Sympathetic Stupid

Sunday, July 31, 2005

SubAudible Hum @ The Rob Roy

First up, saw a bit of Donnie Dureau from Blueline Medic. Played some decent singer-songwriter, man and his guitar stuff. Not very Blueline Medic, as he said.

Next up were a band possibly called Little Star, who were also decent. They're a competent three piece who, despite lacking the undefinable magic of a great band (possibly because the frontman lacked a little charisma), had some decent songs. They switched between some keyboards and guitars, with the drummer putting a track on at times and playing some 303/808/something.

The nice band room at the Rob Roy filled up for the headliners. I've listened to the album a bit, and it sounds like fairly standard JJJ alt guitar rock. That's basically what we got. It wasn't the greatest show; the presentation was all a bit slipshod, there were big gaps between the songs, and some of the rock moves were frankly embarrasing. (The bass player especially was a little over the top.) Their best track is Puddle Of A Nation, and this did work well live, a good rock build in 5/4. I can't quite get the lyrics but I assume it's a bit of a go at Little Johnny's Australia. This always sells well. A limited selection of tracks to choose from means they had to play the slow ones, which didn't really work so well, especially the frontman's solo number.