome pop like IKEA does flat packs. They are music-makers known for delivering frenetic danceable gigs and producing shameless pop tunes with a scent of indie and old-school panache.

When I saw Cut Off Your Hands at a Laneway Festival a couple of years back there was spark, chaotic stage antics and enough energy to power Finland. I was disappointed to see that on Saturday night some of that was missing. Then again, this was without the ‘festival-goggles’ on and taking into account that the new album ‘Hollow’ has a different slant than the previous LP ‘You and I’. ‘Hollow’ moves towards a late 1980s Brit-rock sentiment with a sprinkle of punk-pop styling. New single You Should Do Better still glimmers with the hopeful rise of Nick Johnston’s languid voice. Despite these positives, the live delivery fell short of expectations. The style of the new tunes did not carry to the crowd as well as the old ‘You and I’ material, although it still worked to get much of the crowd moving. Punters escalated their Saturday night into an inebriated high with the rising and falling melody of Happy as Can Be and jerk-jiving to oldie Shark Attack which brought back the even older old chaos of the band’s more hardcore roots with frenzied riffs and hollering. A pair of crazed dancers invaded the stage for a couple of songs while Nick Johnston still showed us he can power a small power station despite a few moments of flat pitch. Old favourites Oh Girl and Expectations saw the crowd dancing away and ending the night stumbling to the beer garden and rolling out into the street as weary travellers.