The small part of the Flamingo Crash set that I witnessed indicates to me that they are hitting the right chord for a lot of people. The enthusiastic crew at front of stage receives well their disco punk styled set combined with indiscriminate video footage and they set the tone well for Kiwi post punk new wavers, Die! Die! Die!
Interestingly, the punters tonight seemed to be of a transient nature. While Die! Die! Die! set up, personnel changes also take place in the crowd and the same happened for Wolf and Cub. Strange.
When vocalist Andrew Wilson calls for “more bass, all bass” my ears prick. Being familiar with tracks from their self titled EP and knowing that their yet to be released in Australia, self titled longplayer was produced by Steve Albini, I do the sonic mathematics and come to the conclusion that this will be good.
Delivering tracks from both releases, they maintain a frenetic pace until Wilson breaks out with a sermon like dialogue leading into the easily recognisable Ashtray! Ashtray! Most were a little bemused. Regardless, their angst ridden-bass driven-new wave-post punk is absorbed well by the majority of the crowd. On occasions, guitar sonics had a familiar quality about them along the lines of fellow kiwis legends, Bailter Space. Set closer Out Of The Blue, with additional drummer, made for an epic finale.
Another ‘wolf’ band! To be honest, I had no idea which ‘wolf’ they were or what this ‘wolf’ played! And I still don’t. Not really. Let’s just call their style ‘aggregate’ rock.
Genre hopping Adelaide three-piece Wolf and Cub take to the stage and again there seemed to be a slight change in the punter profile. Starting out sounding like some stoners of yore, they bound between stoner, space, new wave, psychedelic and prog- rock, albeit with relevant ease. Whether it’s the seamlessness in which they do this or the fact that you just don’t know exactly where you are style wise with them, it does create a strange, not entirely comfortable vibe.
Singer Joel Byrne’s ‘de la Rocha’ ish vocals seemed to be superfluous to the songs for the most part, as you immersed in the sum of instruments firing off at all tangents imaginable. Lots of effects pedals getting a run here.
On many occasions, Wolf and Cub walk the fine line between an acceptable art rock, free form expression and over-the-top-self-indulgent-wankery. They walk it, but seem to maintain the balance and just when you think ‘enough is enough’ they bring you back into a safe place, back to your comfort zone. To be fair, it was mainly the earlier part of the set, as later on, their offerings seemed to keep their feet in singular styling.
That being said there is something not quite addictive, but definitely appealing about what they dish out. Still don’t know what that is though.
Now that I know what not to expect (the obvious) I think I look forward to seeing them again.
