Venue: The Troubadour
Date: 18/06/2005
For me, the willingness to write a review of a gig you’ve seen the
night before can only demonstrate two things: Either they’re the worst act you’ve seen in a while and your very soul demands you condemn them to the pits of hell, or conversely, the act has hit some kind of meaningful chord in your soul, and you must share your love of it with the rest of the world. After seeing ‘The Morning After Girls’ last night I can safely say that the latter criteria duly applies. To me, the name ‘The Morning After Girls’ conjures up images of crazy Japanese girl pop punk. However, while I’m sure that kind of music would have not proved too difficult for a band of this caliber to perform, they demonstrated an aura that goes beyond the somewhat mainstream appeal of their band’s name.
Prior to the main act, some other random Australian band, The Scares, hit the stage. This five piece outfit who should rename themselves to The Killers version 2.0, because this is the obviously the path they’re following. To be honest, I found their music boring and uninspiring. There is a certain art to good screaming music, but the lead singer does not have such a talent. It was derivative, loud, and annoying. I was greatly dismayed to hear that this band has somehow secured a large record deal. I guess its time to cash in on the Killers trend. It seems they were a weird choice to support the proceeding act.
I’ve never heard any Morning After Girls music prior to this show. I had heard some good things about them, but it was not exactly what I was expecting. The first thing I noticed was the extremely hot backing vocalist they had. There is something about a woman in a short skirt, white knee high boots and armed with a tambourine. You can sell anything with that. While that might make the act seem like a bit on the pretentious side, arming their band with some sex appeal to sell records (i.e. Black Eye Peas), they are far from untalented.
The sound is easy to place. The band sound like a sonic meld of Stone Roses, early Smashing Pumpkins with a touch of Cobain on certain songs (i.e. “Hi - Skies”) and perhaps pixies. It definitely placed in the early nineties, an era close to my heart. The mix of grungy riffing with soundscapes makes a great combination.
I ended up buying their EP. I never buy music at gigs. This is a credit to how good it was. Will gladly pay to see them again.
Leave a Reply