Review – Meaneither +
Flyspeak + The Brain
@ Hopetoun Hotel Surry Hills
18Feb00
When the news breaks of the pending demise of
a band, you know you have to be there at the last-ever pub gig. From home-recorded
demos and gigs at the local roller-rink to compilation contributions and
self-released CDs, Meaneither
have been there and done that in their relatively short five years, and so feel
that it is time for the last hoorah; to move on and let someone else get sucked
into this Sydney live-performance scene.
We were just in time to catch the load-out of
The Brain, which was neither here nor there – the name Flyspeak
has been seen around town and now seemed as good a time as any to find out more
about them. If you put Dylan (Recovery/10:30
slot) Lewis in front of Front End Loader
to play Supergrass-influenced
songs, you’d pretty much encapsulate what Flyspeak have going.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it seems that “Dylan” is trying a
little too hard to be every rock guitarist who has ever been, with the Pete
Townshend windmills, flying-splits, and overall wank-rock
flamboyance… while up back and at stage left, the drummer and Harry
with the Flying-V
bass seem non-plussed about the antics, preferring to get on with the show
with as little theatrics as possible.
Musically though, “Dylan” had the right idea
with the tissues in the ears. What was produced was a slick set with decibels
to burn and some really catchy rock/pop melodies, like Top 40 Rock Song
(rather derisive a-la Regurgitator)
the true-to-the-original Psycho Killer and
“Dylan”’s choice of best-song-in-the-world-ever, the Harry-penned
disco-rock piece whose name escapes me, even with the set list as an aide. The
technical hitches like Harry stepping on the DI lead were
polished over with no ado, and much of this quite large crowd were bobbing
along through the majority of the set. Flyspeak are worthy of
your punting cover charge!
It seems that the aforementioned large crowd
were here mostly for the second-on act, because as Meaneither took to the stage,
it didn’t seem that difficult to find a place toward the front of the room. But
you didn’t want to be too close to the stage because the hard-core Meaneither fans were up
front in their dozens, equipped with both still and video cameras, feeding off
the energy that Craig, Grant, Dave
and Daniel were giving out, and giving back their own in return.
In his mailings Craig promises that one ‘may regret (wanting to come tonight)
when you actually see us’ and as such I was expecting to have my time
completely wasted. What was delivered was a slick and professional stage-show
with a whole lotta hits as far as the so-called ‘hardcore fans’ were concerned.
Meaneither are your ‘typical’ pop
funk/punk rock band: I suggest Apostrophe or
Adelaide’s Kinetic Playground with emphasis throughout on a funky
outlook. Meaneither
are four seriously excellent musicians just out for a little fun with Craig
and Grant doing their fair share of jumping up and down, the
former doing a little of that out with the crowd, and the latter being helped
by Daniel here and there. You would not think this was their last
pub gig: playing like their first but with so many garage-hours of rehearsal
behind them. Despite the muddy mic mix, Meaneither did not
disappoint either those of us here for the first time or the die-hard
supporters, with stand-out tunes that included Phone Box and Frog in
a Sock from their first “Rebbit” demo, and the encore Lets Groove
Tonight (yes, a cover in their own inimitable fashion!).
There is another gig after this; a harbour
cruise in the next week or two; and from what I have seen of Meaneither here tonight,
that also promises to be one helluva show. I am only sorry I have never seen
them before but happier to have seen them at all! As one punter was heard to
say during their load-out, this band very definitely did not suck.