The Howler's gig room was nicely full (24 April), but with a good bit of space to move the limbs. The audience was coloured red with the mellow lighting from the stage and the four boys of Bonjah strolled comfortably on stage and without much chatter eased the set into motion with ‘Go Go Chaos’.
It’s one of their most well-known songs and it reminds me of watching cigarette smoke in slow motion; everyone in the crowd knew it, faces lit up as it came on, eyes closed and bodies swayed in the Zen groove that Bonjah tends to conjure.
Although they have a tendency for tunes of soulful bliss – what with Glenn Mossop’s (vocalist/ guitarist) voice that sails out through the speakers like a relaxed cherub, drunk on a pink cloud and the band’s dewy/ soothing harmonies that wash you in tides of sweetness and ease – Bonjah have just as much a tendency to burn the mildness away and jam the fuck out.
It’s was a treat watching them, all friendly with each other, dancing in a blur of instruments to bluesy rock songs like ‘Bullet In The Barrel’ and ‘Honey’ with dirty riffs from Regan Lethbridge (guitar) bursting from the seams. Or watching them jiving out to the shoulder bopping, tree-root funky rhythms like ‘Lady Listen’ and ‘Good Lovin’ that are tethered together by the green-paisley-shirted bass guitarist, David Morgan and carried along by the grooving pulse of Dan Chisholm on drums.
They’re talented, live musicians with a knack for variance and they used it to take the mood in their hands and guide the crowd in a trance through Mossop’s mystical storytelling, then shoved us roughly into some loud, limb-shaking release before sliding us back into a fiery revelry where everyone brought out their best boogie woogie. It all blended together into a tasty, musical cocktail, and seemed as if the band had had copious amounts those themselves.
After Mossop announced and thanked by name his pals and band members they left the stage. But of course, what a twist, they were summoned back for an encore. They played ‘Something We Should Know’ if my memory still serves me, which is an uplifting, chanty ballad of liberation kind of thing. It was sweet and at that point I thought the whole set had been pretty awesome; not the best thing I’d ever seen, but a solid band I’d have to listen to a bit more in the future.
Then, as Mossop is chatting along and doing some more thanks and smiling around the room with his drunken, Buddha vibe the band continues to play casually behind him, he invites Tash Sultana (one of the opening acts) onto the stage and offers her his guitar to bust out some improv amid the song the band is playing. She’s a beautiful, young woman with a powerful presence, a big, curly head of long, brown hair, sick tatts and even sicker guitar prowess (I was excited for this because I’ve dropped her many a coin busking on Bourke Street and I had missed the opening acts).
It took her only a couple seconds to sync in with the band and then she quite simply, absolutely went off. Big, smooth, sexy blues, Black Keys kind of riffs with grainy licks curled into the air as her face contorted with exertion; she was in her element and so were Bonjah and it was just the best. Everyone was digging it and dancing along hard as Mossop – like the host of a house party – carried on and invited Chris Panousakis (of Timberwolf/ other opening band) to have a go at the improv guitar; he did after a disgruntled shake of the head, and he was just as good busting out his funky and dirty blues progressions and riffs.
It brought the energy of the set to a fun intensity that was loud and spontaneous and true and free and you could just dance your arse off to pure, good music and we were all feeding on it (unless I was just there with my eyes closed carrying on like a madman).
Mossop then started a cover of 'Uptown Funk', which I was a bit sceptical about, but they grooved out and Tash ended up with the mic singing the lyrics which then trailed into what seemed to be some of her own words and I was sold in the end, the bastards.
Whether you attribute it to Bonjah or the encore the whole thing put together actually made for one of the best live sets I’ve seen, legit, I recommend them to you.
