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DAVIES PARK, OCTOBER 07 2000
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Young noise-meisters Shuriken had the unenviable task of kicking off proceedings in the searing midday heat, and made a pretty good fist of things given the circumstances. Imagine the stop-start rhythms of The Go-Betweens "Cattle and Cane" stripped back to its bare essentials and coated in a smattering of Sonic Youth-inspired white noise and Moog madness and your part way to describing their sound. In a word - dreamy.
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6012 have established a bit of a reputation through their tight-as-the-proverbial live shows, and their stream-lined approach to the new metal sound is sure to win them more fans in the future. With a DJ letting loose some fine scratching and spoken word samples, the hip hop vibes were heavy, but it was the intensity of the vocals and riff interplay between bass and guitar which stole the show. |
| Arkee Opterix (complete with festival-style floppy hat) was busily squelching up an early storm in the Doof Tent, and a small group of enthusiastic punters (including this one) were happily lapping up his electro-break delights. Whether coaxing licks out of his Groove Synth or fiddling on his bank of sequencers and samplers, Arkee kept the grooves pumping quite nicely. |
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Promiscuous Chrysalis would have to be one of the busiest bands around town at the moment, and their blend of Bungle-esque genre-hopping, funk-folk fusion and psychedelic sound excursions certainly makes them one of Brisneyland's great white hopes. Free-flowing basslines combine with tight poly-rhythmic drumming and some sinister synth lines to create a groove which is both danceable and trance inducing, but when vocalist Anthony breaks out of his spoken word delivery and into a fully-fledged wail, the ghost of Jeff Buckley looms large. A strange name to be sure, but a name to watch nonetheless. |
| Ahhh, the Doof Tent - there's something about a big booming beat that just works it's way through your body and turns even the mildest-mannered of reporters into a writhing, jiving lunatic. Mark Briais certainly had the right idea, keeping the BPM at an insane early-afternoon level, and dropping a tranced-up remix of an old favourite which takes the main riff of "Smells Like Teen Spirit", gives it a slight twist, and takes it into dancefloor heaven. If only it weren't so bloody hot..... |  |
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Von Gherkin certainly are a demented beast, coming across like a bunch of court jesters doubling as LSD researchers. It was almost like the early years of Mr Bungle had been preserved in a time capsule, mixed with the DNA of Frank Zappa and Dr Seuss, then sent to the laboratory to concoct some of the most fucked-up sounds imagineable. Suffice it to say, they rocked it in a big way, and the wailing banshee on keyboards let loose one of the most piercing shrieks you could possibly imagine during their climactic song. |
| Like Market Day itself, Scrumfeeder are something of a Brisbane music instition. I'm almost ashamed to say that this was my first encounter with the mighty Scrummers, but on the strength of their set today it certainly won't be my last. There were rock cliches everywhere - squealing harmonics, dodgy between song banter, a bassist who seemed to have a fascination with his own crotch.....but any band who can pull out a note-perfect rendition of Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer" without a hint of irony are winners in my books. It was big, dumb, rock n roll, and it was fucking great. |  |
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As with every festival, the time had come to appease the Beer Gods (or the Scotch Gods as the case may be). The beer enclosures had filled sunstantially as the day went on, and as dusk began to settle over Davies Park the music almost became an afterthought. |
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A cold Nordic wind blew in ominously from the south as Canberra's premier metallers Alchemist took the stage for a blistering set which fittingly heralded the fall of darkness. Like Fear Factory and Sepultura, Alchemist are one of the few metal bands who craft their tunes so skillfully that even the general music listening punter can get sucked into their grooves. Many devil symbols filled the air as the mosh pit reached critical mass, with wave after wave of crowd surfers surging overhead, before being dragged down by security only to jump back on the assembled throng to do it all again.
Thier cover of "War of The Worlds" (complete with THAT synth line) was a revelation, but there was far more to Alchemist than stomach-churning riffs and growls that would raise the dead. Their final tune drew on Middle Eastern scales and rhythms (even prompting the singer to encourage the crowd to indulge in some belly dancing!), allowing those of us with $1000 worth of digital camera to enjoy the vibes without braving the mosh pit. |
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What can one say about George that hasn't been said already? Their tunes are flawless, the musicianship has just the right blend of virtuosity and subtlety to captivate music lovers of all varieties, and in Katie and Ty Noonan, they posess two of the country's most stunning vocal talents. Katie in particular has a voice that would bring tears to the eyes of the hardest of hard-arse criminals, and when she declares "I was ashamed of my innocence" on one of their new tracks, you just have to believe her. "Spawn" was the showstopper as always, and you get the feeling that George need much more than a 30-minute set to really give you a satisfying taste of their sound. But as taste tests go, this was a good one. |
| This Visitors are one of Brisbane's finest exponents of live electronica, but tonight seemed to be struggling with a shoddy sound mix (to the extent that the sound guy semed to think that the sampled beats were the drummer until midway through the set) and a lack of inspiration. Maybe it was because they had an array of guests last time I saw them, but for me the vibes just didn't seem to be there. Nonetheless, a pretty sizeable crowd was grooving away quite contently front of stage - I just didn't think they took it to the next level as much as they could have. |  |
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The Doof Tent, on the other hand, was going absolutely beserk in it's night-time incarnation, with a dazzling array of heiroglyphic-like visuals as a backdrop and a field full of wild punters as the stage. Ex-Melburnian Sleiker was busy cutting a swathe through the locals with some hard and fast trance, and the freaks had certainly come out to play.
The much-heralded Scanner took to the stage with little fanfare, and began with some minimal percussive house which was probably a little TOO chilled out after the frenzy that Sleiker had nspired on the floor. Unfortunately I wasn't in the mood for intelligent electrnoiuca after a long day in the sun, but at 4 or 5 in the morning, Scanner's beats would have been a God-send. |
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Anyone who's seen Shihad in the last couple of years knows what to expect by now - a selection of tunes combining heaviosity with more big hooks than you could possibly need, a smattering of arrogance and playful crowd taunts from frontman Jon Togood (not to mention the inevitable baring of the chest), but most of all, a bloody good time. These guys have found a formula that works a treat, with now classics like "My Mind's Sedate" and "Wait and See" slotting snugly along older tunes like "La La Land" and some newer, more laidback material.
But the day was wearing on and after the rigours of Powderfinger the night before, it was time to retreat to more sedate surroundings (well, the Empire at any rate!) Market Day had once again heralded the arrival of the Summer Festivals, and with Livid, Advent*jah, Woodford and The Big Day Out still to come, there's a long road ahead of us yet. But if Market Day was any indication, it's going to be a bloody rewarding one. ~ Kris Swales ~
Click here for Lou Lou's Market Day Review |
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