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Arena 11.6.99
Every once in a while, you need a good dose of dumb rock medicine. The
kind that clears the head and
roughs up the throat. Something so basic it's neanderthal. Something utterly
masculine in its delivery.
We've come to the right place.
Not the most obvious of support bands for this show, Cunningham
are nevertheless a welcome
surprise. It's their biggest gig to date and their pop tunes grow larger
than life to fit the occasion. In fact,
you could say Cunningham have never sounded better. We're also pleased
to report there's another disc on the way. Anyhow, you know you're
onto a good thing when you feel genuine disappointment that a
band has to finish their set.
Violetine have a huge sound for a three-piece. Starting
out with their radio hit, they share a few meaty
riffs of their own and display a variety which was missing the last time
these ears connected with their
music. At this rate, we'll see them on greater stages in no time.
Reef spend most of their time on greater stages than this one and tonight
they haven't quite managed to
sell out this space, but that doesn't stop them from throwing all their
weight behind their show. With
their "Who're the Rolling Stones? We're Reef" cockiness and their mastery
of the art of the rock riff, they
create the effect of a full room anyway.
One of Reef's greatest assets is their lack of nostalgia - if you treat
what you're doing as something
completely new, you'll end up convincing a few people that it actually
is. And even if it harks back to the
classic, it doesn't have to surpass it. Reef have such a firm grasp on
the twin Stones' obsessions -
indeed, the twin rock obsessions - of sex and power that comparisons and
hierarchies become
irrelevant.
'I Would Have Left You' still packs the heftiest sonic punch, its great
big riffs slicing the air into smoky
wedges. The other Glow tunes are equally popular, with 'Place Your Hands'
and 'Yer Old' turning into
rowdy singalongs. When they're done with the hits, they go for broke with
Rides, which introduces some
more complex guitar work to their game. There's also a new emotion present
in these songs, most
obvious in the album's first single, 'I've Got Something To Say': they're
widening their familiar scope to
include fervent romanticism.
Reef may be one of the best candidates to carry the dumb rock tradition
into the next century. As long
as the rest of us don't forget that the richest pleasures are often the
most predictable.
Eileen Dick
'very cunningham
ep'
cunningham
(ham records)
Get a bunch
of people in a room together, give them instruments they mostly
haven't played
before, and once they know a few songs, record them. While
this could
potentially be a recipe for mediocrity, for cunningham it has
worked beautifully.
'Capo Song' is reminiscent of the first few Triffids
singles, and
'A' has Brisbane-era Go-Betweens naiveté written all over it.
The production
is somewhere above lo-fi (but not too far), still capturing
the exuberance
that familiarity can extinguish. cunningham are a welcome
replacement
for the big gap left by both the Melniks and HugBubble.
Innocence
is bliss.
But, of course, there were support acts as well. Alpen Glow play instruments and don't sing, producing a swirling, groovy result. Their atmospheric guitars and solid rhythms had both rock punch and a more esoteric and distant vibe lifting the to a place not quite unlike Earth, Very, very promising.
The Lookalikes' Trevor
Ludlow did a solo acoustic set, as well as fulfilling MC ditties for
the night. His Aussie
Jonathon Richman
persona and simple, funny songs made for a highly entertaining set. He's
never been the best of singers, but his voice tonight was notably unexcruciating,
considering it was accompanied by only by acoustic guitar and a country
entertainers' approach to amiability. The songs sounded sparse and sweet,
with an inspired cover version choice of The Kinks' Stop Your Sobbing.
Low-key but fun.
This was Cunningham's night, but they opted to hog the third place billing, presumably to allow an early start at celebratory beverages. The most successful element of their set was the track-by-track run through of the new six-song CD. These were the most crowd-pleasing moments : they wisely chose their most hummable tracks for the recording. Played live, The Packet O' Winnie Blues had the appropriate rocky raunch to get hips moving and audience vocal chords whooping. There were bum notes to be sure, but the set had Cunningham amped-up and rocking more than you'd expect from a band of self-proclaimed clean sounding popsters. Ace.
Which left Lucy
Beagle to headline, with a heap of enthusiastic mated making noise
at the front. A threegirl trio, their perplexing music took on board punk,
reggae and balladry. For one of the slower moments, the band's drummer
joined her friends on the dance floor to wave a lighter in the air and
scream a lot. It was all a bit ramshackle. Practice will make it all better.
MATT THROWER