There was no better way to kick out the rainy, early March Melbourne blues than a night than seeing some gorgeous, beautifully formed and incredibly positive pop music. The Toff In Town is one of the jewels in Melbourne’s musical crown. An intimate and beautifully lit room, with an excellent sound to it, it proved to be a really good fit for the music presented this evening.
Locals Jimmy Hawk And The Endless Party was a great choice as a support for headliner Will And The People. With tracks like “Stranded” and “Meet Me At The Party”, Hawk and his band have a great 60s influenced pop/country sound to them. While implementing musical elements from the past, such as the use of old, hollow bodied guitars which have such a distinctive tone to them, they were a great way to start off the night. It is wonderful and heartening to see people up and dancing when some great live music takes hold.
Londoners Will And The People hit the stage around 10pm for a short but very sweet set. Formed in 2010 after meeting in a field at the Glastonbury festival, there is a wonderful unity to them on both a musical and spiritual level. A band that both live together and play music together, there is a wonderful grasp of music at play with the five members of the band. On their first visit to Australia, tonight they proved incredibly charming and entertaining to the small but appreciative audience at The Toff.
While having a strong love of all things reggae, the band, led by the irrepressible Will Rendle, is an absolute melting pot of sources of inspiration on a musical plane. They sound like many things and nothing else at the same time. Averaging in age from nineteen to twenty-three, there is a wonderfully youthful energy to Will And The People that is rather beguiling, free of the jaded and cynical attitude that, as people, we all feel at one time or another in our lives. Of particular note were the moments of perfect five part harmony, truly worthy of greats like The Beach Boys or Scotland’s Teenage Fanclub.
The band’s album, Morning Sun, while available here is apparently not so in their homeland. This is that ‘upside down’ theory in music. This is where a band or artist is popular in Australia but can’t get arrested in the homeland. There have been some great examples of this over the years. Australia were the first country to break Blondie, The Motels and Abba back in the seventies. Jeff Buckley, The Tea Party and Ben Harper have been more recent examples. As a music listening country, we seem to have a great ear for acts that somewhat fly under the radar elsewhere. Will And The People seem to have that same vibe, one that makes you hope more people will discover them.
Kicking off their set with “Holiday”, Will and his People had a fair share of the crowd up and dancing within the first two songs. With such a great feel for the reggae sound, they tweak and tease it into their own beast on a live front. While dealing lyrically with some negative aspects about live, such as in “Yellow” and “Mr Sketchy”, there remains an incredibly positive attitude to what the band portray on both a musical and lyrical level. Their songs have a candid and semi-autobiographical vibe to them which really takes on a more immediate quality live.
“The Game” was a strong highlight of the band’s set. One of those ballads that are too cool to call itself a ballad – like one of this scribes all-time favourite tracks, the sublime “Fade Into You” by Mazzy Star – it had a really effective emotional punch to it.
What is utterly admirable about Will And The People is their control on a live front. They possess a gorgeous ability to completely hype up a crowd and then pull it back. Tonight really felt like a musical journey with these young and very talented lads from London. Tonight’s set finished with the band’s latest single, the completely irresistible “Lion In The Morning Sun”.
Although playing to a small crowd, Will And The People and the experience/party vibe of seeing them live was a real treat. They have promised to return to our shores later this year, which, going by tonight’s performance, will be an incredibly positive and beautiful thing.
– Neil Evans
