Perth has some fine rock musicians at the moment but trying to look for a ‘rock scene’ here is a bit of a task as we get pulled all over the place by a media that just wants rock to be ‘alternative’ and edgy, it’s one of the great ironies of the decade that what most mainstream reviewers now call ‘alternative’ is actually yawningly mainstream, and that music that once was full of passion is simply now just the fashion.
The Southern River Band are thankfully achingly honest and real, rock music shouldn’t be about following a particular form it should be playing what you believe and playing it live, loud and free. TSRB thankfully take their cues from that decade when anything in music seemed possible: the seventies, and though there are a few clues to their influences, nothing is overbearing about what makes it onto disc.
First things first: ‘Live at the Pleasuredome’ isn’t a life album, but it has that feel that makes you feel it could be close to ‘live in the studio’ which is part the rock ethos of the project and part necessity. Irrespective of the reasons it works and suits frontman Kramer’s songs down to the ground.
Sonically there’s a real retro feel to ‘Pleasuredome’ not just in style but in the yearning for simpler times when music was either just good or bad, and whilst you get a hint of some classic rock names, particularly on certain tracks there’s more of an overriding feel of a band like You Am I, a garage rock cool and crumpled velvet glory.
Opening track ‘Pandora’ starts out with a guitar solo, which is never a bad thing and creates the sort of buzz you look for in an introduction before falling headlong into a Molly Hatchet style boogie then changing feet again to offer up a ‘You Am I’ meets ‘Skyhooks’ ramble and rich melodic refrain. This is damned interesting and far from straightforward. Next up ‘Chasing After Love (‘ll Burn A Hole In Your Shoes)’ seems to say “watch me mash Elvis with Cheap Trick, T-Rex and Billy Thorpe and come out with a slow burn groove you could ride a mile on”. Its a damned accomplished bluesy groove that works in an entirely different way to the opener but with similarly impressive results.
And that my friends is the story of ‘Pleasuredome’- it’s as if the band has taken all their most sacred vinyl, broken open a few beers and let it all soak in without the thought of anything more than playing some fine music.
Elsewhere the mood and feel may change but the undoubtable quality remains constant: ‘Through The Forest And The Lakes’ is a more languid autobiographical glide through places in memories; before ‘Let It Ride’ brings on the Southern, yet distinctly Aussie boogie again; and ‘Summer Song’ turns another way and feels almost like a ‘new wave infused’ Bob Segar.
We close out with what might be my three favourite tracks here: ‘Little While’ is a heartfelt country-tinged classic rock ballad that elicits some real emotion whilst ‘Coming Home’ has an inescapable familiarity about it without you being able to put your finger on it. It’s a beautiful slow burn and has an almost Ben Harper groove going down. That leaves us with the classic closer ‘Two Times The Fool’ which melds a ‘Little Feat’ style down home Southern boogie with a nice groove (after a hint of The Kinks in the opening) to deliver a cool breezy rocker that pulls it all together in one spot.
If we’d heard this last year it would easily have been up there with the best of 2016…
