It was a fuzzy mastery showcase as support acts Knee and Earth Tongue rumbled the walls of Brisbane's The Princess Theatre ahead of Ty Segall's fabled return.
I missed local band Knee's set (27 February), but I have seen them before allowing me to estimate how it went.
The drummer would've slammed his crash symbol, before meteors came from the sky, crashing through the venue's roof, fire hit the amplifiers (creating fuzz of course), the vocalist affected by smoke inhalation from the flames making him sound raspy and cool. This created the greatest song in the world and everyone danced and had a good time.
The magic did not stop with NZ band Earth Tongue. The fuzz from the guitar amp blew me back out the front door and onto the pavement. It was the heaviest I'd heard in some time.
You don't see two-piece bands very often (local legends Hockey Dad come to mind or Royal Blood) but when you do it's always something epic. With only two members, each element has to be boiled down and refined to support a full sound; and the full sound they had.
Drummer Ezra Simons' vocals screamed from the depths of anguish while he bashed his kit, and the guitar of Gussie Larkin fuzz rocked creating a wall of sound. They had an immediate new fan in the form of me.
Ty Segall - image © Kalem Horn
Next came the piece of resistance, USA special delivery Ty Segall and his band. The crowd literally hushed (like we were in a theatre or something) in anticipation as they walked onstage.
Cool and relaxed they played their stuff. They hit the balance that I feel a lot of psych bands miss. They weren't stiff to let the music flow organically, but highly proficient in their instruments that the five piece moves as one, tight package.
They performed from Ty's discography as well as some new ones written together. I find it hard to define their genre; which is a good thing. Not quite garage, not quite easy listening, and not the typical head-banging stuff you come to think of in modern psych rock. That's not to say there weren't some heavy hitters in there. It was just all cool.
Ty Segall - image © Kalem Horn
There was an uneasy musical intermission I quite liked. Ty had ping-pong delay on his guitar as he raked the strings. Evan Burrows on drums unnervingly rubbed the side of a cymbal like nails on a chalk board and softly kicked the kick drum for a faint heart pulse. Ben Boye dripped in uncomfortable notes on his keyboard one by one. Ty then tapped his pedal board with his foot, making huge, fuzzy guitar strums.
Time for a bit of friendly fire. I feel what let this gig down personally was time and place. Everyone in the crowd was INCREDIBLY well behaved, but the atmosphere just wasn't there.
The room wasn't packed, which is disappointing as I've seen Brisbane turn up before for the likes of King Gizz or Osees which were both on a Tuesday night! This was a Friday! I don't think anyone is to blame here, it was just a bit of a shame.
Ty Segall - image © Kalem Horn
I want to congratulate label and touring company Mistletone as well as Ty Segall for what they're doing. It feels like a different offering to most shows; and I really hope they can keep making these things financially viable as I really loved to see it.
P.S Ty has quite the extensive discography and has worked with an absolute plethora of musicians. Far too much for me to deep dive here. I urge you to Google it up.
