Dallas Crane, The Cops @ ANU Bar 01/11/06

The denim-shirted, new-age
cowboys Dallas Crane proved they’ve made the transition to full blown ‘rock stars’
during their performance at ANU Bar. Surrounded by a number of real life ‘Factory Girls’ I> they played a number of tracks from their album of the same name. Demonstrating they’ve
got the rock-star mannerisms down-pat, there was plenty of guitar-raising, drum-stick flinging
worthy rock music for lead singer Dave Larkin to bring to a climax with alternating shouts of
“whoop” and “thankyou!” to the receptive but fairly small audience (admittedly, it was the
first day of exam session so the mediocrity of the crowd can be primarily attributed to that). P>

The gig opened with a great set by The Cops, who in my book deserve kudos,
even if for nothing else, for having a chick on bass. Another plus was the presence of
keyboard, which made for a nicely layered sound ranging from Skyhooks sounding power pop/
rock to bordering on punk-thumping bass lines. Playing tracks including from the EP, 80 in
the shade, released a mere two days after the gig. High energy, multi-layered sound and a
polished set showed The Cops’ growing status through high-quality supports will
inevitably continue until the realisation whacks us in the face that these guys are stand-alone
awesome. They can Call Me Anytime.

With the bar set at Tatiana Grigorieva
height, I feared Dallas Crane wouldn’t make the vault. But I needn’t have worried – their live
sound had all the prerequisites. Songs like Curiosity, Goddamn Pride and Teenage
Superpot got the crowd going while oldies but goodies Unlucky Star and Ladybird
demonstrated a classic rock sound- classic as in boiled right back down to the elements –
drum, guitar, vocal. Of particular noteworthiness is Larkin’s vocal diversity, he switched
effortlessly between soft melody to ragged and rough-edged. This, coupled with relatively
simplistic lyrics and great back-up vocal, was a pleasant combination and avoided over-
complicating the music. I think once that elusive ‘killer’ break-through single finds its way to
the Dallas Crane boys, they’ve got it made.