11 January 2011

Melody Black + Familia + Black Label + iJunk

Sando Hotel, Newtown

23 December 2010

Review by Colin Diamond

It was with a fair degree of anticipation that I set off to the Sando looking forward to seeing the live performance of MELODY BLACK. I'd heard that their previous show there late last year, which was their debut gig, was something special. I'd also seen a great YouTube vid, taken from that same show, of them tearing through their song, Over me over you, which impressed me a lot. So the question was; could the bands follow up performance match up to the already high expectations I had of them? That question would soon be answered and in a big way.

The first of the support bands at the Sando was the interestingly named iJUNK. The inspiration for these guy’s tunes was pretty obvious before a note was played with their stage clothes making a big statement as to which decade they like best.  We got big hair, studded leather and hot pink pointy guitars with matching hot pink lycra pants!  It was cool though, I'm a fan of that kind of thing.  No point in camouflaging yourself into the background is there?  iJUNK; newish sounding name, oldish sounding tunes because as suspected they had a big 80's rock sound happening.  Some decent tunes were played and they had some nice over the top flashy 80's rock guitar solos, however the sound wasn't always gelling as well as it could have. And although they tried they weren’t really able to connect with the small crowd present at the time (at this stage most people were still drinking in the downstairs bar). It's never easy playing first, of course.

BLACK LABEL kicked the night up a gear immediately once they hit the stage. And while I'm being fashion conscious I might as well mention that the band’s getup in comparison to iJUNK’s MÖTLEY CRÜE stylings looked as if they all just rode in on their Harleys.  Along with the tougher image came a tougher sound and they hit us with lots of big bluesy guitar riffs and some good ol’ Aussie rock ‘n’ roll vocals. The boys ripped through their set and particularly hit their straps with a cranking tune called Shake it which had the Sando buzzing.  After witnessing their performance last time at the Sando, this gig confirmed for me that BLACK LABEL is a great live band and well worth checking out.

Next up on the bill was FAMILIA with a sound that reminded me a little of PLACEBO. I think it's safe to say that band was an influence on them at least.  The songs were good but I did think they were missing some of the energy of BLACK LABEL’s set. It was a tough act to follow though, to be fair. Because it was getting late in the evening by the end of their set (past 11pm) and it being a school night, I think some of the crowd were no doubt reserving their energy for the main act to come.

And then after what seemed like an eternal wait, MELODY BLACK stepped up on stage and anyone who was slightly dozing off in between bands was immediately slapped back to attention. They tore into their track, Over me over you and a huge raw angry noise blasted from the speakers enveloping everyone.  We instantly knew at that moment that it was going to be worth the wait. 

In case you didn't know of their history the band is largely an all-star lineup of seasoned pros with members formerly in JERK, KILLING TIME and CANDY HARLOTS. These guys knew exactly what it takes to play a good rock gig and they executed to perfection.  In particular the frontman Jonathon Devoy, who was like a man possessed, such was the intensity of his performance.  In between belting out vocals we'd occasionally see him writhing around on stage as if having to physically draw the lyrics out whilst battling some inner demon that didn't want him to have them.  It was captivating stuff to watch.

The rest of the band was far from standing still as well.  Everyone was rocking out as hard as they possibly could and you could really sense that this was not a band going through the motions onstage.   These are guys giving their absolute all.  The end result was a ton of energy emanating from the stage.

All the energy in the world would all be for naught if the music was rubbish of course but there were no problems there.  The band had a super tight and powerful punk rock sound live and it was dialed in nicely on the night.  The vocals, which are often the thing that separates a good live sound from an average one, were spot on and it was strong performance from Devoy in that regard.  As for the rest of the band, they just made playing rock tunes flat out live look all too easy.  They had a real presence onstage.

Amongst their original tunes they threw in a suitably punk rock version of the EASYBEATS, I'll Make You Happy and closed out the night with a blistering cover of the MOTORHEAD classic, Ace of Spades.

While MELODY BLACK may not have been around for long, if they can back up these sort of live performances with some great recorded material (and the tunes I heard live on the night suggests this shouldn't be a problem) they should go far. Hopefully we can look back on these gigs years down the road with fond memories after the band have long successfully established themselves as the new breed of Aussie hard music.  Definitely check these guys out if you have the chance.

Melody Black

http://www.myspace.com/melodyblack1

Familia

http://www.myspace.com/familiatheband

Black Label

http://www.myspace.com/aussieblacklabel

iJunk

http://www.myspace.com/ijunkrock