Weir EP Launch @ CandysApartment, Sydney (28/07/06)

Sun 30th Jul, 2006 in Gig Reviews

Candy’s Apartment sits in the heart of Kings Cross, it is known for taking in all types of punter, whether interested in live guitar driven music or DJ spun house grooves. Weir’s After the End EP launch brought all kinds of people off the street that were willing to wag the line-parade at Purple Sneakers and see a band, whom to many, is totally fresh.

For most people that ventured in, it was the first time they had ever heard of Weir, a Sydney formed four piece. But for a few of the others, Weir is best remembered for all the times they rocked the stages at shows like Come Together 06 or venues like The Hopetoun Hotel, The Annandale, Spectrum, and The Cat and Fiddle.

Candy’s Apartment is just starting to build a reputation as a rock and roll venue, although it frequently has live acts taking the stage and I had no idea what the audience demographic would be. It’s just as difficult to define the people who came to see this band as it was to define the band itself into any one genre. There was a true mix of all styles and ages and there was an equal spread of men and women at the gig.

Jess Beston’s vocals sounded almost as finely tuned as Malcolm Ballinge’s guitar and Marty Jamison’s bass, and with Matt Alexander’s drum beats;  any member of the audience, no matter their technical understanding of instrumentals was able to see and hear the cohesion between these artists. Although they all took their performance stance, the fact that they are a perfect troop of eclectic entertainers was shown in the sound that they produced when they were combined together in song.

Weir played every song on their After The End EP, and unusually, this live act sounded just the same coming out the amp stacks as it would have coming out of the stereo speakers in your living room. 

‘The Believer’ was a melancholy song played with ghostly vocals and complex melodies. All the crowd nodded along, sloshed beer around and looked as though they were genuinely enjoying what they were hearing. Another song off the new EP that was really well received was, ‘Compasses and Maps’. This was musically basic – stripped bare of the complex instrumentals of the previous song and on the other side of the spectrum, was slightly more uplifting, yet still maintained a melancholy undertone.

On stage, Beston captivated the audience, not like the common male indie singer stomping around the stage bearing a toothy grin and striving at creating sex appeal. But rather, slowly casting her eyes over each audience member and making them feel as though her lyrics were speaking directly to them.

Tonight all the members of the band showed that whether they are playing on a Come Together stage or to a full house at The Civic, they are able to communicate to all members of the audience a vast array of different emotions through each song. This offers a refreshing change to the one-band, one-feeling notion that Sydney audiences have come to expect of late. You don’t go to see Weir to get you pumped for a night out at the club, and you don’t go to see them to escape from a mundane working week; you go because you want to feel the unique atmosphere and get something out of the music apart from simple enjoyment.