Jinja Safari, Husky, Buchanan @ The Corner Hotel, Melbourne (24/07/2011)
You would think that a cold rainy Sunday night wasn’t the best night for Melbourne’s indie crowd to head out for a gig. You might expect them to be sitting somewhere warm, sipping their skinny (or be it soy) chai lattes in their skinny jeans, but you’d be wrong.
As Buchanan launched into their second night supporting Jinja Safari at the Corner Hotel a small crowd was starting to gather at a respectful distance from the stage. These boys from Melbourne formed in late 2009, and have already had slots supporting the likes of Alpine and Tim and Jean. Earlier this year Buchanan won the Triple J Unearthed competition to play at the Laneway festival in Melbourne. Buchanan played a mixture of songs off their No Photo EP and their first EP Safety Beach opening with the atmospheric and drum driven Moon, which perfectly evokes images of celestial bodies. They followed on with Mr Keeperman which has a lovely youthfully wistful feel. Josh Simons (lead vocals, keys & guitar) then asked us to stick with them threw the quietest song of their set Safety Beach. It feels like a lovers lament, it starts off soft and acoustic with eerie almost whale like calls on guitar and keys, and was the title track of their first EP released in April 2009. Teachers is probably their most well known song, the opening lyrics ‘this is our happiness’ getting an immediate reaction from the crowd with it’s catchy tune and easy to relate to lyrics.
Their sound reminds me a little of Coldplay and the Counting Crows, with great lyricism, and melodic guitar lines, which especially comes out in Teachers and Mr Keeperman. Something that really impressed me about these boys was how versatile Josh's voice was and that Josh and John Barra (lead guitar) were both multi skilled playing second instruments, keys and drums respectively. By the end of the set a few people had ventured to the front and Buchanan were playing to a sizeable crowd. They closed their set with Son which has a real jazz funk vibe, as he played the final chords on his keyboard Josh thanked us for coming early and invited us to find them at the merch desk. With final chord fading away they thanked the crowd waving as they left the stage. The five star reviews from Richard Kingsmill at Triple J are well deserved and Buchanan are definitely a band you need to seek out- now!
Tonight was one of the only nights I've seen the curtains were pulled mid set at the Corner, so when they opened to present Husky there was cheer from the waiting crowd. They opened with Tidelwave which has an almost country vibe, and was reflective and atmospheric. Dark Horses saw some of the audience singing along and was the first of many songs showcasing Gideon Preiss' amazing keyboard skills, in this instance embracing a slightly jazz feel. History's Door was received well by the crowd at the first chords.
As he was tuning his guitar for the next song Husky Gawenda (lead vocals&guitar) told us this funny story about having a recurring dream in which he'd rock up to school in just a towel and would borrow clothes from lost property. He said it was a pretty irrelevant story except for the fact that Hunter was also about a recurring dream. 'Hunter' slowly builds, the band were clearly enjoying themselves off in their own little world during the closing instrumental break.
Solo was a song which was at times almost classical, an impressive and intricate tun played on a keyboard. When he finished the Jinja boys were clapping from side of stage and there was impressed nattering in the crowd. Husky introduced the band and Gideon got a huge raw of applause. They closed with Fake Mustache, which was a great way to wrap up a very impressive set.
After what felt like an age to reset the stage there were cheers at the closed certain as the DJs last track finished. The curtains opened to reveal Nugget (Alister Roach- percussion) and Jacob Borg (drums) going nuts on their kits. There were more cheers as the rest of the boys joined them and they opened with Forest Eyes.' Mud sounds so youthful and bubbly just like a mud bath! Peppa (Cameron Knight- keys, guitar and sitar) was laughing at the girls dancing in the front row. Marcus Azon asked everyone to squat down during the last chorus& jump up again on cue.
After the cheers had died down Peppa told us that it was the first time they'd headlined shows 2 nights in a row in one venue and thanked us for making them feel so special. Next up was Scarecrow a new one with a Middle Eastern feel, there were hoots from the crowd as Peppa picked up his sitar. Marcus and Peppa had a guitar VS sitar jam and the instrumental breaks had a John Butler vibe. Audience participation was the order of the day as Nugget got the crowd clapping.
Marcus said "we all grew up playing in Church on Sunday night so this is Sunday night worship!" (Apparently Marcus' parents are missionaries so there may be some truth in that!) Nugget said he forgot that he was supposed to start the next song and launched into Moonchild, halfway through which he hands Joe Citizen (bass) his shaker, wraps his arms around him, takes hold of his bass guitar and starts to play. They do a guitar dance walking backwards and then forwards across the stage to woops from the crowd.
Peppa says “we know some people came last night as well, like the people down the front, so we thought we might do something different and plan an extra song, this is a new one, for the people in the front row.” There were cheers from the crowd at being treated to a new number, I was having too much fun and all I could glean in the way of lyrics was ‘talking talking’ look out for this mystery song on their debut album when it’s released sometime next year.
Nugget handed out incense to front row for Head in a Blender with its almost stellar sounds on guitar and glockenspiel. The air was filled with a haze of honeycomb smelling incense as Peter Pan rolled around with the crowd pitching in cat calls, and crazy noises and clapping and singing along. As the final chord was played the crowd burst into cheers, the Jinja boys were absolutely beaming, and the crowd was cheering so much and so loudly that they started cheering too!
Marcus thanked everyone for coming along, and being such an awesome crowd, and offered up one more song Mermaids. The crowd all joined in for the ‘ooh wee oohs’ and Marcus got us clapping. As is customary for this energetic group their set ended with them running amuck on stage, and the requisite amount of destruction. It all began when Peppa was doing jumps while playing the keyboard and knocked it off it’s stand, and just kept dancing, Marcus then dived over the drum kit, knocking Jacob out with him to wild applause from the crowd. All in all a rollicking fun night and a great chance to hear some great up and coming Australian acts.
