Band Comp Heat 2 Review

By Tessa Muskett

The Phonetics are led by a classy female singer whose very skilled vocal work in combination with lyrics that use everyday expressions and real world references reminded me of Kate Miller-Heidke. Then, lo and behold, she announces that the next song “is a cover of a song by an artist performing here tomorrow night.” “Dude”, I thought to myself, “I know my stuff, I should write reviews or something”. Yes, my brain-voice is that of a tanned surfy street kid, which I definitely am not. It reminded me of how Lisa Mitchell also does a cover of this song although she puts lots of herself and her own sound into it.

I had thought The Phonetics shaky up until this point and when they announced the choice of cover I was nervous. They nailed it though. Suitably underplayed and overall it was very effective. I enjoyed this set as the music was simply pleasant to listen to, in the way that dinner party music is. Their presentation was neat and relaxed. The combination of these elements created a set that I found ultimately a little easy to forget.

Hailing from Foxground, they’re both foxy and grounded aptly enough but also have some of the pizzazz of big city lights. Tokyo Spares are a three piece but they still create quite a lot of sound and you can get into the music despite the lack of a bass guitar. Sez, the singer, was very entertaining but her mannerisms were a bit affected which contrasted with her between song banter, which was honest. One example of this was how she commented on the serious vibe, which I agreed with, it was kind of serious but that is the nature of band competitions. It is hard to get too excited for other bands when there is one band that you are cheering for. You want them to get all of your support. It does not mean that the experience isn’t valuable though.

Danceable, fun, quirky indie rock is what Tokyo Spares play, which appeals to my personal taste. It was loud with lyrics that were catchy and had me wanting to learn them and then follow the band around their various gigs, dancing along and being a part of what they were doing because it looked like fun. The song, ‘ ‘ which begins with the band’s name being spelt out is such an obvious but effective idea as it reinforces the band name strongly, which is especially important when you are seeing many bands in the one sitting or standing or just a seriously intense music sesh.

It was clear that this is a band that is comfortable on stage. The drummer, Peta was wearing a CSS shirt reflecting the fun vibe they have, that must come from their influence. Look out for their debut EP ‘get your pop out’.

“We’re gonna make you wet” seemed an opening statement in stark contrast with Poolside Lovers’ antics, music and general demeanour. They looked like a teenage Maroon 5 and sounded like they were playing it safe. As musicians they were probably quite competent with their set being tight but they lacked serious spark.

The Howling Tongues might be labeled a straight forward rock band by a less diligent and creative journalist. A cop out? I dunno. What is straight forward rock? If it is a dude with long hair singing and playing guitar riffs, then yeah, that’s them. These two Kiama and one Windang boy, as the lead vocalist made the point of saying, were a bit boring in terms of their live performance because they did the same old head bops and power legs, over and over again.

With a name as good as Dammit Janet I was interested to see what these guys sounded like. The singer came to the mic. My first impression was, “My God! It’s Anthony Callea. Some may say that the most important thing a vocalist brings to the band is the vocals. I’m not so sure, if the vocalist is also the front man then there is a whole other list of duties. Second Impression: Anthony Callea would never do that! The singer had just kick-started the set by propelling himself into a back flip. The chilled out crowd was suitably surprised and ready to hear what was coming to them.

It is rock n roll tradition that only the drummer can go shirtless and get away with it. I’m assuming it was for this reason, vocalist Stephen Tannos wore a shirt but had strategically selected only one button to do up. By the end of the set this had been popped open and one little pocket rocket of a body unleashed. He jumped from the stage as tall as his height, back flipped in front of the crowd then flipped onto the stage so that he was doing a one armed handstand. Gymnastics were not the movements gaining visual points, there was all manner of dancing. The whole band looked as though they had slept on one side to get their hair perfectly matted on that side and tousled on the other. Maybe for some bands their hair is part of their success but they are generally bands that sound more than a little different from Dammit Janet.

The vocals lacked power and were just very rock rasp with a hint of emo melody but not enough to actually be like Closure in Moscow, whose singer is more Ricky Martin than Anthony Callea. I think the comparison comes from the muscle definition in the torso and the ‘Gracias’ to close. Killer combo but dude of Closure in Moscow fame has been doing that for ages AND he has a huge tattoo on his v. At least Tannos gave me heaps to write about.

The Howling Tongues won this heat.