Astronomer

I go to a lot of live shows, and so I thought I'd dedicate a journal to reviewing as many of these gigs as I can. The reviews may consist of obscure amateurs playing at the back of dingy little bars, or huge name stadium sell-outs. The artists I review may be intensely great or just downright terrible.

Amidst my show-hopping I have often found that many of the bands I love, I discovered through seeing them play at a venue when I didn't even know they existed. So I'd like to think that the aim of this journal is to not only discuss the experience of the live music I see, but to also perhaps unearth little-known and underground bands and artists who have impressed me with their live performances.

And I encourage others to contribute their experience of live shows and gigs of the bands I review, or even of other bands or gig experiences that relate to my posts.

Happy gigging!

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Astronomer

The Butterfly Effect
featuring
Trial Kennedy and Sleep Parade
30th October 2008
Queensbridge Hotel, Melbourne

The Queensbridge Hotel (QBH) is quickly becoming Melbourne’s go-to when it comes to flaunting great Australian music, and having already seen Karnivool and The Living End play there in the past 6 months, I wasn’t surprised to see it was the chosen venue to host The Butterfly Effect, along with Sleep Parade and Trial Kennedy. QBH is a great venue with an efficient layout, plenty of room, and fantastic sound quality.

Sleep Parade, a three piece prog-rock outfit, opened the evening. Having supported Porcupine Tree earlier in the year, I was rather excited to hear them in depth for the first time. From my experiences, I’ve learnt that an audio engineer can make or break a live performance, and in this case I’m disappointed to say that Sleep Parade were definitely broken on Thursday night. The sound in the venue was not up to scratch – lead guitar and vocals were somehow being drowned out by bass and back-up vocals, while everything was being drowned out by drums. Sleep Parade are also known for their moving three-way harmonies but unfortunately the sound set-up and equipment did not do this justice. However, despite the sound quality lacking, I was still nevertheless very impressed. Having not heard their debut album before, I was awed by their silvery vocals, streaming melodies, and moving instrumentals. I also heard some killer riffs that make sure you can’t not nod your head to, and their unhinged, in-your-face style stage-presence made sure of this. Definitely a unique and impressive fresh band that I hope to see again sometime soon, and will definitely be purchasing their album.

Trial Kennedy, another Melbournian rock band, then proceeded to take the stage. While songs like ‘Colour Day Tours’ were kind-of of fun to bop along to, their music really didn’t compel me that much and as far as live performances go, they were pretty mediocre. They had, however, a fairly large fan base that sang and jumped along and succeeded to set a buzzing atmosphere for The Butterfly Effect, who appeared on stage after a long wait being grinded into the front row barriers by sweaty patrons.

To say The Butterfly Effect’s performance was amazing would be a little bit of an understatement. Hailing from Brisbane, I have always loved their beautiful progressive/ alternative rock sound that continues to mature and change with each record, but I have to say after Thursday night I love them even more. Like most Aussie rock outfits, they have a particular bold stage presence which never fails to captivate and entertain audiences. Playing a very satisfying 70 minute set, Clint’s vocals were beyond angelic, Kurt was screaming passion on guitars, Glenn was surging good energy on bass, and Ben was also fantastic on drums. They opened with ‘Worlds on Fire’ from their new album Final Conversation of Kings which I think is an absolutely awesome opening piece with a great build-up for the rest of the set, which consisted of favourites ‘A Slow Descent,’ ‘Gone,’ ‘Crave,’ and others from both new and old records. Despite Kurt falling down in-between two speaker-boxes twice, the band were full of positive performing energy and the crowd were charged which moshing, singing, crowd-surfing, and lost shoes. The only criticism I have of their performance would be the fact that after the encore, they came back to play pumping favourites but then finished with ‘Sum of 1’ which is a really odd piece to close with. On the album, 'Worlds on Fire' is track 1 while ‘Sum of 1’ is the last track, and they both kind-of round each other up. However, trying to get this to work live was silly and didn't work at all. ‘Sum of 1’ is a quiet, slow-paced, short little round-up and a very inappropriate song to close with – I would have liked to see them go off with a bang, as most bands usually do.

Nevertheless, they put on a fantastic show and I thoroughly enjoyed the night. All bands were of pretty high standards, I got pulled into the attraction of Sleep Parade and plan to go purchase their record, and The Butterfly Effect were astonishingly tight and just awesome to watch.

These photographs were taken at the actual event, by MySpace Pix:

Links:
The Butterfly Effect - Final Conversation of Kings
Trial Kennedy's Official Site
MySpace.com - SLEEP PARADE - Melbourne, AU - Progressive / Rock / Alternative - www.myspace.com/sleepparade

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FireInCairo

What exactly is progressive about the Butterfly effect?
they seem to me to be the same boring 90's influenced alternative rock/metal that has been around since siamese dream.

