Opening act Halcyon Drive are met with a slightly thinner than usual Friday night crowd at Melbourne’s beloved rock n’ roll fleapit Cherry Bar.
Undeterred, the duo enthusiastically kick off a percussive, symphonic, guitar-led junket punctuated with giant ear-massaging walls of sound. As the frontman adds a sweet glaze of mellow, throaty vocals, the mental picture that’s painted is one of the Kings Of Leon’s Caleb Followill fronting The Appleseed Cast.
Possessing so few members results in Halcyon Drive heavily relying on loop pedals, samples, and similar technology…but boy does it work.
While Cherry’s stage is by no means expansive, the threadbare two-piece succeed at filling it better than most bands. In particular, the performance benefits sonically and visually from the singer/guitarist’s regular pounding of a secondary drum kit.
What the sound does lack however is bass. Whether that’s rectified through samples, some other means of sonic manipulation, or by a living human bassist, beefing up the bottom would surely help catapult Halcyon Drive up Melbourne’s underground music ladder.
The unenviable task of following a sterling opening act falls on the youthful shoulders of Cider Tree Kids, with the fresh-faced quartet ambling through 30 minutes of Tame Impala/San Cisco-esque tunes. It’s a sound that’s very ‘now’, and it’s not a stretch to imagine any song from tonight’s setlist appearing on an advert for Vodafone or Corona.
While a couple of accidental arrhythmias may have gone unnoticed on another night, the act’s metronomic performance exposes a couple of rusty hinges. However, they are hinges that simply need a light oiling. A little more time and perseverance will see the ‘Kids graduate to seniority and the Cider Tree flourish.
In contrast to the quiet beginnings, Cherry is almost full by the time the headliners The Stray Melodics take the stage.
The swelling crowd attests to the local foursome’s growing reputation as a danceable live act. In fact, the band are a physical manifestation of a 90s pop-rock mixtape.
By three songs in, the harmonically pristine guitars are akin to the 90s glory days of Shades Apart, Third Eye Blind, and Jimmy Eat World.
With swift, stop-on-a-dime time changes aplenty, the knife-like rhythm section is near flawless from start to finish and glides effortlessly through a razor sharp and heavily syncopated set.
While singer Josh Storham’s hushed, lighter-than-air vocals normally add the final touches of melodic brightness, something about tonight’s vocal mix isn’t sounding quite right. That said, the devoted legions either haven’t noticed or couldn’t care less.
As the night progresses, the crowd’s head-nodding gives way to a mass swaying along to the jangly guitar lines of ‘Little People’. The full-blown stomping brings the set to an end.
It’s clear that tonight was a big night for the band and their followers. Indeed, both rose to the occasion to create a cheerful party atmosphere.
