Review - PCM Showcase
16/10/98 @ The Hard Rock Cafe with
Mr Brown + Hoolahan +
Doradus + Spinifex + Juju Eyeballs + Roma
PCM is
a bunch of showcases and workshops scattered through the city at various
venues, designed to get the wannabe-musos and punters off their butts and into
a band or venue to support or be supported. It’s a great initiative and there
should be more of them. This particular leg of the conference featured
something that has not been done before, as well as a half-dozen class-acts
from Sydney, Melbourne and Cyber-space!
Roma were first on, two hours after the advertised
starting time. Theirs is a three-piece format which had been untried until
tonight, being a regular 4pc outfit who could not bring their usual entourage
up from Melbourne for the weekend. The presentation tonight was a
well-constructed beer-garden styled set, with keys and guitars, passionate and
wide-ranging vocals, and heaps of movement from Roma herself who sang to
absolutely everyone in the room… pity about the Caddie blocking her view of
most of them, though, and about the thin overall sound. Standouts included the
catchy Salt In My Eyes, the strong
pop/quasi-ballad You Can Say and the
rocky Tori
Amosesque Ice Cream «««¼
Recent Triplej
Unearthed winners
Juju Eyeballs appeared
during the breaks between sets. Not hard to do if you’re a Cyber-band. It is
difficult, however, to keep the attention of the audience if they don’t play
the soundtrack for the tape all the time. The video-clip was almost identical
for each of the three songs featured in their “set”, with the same
butterfly/mountainside/dancing band-members motif throughout. The computer
animation is the best I have ever seen anywhere, but there didn’t seem to be too
much variation between the three songs though ««¾
Spinifex’s five-piece full-time set up with a floating
sixth-piece, a violinist, made for the the biggest line-up of the night, and
the newest, too, with this band being in its current format for only five
rehearsals. Shane was jumping about, both with and without his guitar,
providing some energetic and emotional vocals while the others stood about Powderfinger-style
(the band revolving around the singer, the only one doing anything apart from
playing). They even went as far as to have a Powderfinger-sound
On
My Mind and BCMW, with Shane coming over all Bono (U2)
in the latter tune. Theirs was a strong following in the crowd, too, which
would have augured well for the WC
bigwigs! «««¶
Ex-pat Novocastrians Doradus
delivered their 60s/70s B52s
look with a 3-piece not-very-Newcastle indie edge, showing why they moved from
Steel City North. Rachel and her rhythm section, including a brand-new drummer,
produced the biggest sound of the night and the best impartial-crowd response.
Standouts included Fire Away and the
powerful closer Cut It Fine. There
wasn’t much movement on stage save for Mr White Ricken-bass, but they still scored well
in the performance and music stakes. «««¾
The night wore on for a good many who decided
not to stick around for the bigger acts. It is unfortunate that, for new music
gig organisers following the time-honoured tradition of putting the main acts
on last, no one who came to see the other acts sticks around. The other
downside is that after seeing four bands you start to lose the inspiration to
make the appropriate comments for those that remain: not that the remaining
bands were worse than the previous! It may be just that some people can’t rock &
roll all night any more… Hoolahan
were certainly able to (rock & roll, that is!). Their short burst of
jingly-jangly/You
Am I/Newtown power-indie rock had the two guitarists alternating on
vocal duties. Diary of a Dambuster
and Drag were the standouts for these
guys who, although “its been done before” could be said about them, are still
doing it their own almost-inimitable way. Their placing tonight was unfortunate
but theirs is a style that sits comfortably in with the usual Annandale fare
and is well worth catching «««
Mr Brown were the closing act of the morning and the other
out-of-towners. Their look was of a band who are going places and the sound
fairly-much matches that look. It is unfortunate that this Melbourne 3-piece
was seen by the least number of people in the place but their brand of Everclearesque
West-Coast alternacore heavy pop-rock makes their EP “Buddah” (Blah Blah Blah Records), out on 2 November, hotly
anticipated. This set and their high-rotation single will also certainly help
shift a few units ««««
HRC and
Warners put on a great night for
Australian music. It’s great to see so many bands that have been treading the
boards for so long finally getting a leg-up in the business by such big names.
Lets just hope the familiar faces in the crown act upon what they saw here
tonight and get things happening for an allegedly-dying live scene: by
tonight’s effort that scene is alive and kickin’ butt!