THE GREAT NORTHERN // 9 JUNE
Yae!Tiger, Briscoe + Hopes
Brooke from Yae!Tiger organised this show and it was sort of the quid pro quo to the Wollongong gig (aka shit-stinking ordeal they had to drive 4 hrs down from Newcastle for). We had booked hostel beds for the night but Brooke and Shane insisted we stay at their place, come early for a barbeque and eat all the rest of their food at 2am. We're lucky they don't understand latin, or that they are excellent people.
Brooke and Shane also have a 2 piece side project called The Si Claros which you should check out. They've just pressed their debut 7". I heard it at their place on this<<<
Hopes were up first and I really dug it. A few people were scrunching up their noses but it was a young band and they were really going for something - it was a chunk of noise rock with some edgy vocal ideas and some killer fuzzed-out guitar hooks that were making me think of My Bloody Valentine. A little way off MBV but at least they were going for something outside the ambit of inbred, edgeless indie music.
Luke Davison of Preachers fame was filling in for Ross on the drums. We had one rehearsal with him, one short rehearsal and he was all over it. He must really like Briscoe, like heaps more than the Preachers.
The gig felt very good, a bit loose but in the best possible way. It was timely cos the one/two punch of Wollongong and the Lansdowne had me ready to do something i may have regretted, like sell all my instruments and get a Sydney mortgage.
Yae!Tiger were terrific again. Set opener Sleepworking is my fave at the moment I think. We drew the curtain on the tour and consummated our bandlove by jumping up with them and singing the ecstatic outro to the Gordon Shumway Experiment. Flaming Lips eat your hearts out.
Thanks to everyone who came to a show, we really appreciate it - not just saying that. Next time we see you it'll be with an album for sale at the door.
