Friday night was the first stop on Moose Blood’s Australian adventure. Touring on the back of their new album “I Don’t Think I Can Do This Anymore”, they’ll be playing in all corners of the country. Pushing through my recently obtained cold, I went to check them out.
It was a pleasant evening in Perth, broken up with the occasional light misting of rain. It was definitely welcome to go to an international show on a Friday night for a change, as then I could happily have a few beers and get into the groove of things. It’s such a shame I’d caught that cold that’s been going around and had to take it kind of easy, but live music waits on no-one and must be partaken in at all opportunities.
The first band of the night was Fadeaway, a local 5 piece who have been playing live for about a year. Honestly, I don’t think they were for me. It’s like they were trying for this post-punk thing but it wasn’t quite working from a song writing standpoint. Plus they may need to reconsider allowing their bassist to do backup vocals. They do have some promise though and I will be more than happy to check them out again when they’ve developed a bit more as a band.
I was a bit more impressed by the next local opener Cellophane. While their name sounded like they’d gotten it off an episode of “Daria”, they did catch my attention. To me their material sounded like a combination of emo (the good bits) and pop punk, so they had some nice catchy tunes with an emotional core. I was bopping my head to this one listening to some nice snappy riffs that got the party going. I’ll definitely seek them out for another viewing in future.
Next was the first of the international headliners in the form of Hundreth. I had never heard of them before that night, but by the time their set was finished, they made a new fan out of me. If there’s any one group they remind me of, it’s Joy Division. They make these sweeping soundscapes that feel like you’ve been transported into a dimension of pure audio. They sounded fantastic. Their golden-haired frontman had such a subtle voice which, when combined with a good amount of reverb, was just divine. Another of my many words I would to describe them would be dreamlike, as the way their instruments blended together was like listening to music through the fuzziness of the half-conscious human mind. I’d say Hundreth were worth the price of admission alone and I would love to see them should they do their own headline tour.
But we didn’t just get Hundreth for the price of admission, oh no. We also got the amazing headliners Moose Blood all the way from the UK. For the most part they let their music speak for itself, but no complaints from me here when the music is that good. Considering that they’ve only been together for 6 years as a group, there’s a very mature vibe to their song writing as if they’ve seen life and want to tell you all about it. They skillfully delivered a performance for what most bands take over a decade to achieve. There’s definitely something special about this band if they can inspire that many stage divers.
They had this amazing way of talking about really depressing subject matter in the lyrics, while providing backing music that lifts you up and gives you hope at the same time. It’s a great contrast. Personally they feel like a British response to The Smith Street Band. Most of the setlist came from their latest album “I Don’t Think I Can Do This Anymore”, but they played material from their whole discography. Their entire set had me grinning from start to end, as it was simply a slice of wonderful. Emotional highs and lows, they had them all. My face was definitely rocked by Moose Blood!
Believe me, you owe it to yourself to go to the upcoming shows with these headiners. I went in not knowing what to expect and I left a very happy man. If you’re an Easterner, go on, treat yourself. You know you want to.
PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by Adrian Thomson
MOOSE BLOOD
2018 AUSTRALIAN TOUR
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS MOVEMENTS
FRIDAY 31 AUGUST: AMPLIFIER BAR, PERTH (18+)
SATURDAY 1 SEPTEMBER: FOWLERS LIVE, ADELAIDE (Licensed All Ages)
SUNDAY 2 SEPTEMBER: CORNER HOTEL, MELBOURNE (18+)
MONDAY 3 SEPTEMBER: ARROW ON SWANSTON, MELBOURNE (All Ages)
WEDNESDAY 5 SEPTEMBER: UNI BAR, WOLLONGONG (18+)
THURSDAY 6 SEPTEMBER: FACTORY THEATRE, SYDNEY (Licensed All Ages)
FRIDAY 7 SEPTEMBER: SMALL BALLROOM, NEWCASTLE (18+)
SATURDAY 8 SEPTEMBER: TRIFFID, BRISBANE (Licensed All Ages)
TICKETS ON SALE WEDNESDAY 21 MARCH @ 10AM FROM TICKETS.DESTROYALLLINES.COM