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Dr_Rez

Great reviews, keep it up because they are fun to read.

Im curious to know what bands will be next.

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4ZZZ

Agree.

Hopefully Howe Gelb who was playing at the Northcote Social Club, Northcote, Vic last night and if Lateralus missed that tonight's 2nd gig at the same venue.

If your not sure who he is it is Alt Country at it's most weirdly attractive Lateralus

Astronomer

I don't think so. They formed after that 90s influenced rock/metal phase, and although probably being influenced by it, I think they go a little beyond it. The reason I think this is that they have some progressive influences such as their going beyond the traditional verse-chorus-verse format, and their attempt to experiment with time signatures, vocal harmonies, lyrics, etc. Note that I said "attempt" - although they may not be up to scratch with people's standards of what makes a band progressive, they still try to experiment with these things. They also label themselves as "alternative/ rock/ progressive" and cite a lot of bands like Porcupine Tree and Tool as major influences.

I don't know, I just really like them. And if you're not impressed by their records I'm telling you that they were so great live - a very entertaining show.

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Astronomer

Unfortunately I'm not going to catch Howe Gelb in Northcote. Although after a browse I'm actually impressed and think that would be a great show! Did he play in Brisbane/ did you get the chance to see him?

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4ZZZ

Yes. Reviewed in Zarko and myself's journal Favourite Things. http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...z-zarko-3.html

A mate I have who lives in Melbourne went last night and has let me know with the following message.

Pity you are unable to make but we can't go to everything sadly.

My mate also sent me last year a DVD of Electundra 2007. Very impressive. Held at a Melbourne venue called Loop. Are you aware of that festival?

Astronomer

'Live and Local'
every Tuesday at Ruby's Lounge, Belgrave

‘Live and Local’ is an open mic night which is held every Tuesday night at Ruby’s Lounge, a small bar in Belgrave. With free entry and cheap drinks, Tuesday nights at Ruby’s give anyone and everyone a chance to get up on stage and showcase their musical talent. I have always loved the concept of open mic, and have been going to Ruby’s ‘Live and Local’ nights for as long as I can remember.

Ruby’s Lounge is a brilliant little venue that tends to draw in large crowds and a heap of fans despite being almost 40km from Melbourne city. This is an excerpt from the Ruby’s Lounge website:

“Ruby’s Lounge is a band venue, bar, club, café, retreat, library, lost shoe repository, community drop-in clinic, and epicentre for the night life of the Hills. We have been running around flapping our arms for over 5 years and still the chaos reigns. Putting it simply, if you like brilliant original music, nice people, not being hassled or bashed and genuinely think the world is a pretty amazing place: then you will have a lovely time here.”

The bar has hosted an enormous list of renowned music acts, both Australian and international, and yet still continues to provide open mic nights free to the public, which I think is fantastic.


Last night I stopped by in time to catch about three bands, two of which were terrible and the other which was pretty mediocre – but that’s the beauty of open mic nights. While many of the acts that hop up on stage aren’t that phenomenal, you will occasionally be surprised by a young band or artist delivering a load of a potential. A few weeks ago a young heavy rock band from Gippsland called ‘The Day Late’ captivated me with a really enthusiastic performance, entrancing audiences and stirring up much interest in the small crowd. Talking to the band afterwards I found out that the lead singer had vocal lessons from Clint Boge of The Butterfly Effect. The young musicians are yet to release a recording, and are still very much amateur, yet getting up on stage at that open mic night was a showcase of the fact that they may possibly have potential. Being a small-time musician myself, I know that it does take a lot to get up on stage, and getting gigs is a very difficult process, as is the chance to showcase your music to a live audience. Open mic nights are a great chance for this to happen for up-and-coming music artists.

The reason why I love Ruby’s open mic nights is the atmosphere of the venue, as well as the variety of acts that get up on stage. I’ve seen both absolute rubbish and hidden talent, and almost every genre of music you could possibly think of. I’ve seen random people in the crowd just get up and sing something A capella, just to have a go. While some bands get up on stage hoping to promote and showcase their talent, a lot just get up there to have some fun. Tuesday night’s ‘Live and Local’ is almost an entertaining way of combining social drinks and jamming with your mates.

So if you’re ever in or around Melbourne, come by Ruby’s Lounge for a drink or five, make some friends and have a chat with people who love music, watch a few live performances, and maybe get up on stage yourself! Because open mic nights, wherever they may be hosted, are a great example of music communities that seem to be diminishing in the era of the Internet forum and MySpace page.


All photographs are from http://www.rubyslounge.com.au/

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khfreek

Have you ever performed there? Sounds like a fun place to hang out.

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