EARTHLESS / ELDER
Rosemount Hotel - Perth, Australia
October 22nd 2015
The double bill of psychedelic/stoner rockers Earthless and Elder is pretty much a dream come true for those heavily into this type of music. With a laid back vibe and attitude and a guitar driven based style of music, this tour had everything you could possibly want for a night of fantastic music and as expected, it was everything you would want it to be.
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Opening for the first show of the tour was local doomers Puck who, when I last saw them, were met with a big response from the crowd which is not always the case with local support acts. But it's with good reason that this band get the recognition at the show as they performed a short set that was much doomier than I remembered from last time. Perfect openers for the headlining bands.
Elder were up next and as they came out slightly ahead of schedule, the crowd poured in to check out the music palette that the band had to offer. Many were here to see Elder as much if not more than Earthless as they proceeded to bring out a groove based set of songs that comprised of a mix of stoner rock, doom metal with mellow guitar parts and hints of psychedelic sounds. Unlike Earthless who are completely instrumental (aside from a couple of early songs), Elder mixed both instrumentalisation and vocalized parts to great effect, although admittedly it was the more instrumental parts that really stood out. Riffs were as big a part of the band's music as the solo's and the beat was steady all the way through. It was my first time seeing Elder and while I'm more of an Earthless fan, Elder were a great band too and hopefully they can come back on their own tour.
Earthless capped off the night with an extended 3 song set that was as good as I have ever seen them. "Uluru Rock" and the epic 30 minute juggernaut that is the title track from their last album "From The Ages" took more than half the set with no breaks inbetween so to the casual observer, it was a never-ending start to the show. While "Uluru Rock" is a little more focused, the title track is where the band really shine and guitarist Isaiah Mitchell jumps into improv mode and deviates way off the path of a song that is open to many different interpretations. The backbeat of Mike Eginton on bass and Mario Rubalcaba on drums drives the songs but Isaiah is the wizard that showcases a dazzling array of psychedelic sounds and loud noise, it's the 3 piece indivuduality that compliments each other and gives you a performance like no other.
I have always liked instrumental music but there is simply nothing like Earthless live, they start off in one direction and are taken to a completely different world by the end of it and ultimately, it's one of the best things about a live band that can do that sort of thing. The band ended the night with a jamming song that I still can't recollect what it was (if it was even a song) including Isaiah opening the doors of the venue backstage to jam outside (probably much to the displeasure of the neighbours in the surrounding area) but much to the delight of the fans, who by this stage were as rowdy as I had ever seen at an Earthless gig, complete with crowd surfing and all. It's hard to pick which of the performances I have seen Earthless that is the better but this one has got to be pretty damn close to being the best.
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Review and photos by Andrew "Schizodeluxe" Massie
