A cluttered stage at Alhambra in the Valley. Six guys work through a laborious soundcheck as a growing but largely indifferent crowd mills.
The band kicks off, vocals lost in a wash of noise, instruments inseparable as the sound engineer scrambles to pull it together. And then, from the miasma of sound emerge Gold Coast band Fairchild Republic, fully formed in all their indie glory.
This is the Battleships’ support act.
The crowd stills mills, but their attention has been grabbed as bearded frontman, Adam Lyons, unleashes his soaring, stadium-ready vocals. His voice and presence is hypnotic, mixing the delicate confidence of Eddie Vedder with the wavering mystique of Jim James.
Lyons’ captivating vocal work was backed up his uncanny doppelgänger-esque brother, the also-bearded Nathan Lyons on keys.
Joining the Lyons was the swirling interplay of the two guitars of Patrick Huerto and Timmy Voeten, and all propelled along by the powerful and driving rhythm section of Tommy Davies on bass and James Haigh on drums.
A great frontman like Lyons, with an ease of movement and a powerful voice, is a rare rock commodity; unfortunately he all too often hid himself behind a console or an acoustic guitar (a slightly mystifying choice given that there were already two guitarists on stage).
He was at his most possessing when he got out from behind the instruments, grabbed the mic and wailed with a passionate intensity.
Fairchild Republic quickly captured the attention of the apathetic crowd, drawing them out of their beers and towards the stage. They are a live force, and a band worth seeing.
After the captivating standard set by the support act the crowd was twitching as Battleships emerged, taking the stage and preparing to launch their new EP, To You.
Leading the way was the singular figure of lead-man Jordan Sturdee. Bearded, bespectacled, bow-tied: a lab-tech demeanour that belied the live reputation the band enjoys.
Battleships plunged into their set. On record their sound is dominated by Sturdee’s ethereal Yorke-esque vocals. Live, it was a different story. Initially, the vocals seemed lost in the mix, buried beneath the instrumentation.
Unfortunately, this didn’t change. What should have been the defining characteristic of their performance was relegated to almost background ambience.
Despite the poor mix, the band’s sound swelled. The surprisingly powerful rhythms, particularly the intricate beats of drummer Dan McMurray, contrasted brilliantly with Sturde’s delicate vocals – reminding one of the rhythmic dynamic of The National. Jonathan Bowden doubled on bass and keys, adding further sonic depth to the performance.
“Another Way” offered a slow-burning highlight reminiscent of the intense alt-folk of Grant Lee Buffalo and the single, “In Retrospect”, soared, with McMurray throwing down an epic array of pounding beats.
What hampered Battleships most, besides the dubious mixing, was a lack of stage presence. Despite the crowd, which was growing in size and enthusiasm (while simultaneously falling in mean age), the band simply didn’t seem like they were into the gig.
There was little interaction between band members, who didn’t give the impression that they were enjoying what they were doing, and Sturdee, as frontman, offered no engagement with the crowd.
This may have had something to do with the audience itself, the demographic of which had substantially shifted since Battleships took the stage.
Somewhere in the Valley a school formal must have been spilling out and the venue was rapidly filling with enthusiastic youths, awkward in their banded teeth, hired suits, and poorly chosen prom-dresses.
That being said, the influx of kids was bringing the dance floor to life, but that was probably due less to the band than to the giddy excitement of graduating teens; it seems safe to say that they would’ve been just as pumped if The Captain And Tennille had been playing.
For the now outnumbered music fans, the last few tracks of the Battleships gig seemed overpowered by a surging, bouncing, boisterous, and vocal teenage throng.
As the last track finished the only indication that the gig was over came from the DJ, as Justin Timberlake suddenly came pounding through the sound system, the dance floor flooded with perky adolescent woo-girls, and Battleships began packing away their equipment.
Going by reputation, Battleships are regarded as a great live band. This was an off-night, an uncharacteristically flat performance from a great band.
