After a day of dodging people parading around drunk in oversized Guinness hats, The Tote band room was a relatively safe haven and the line up of bands a welcome change from Irish folk tunes.
Drunk Mums started things off to a smallish crowd. Playing their own brand of fuzzy 70’s psychedelia with a garage punk edge, they easy blew the cobwebs of any Irish tin whistles away. Drunk Mums are becoming harder and harder to avoid on the local scene and they are well worth a look, their tight and capable set tonight proves they have talent to spare.
The title of band of the night however goes to Harmony. Fresh of the back of a Golden Plains performance last weekend, they managed to slay everyone else on the bill. As the soulful tones of Amanda Roff, Quinn Veldhuis and Maria Kastaniotis ring out, punters previously settled in to the beer garden stream in almost hypnotised. With guitarist/vocalist Tom Lyngcoln howling viciously as bassist Jon Chapple bobs his head back forth, if there was an ever a question as to why his glasses were tied on, this was the answer.
The way they play is so loose that it almost feels as if you are peeping over the fence to watch the band next door jam. Harmony is best described as an autumn day in Melbourne, sunshine and sweetness before a crashing storm. Their amazing structure and song composition is only heightened by the sheer teeth rattling volume which they play at, however once you give yourself over to it it is impossible not to be swept away by the force of it. The rawness and brooding nature that Lyngcoln’s voice brings to their music is both at odds with and complimented by the talented trio of vocalists supporting him. As Harmony finish up their set, Chapple moves from sitting on a speaker, to the front row and then over to his bass case, closing his bass in it and walking off. No other band sounds like Harmony and after that set, every other band has their work cut out for them.
After the mesmerising experience of Harmony, the not-so-organised chaos that is Velociraptor is a jolt to the system. Velociraptor are pure 60’s deliciousness and their music is wickedly fun to listen to listen to, not to mention dance to. The crowd lap up every second of the various band members flinging themselves into the mosh/dance pit. While they boast the best tambourine players since Joel Gion and the highest guitar since Albert Hammond Jr, the entire group seems to jostle for attention. If you can imagine The Brain Jonestown Massacre circa mid 90’s comprised of eight Anton Newcombes you are only halfway to imagining the onstage craziness. “Hey Suzanne” is a hands down highlight, practically pleading with all in attendance to dance to it.
The beauty of the style of music they play is its simplicity but the overcrowded stage takes it away from that. There are times when an extended line up equals an amazing and all round phenomenal show, The Gin Club are a perfect example of this, in the case of Velociraptor it seems at times be more quantity over quality. Putting that aside, the combination of raucous energy and talent that they exude in spades will see them go far, if Andy Warhol was alive today he would be all over them and deservedly so. The impressive swapping of instruments and vocal duties must also be mentioned as each member zips about stage to cover one thing or another. Love them or hate them, they are definitely going to go on to do big things.
– Madison Thomas