Jillian McEwan
As Buchanan launched into their second night supporting Jinja Safari at the Corner Hotel a small crowd was starting to gather at a respectful distance from the stage. These boys from Melbourne formed in late 2009, and have already had slots supporting the likes of Alpine and Tim and Jean. Earlier this year Buchanan won the Triple J Unearthed competition to play at the Laneway festival in Melbourne. Buchanan played a mixture of songs off their No Photo EP and their first EP Safety Beach opening with the atmospheric and drum driven Moon, which perfectly evokes images of celestial bodies. They followed on with Mr Keeperman which has a lovely youthfully wistful feel. Josh Simons (lead vocals, keys & guitar) then asked us to stick with them threw the quietest song of their set Safety Beach. It feels like a lovers lament, it starts off soft and acoustic with eerie almost whale like calls on guitar and keys, and was the title track of their first EP released in April 2009. Teachers is probably their most well known song, the opening lyrics ‘this is our happiness’ getting an immediate reaction from the crowd with it’s catchy tune and easy to relate to lyrics.
Their sound reminds me a little of Coldplay and the Counting Crows, with great lyricism, and melodic guitar lines, which especially comes out in Teachers and Mr Keeperman. Something that really impressed me about these boys was how versatile Josh's voice was and that Josh and John Barra (lead guitar) were both multi skilled playing second instruments, keys and drums respectively. By the end of the set a few people had ventured to the front and Buchanan were playing to a sizeable crowd. They closed their set with Son which has a real jazz funk vibe, as he played the final chords on his keyboard Josh thanked us for coming early and invited us to find them at the merch desk. With final chord fading away they thanked the crowd waving as they left the stage. The five star reviews from Richard Kingsmill at Triple J are well deserved and Buchanan are definitely a band you need to seek out- now!
Tonight was one of the only nights I've seen the curtains were pulled mid set at the Corner, so when they opened to present Husky there was cheer from the waiting crowd. They opened with Tidelwave which has an almost country vibe, and was reflective and atmospheric. Dark Horses saw some of the audience singing along and was the first of many songs showcasing Gideon Preiss' amazing keyboard skills, in this instance embracing a slightly jazz feel. History's Door was received well by the crowd at the first chords.
As he was tuning his guitar for the next song Husky Gawenda (lead vocals&guitar) told us this funny story about having a recurring dream in which he'd rock up to school in just a towel and would borrow clothes from lost property. He said it was a pretty irrelevant story except for the fact that Hunter was also about a recurring dream. 'Hunter' slowly builds, the band were clearly enjoying themselves off in their own little world during the closing instrumental break.
Solo was a song which was at times almost classical, an impressive and intricate tun played on a keyboard. When he finished the Jinja boys were clapping from side of stage and there was impressed nattering in the crowd. Husky introduced the band and Gideon got a huge raw of applause. They closed with Fake Mustache, which was a great way to wrap up a very impressive set.
After what felt like an age to reset the stage there were cheers at the closed certain as the DJs last track finished. The curtains opened to reveal Nugget (Alister Roach- percussion) and Jacob Borg (drums) going nuts on their kits. There were more cheers as the rest of the boys joined them and they opened with Forest Eyes.' Mud sounds so youthful and bubbly just like a mud bath! Peppa (Cameron Knight- keys, guitar and sitar) was laughing at the girls dancing in the front row. Marcus Azon asked everyone to squat down during the last chorus& jump up again on cue.
After the cheers had died down Peppa told us that it was the first time they'd headlined shows 2 nights in a row in one venue and thanked us for making them feel so special. Next up was Scarecrow a new one with a Middle Eastern feel, there were hoots from the crowd as Peppa picked up his sitar. Marcus and Peppa had a guitar VS sitar jam and the instrumental breaks had a John Butler vibe. Audience participation was the order of the day as Nugget got the crowd clapping.
Marcus said "we all grew up playing in Church on Sunday night so this is Sunday night worship!" (Apparently Marcus' parents are missionaries so there may be some truth in that!) Nugget said he forgot that he was supposed to start the next song and launched into Moonchild, halfway through which he hands Joe Citizen (bass) his shaker, wraps his arms around him, takes hold of his bass guitar and starts to play. They do a guitar dance walking backwards and then forwards across the stage to woops from the crowd.
Peppa says “we know some people came last night as well, like the people down the front, so we thought we might do something different and plan an extra song, this is a new one, for the people in the front row.” There were cheers from the crowd at being treated to a new number, I was having too much fun and all I could glean in the way of lyrics was ‘talking talking’ look out for this mystery song on their debut album when it’s released sometime next year.
Nugget handed out incense to front row for Head in a Blender with its almost stellar sounds on guitar and glockenspiel. The air was filled with a haze of honeycomb smelling incense as Peter Pan rolled around with the crowd pitching in cat calls, and crazy noises and clapping and singing along. As the final chord was played the crowd burst into cheers, the Jinja boys were absolutely beaming, and the crowd was cheering so much and so loudly that they started cheering too!
Marcus thanked everyone for coming along, and being such an awesome crowd, and offered up one more song Mermaids. The crowd all joined in for the ‘ooh wee oohs’ and Marcus got us clapping. As is customary for this energetic group their set ended with them running amuck on stage, and the requisite amount of destruction. It all began when Peppa was doing jumps while playing the keyboard and knocked it off it’s stand, and just kept dancing, Marcus then dived over the drum kit, knocking Jacob out with him to wild applause from the crowd. All in all a rollicking fun night and a great chance to hear some great up and coming Australian acts.
Jillian McEwan