The Red Paintings @ The EastBrunswick Club, Melbourne(06/07/2007)

Thu 12th Jul, 2007 in Gig Reviews

Support act Battle Circus from New Zealand delivered a great set of progressive, electric rock previous to The Red Paintings at the East Brunswick Club. The stage, which had trees scattered around it, looked as though it had been set up for this support as frontman Marcel Bellve dressed like a gypsy circus ringleader, with top hat and scarf, and looked as though he belonged amongst the trees.

The lights went out and a spotlight representing a full moon was shone on the stage, scattered with trees as the Red Paintings set began. A wolf’s howl began to blare throughout the East Brunswick Club as a girl dressed as a wolf walked back and forth across the stage. The crowd had already noticed a degree of weirdness, with a ten-eyed-goat-headed character walking slowly throughout the crowd before the set began. The full moon, wolf theme was for the Red Painting’s new EP, Feed The Wolf , and whilst it seemed appropriate, the incessant howling began to grate on many after about the thirty seconds.

After several minutes of loud howls, the band hit the stage with singer Trash McSweeny dressed as Little Red Riding Hood in a white silky dress and red, hooded cloak with a black, long-haired wig. Violinist Ellen Stancombe and bassist Amanda Holmes were dressed as geishas. Stancombe presented her violin covered in fairy lights and Andy Davis on drums wore a anime style black wig which he couldn’t keep on his head, whilst cellist David Sue Yek with a blank gaze and painted on, clown-like smile was dressed and painted similarly to the girls.

The band sounded good – Holme’s basslines seemingly coming from no where as she proceeded to zone out. Stancombe and Sue Yek just played in their own world; Stancombe occasionally lending her very high yet soft voice. ‘Dead Children’ and ‘Revolution’ were stand-out tracks, whilst opener, ‘Feed The Wolf’ seemed incredibly rushed as did a few other numbers. Surprisingly, the bands popular track, ‘Walls’ was nowhere to be seen amongst their near two hour set, nor was their great cover of ‘Mad World’.

Commenting that Melbourne audience’s can never clap on time, McSweeny began early with his constant whining. Dedicating, ‘It Is As It Was’ to his late cat, Dexter , who had died that day, McSweeny ranted on about how animals have souls and swore about how down he was feeling mid-track. McSweeny went on to complain all night; that his radiator had blown, that the band hadn’t spoken, that the East Brunswick Club were to blame for their tech problems, that management has done nothing but screw the band, and even that he had chewing gum on his shoe. Considering the music sounded great, his complaints really let down the show.

Mid set, McSweeny introduced the painters for the evening who proceeded to cover blank canvasses with whatever they desired as the band played on. Three very abstract paintings resulted by the end of the set, one which McSweeny proceeded to hit with his guitar in the last song.

Visually, the band was great – especially considering what small budget they would have had for this tour. Throughout the set, various characters appeared on stage and in the crowd. An alien wobbled about the stage with a toy, light-up gun, then later appeared in the audience, pointing the gun at various people and generally annoying anyone trying to watch the band. As this was the ‘Animal Rebellion Tour’, Noah (ala Noah’s Arc) made an appearance, that is, a man with a gigantic fake grey beard and hair. Noah read from a children’s book as McSweeny sang through ‘Dead Adults’. The goat character seemed to disappear, but toward the back of the audience was a pig-like, bear character wandering around. Random props were everywhere; including an alien spawn in a jar, a moon-light disc and a light-sabre.

The Red Paintings were certainly something out the ordinary. Their sound – dark and often progressive – was greatly represented by the pretend forest and mythical creatures. What really brought this show down, however, was the constant complaining from McSweeny.

Photos by Anthony Smith.