Fis and Rob Thorn - Christchurch Arts Center Auditorium - 13 June 2018

Rob Thorn presents traditional Maori instruments and with the aid of Fis( Oliver Peryman) creates sonic soundscapes with electronics and taonga pūoro. I scored the album Clear Stones that the pair released last year and it is a very interesting and unique presentation of indigenous instruments and electronic manipulations of Rob's instruments.

 This presentation had nearly a full house at the Christchurch Arts Center on a cool and damp evening. After everyone finally took their seats, Rob gave a short introduction to what they would be doing and a warning as to the extreme volumes we were about to experience during their presentation. The venue staff then handed out earplugs to all who wished them, I don't usually bother but I took a pair just to be safe.

 Rob started the show on his own with the acoustic taonga pūoro instruments and feed them through a loop playback machine, building subtle layers of traditional sounds, this part of the presentation needed no earplugs. After a while Rob gave Fis the nod and he chimed in with his electronic sound oscillators and laptops building in volume until the sound became quite physical with the low end rumblings causing the floor and chairs to vibrate. Earplugs were definitely needed at this time. The pair played for just under an hour I think and it is difficult for me to describe the sonic art they produced except it was very loud and there was a lot of low end noise.

 There was a break for drinks and leg stretching before the show recommenced with just Fis solo with his boxes of knobs and buttons. Again it got very loud and physical but it was a very interesting and enjoyable soundscape he created while furiously fiddling with knobs and buttons and leavers etc on his boxes. Overall a very interesting, intense and enjoyable experience.

Evil Kid - Salad Boys - Dogfish - PGX - Darkroom - Christchurch - 9th June 2018

Two nights in a row I get to see some great live music, this time it is back to a regular venue, the Darkroom for the first time this year. Evil Kid hail from Dunedin and the bass player is someone I know from one of the music related Facebook groups I belong to and also he runs a local record label, Monkey Killer Records, and I have bought some records from him, so I hoped to meet him and have a chat.

  They had enlisted support from three local Christchurch bands, two I had not heard of and the third being the Salad Boys, who I have a couple of their records and had seen them play live before and liked their music.

 I arrived just as the doors opened at 9pm, bought a drink and waited for the bands to get set up. Dave from Galaxy Records soon arrived and opened his shop and I had a quick browse through his selections and a chat untill the first band was ready to go on.

 PGX were unfamiliar to me, an all girl band playing a great post punky music that really impressed and had some really cool guitar riffs going on in their bouncy music. Some of he other musos who knew them commented on how far they had come in their playing and songwriting. Look forward to some recordings soon.

Here is a short Video I posted to Facebook during their set.

https://www.facebook.com/Roddus1/videos/10156434267244731/UzpfSTcwNjMxNDczMDoxMDE1NjQzNTYzMzI3NDczMQ/

 Dogfish were next and they too are new to me. Guitar, Drums Keyboard and a sort of electric violin of some sort, they played long jammy instrumentals that I really liked and they appeared a little disorganized but it was a lot of fun.

https://www.facebook.com/Roddus1/videos/10156434327129731/UzpfSTcwNjMxNDczMDoxMDE1NjQzNTYzMjg3NDczMQ/

Evil Kid played next as they decided to let Salad Boys go last they are the best known band of the four. A four piece playing punky indie rock, their songs were all pretty good and catchy and had some great guitar licks that I enjoyed. The singer sounded familiar to me and I confirmed with David, the Bass played after their set that he had in fact been the vocalist of a band called Onanon of whom I have the records they put out on David's monkey killer Records.

https://www.facebook.com/Roddus1/videos/10156434384359731/UzpfSTcwNjMxNDczMDoxMDE1NjQzNTYzMjQ2NDczMQ/

Last up was Salad Boys, playing pretty fast tempo versions of the songs from their last LP, they really punked it up and were full of energy and played a good and enjoyable set. I heard Dave from Galaxy Records mention that the bass and drum players in the band keep changing every time he sees them play and I thought the bass playing was different from the last time I saw them play late last year. I though the Drummer missed a couple of beats also. They were the loudest band of the night and thinks did get a little more distorted, especially the vocals as both the leader and bass player were really screaming the lyrics sometimes and it was a little too much, but overall it was a great and energetic set.

https://www.facebook.com/Roddus1/videos/10156434452409731/UzpfSTcwNjMxNDczMDoxMDE1NjQzNTYzMTk2OTczMQ/

Not sure if you can access these videos links on facebook that I posted and unfortunately the videos are rather jumpy from my phone for some reason.

The Miltones and Emily Fairlight - Blue Smoke - Christchurch 8th June 2018

Been quite a while since I went to see any live music and not through lack of great bands coming through but mainly lack of funds to support my habit. Most spare cash has been used trying to keep up with all the great New Zealand vinyl records being released so far this year and good grief, how did the first half of the year disappear so fast.

 The Miltones the Wife and I saw last year at the same venue(a review of which I seemed to have forgotten to post) and most enjoyable they were on that occasion. As well as their wonderful debut record(which won a Tui for debut of the year) which has impressed me no end since getting hold of a copy.

 Also Emily Fairlight has her first record out and after having a listen on bandcamp, figured I would score a copy at the gig. She whom must be obeyed and myself duly arrived early enough to get a table near the stage and settled in with drinks in anticipation of of Emily taking the stage at 8:30.

 Being a support act I actually expected Emily Fairlight to be flying solo for this gig and so was pleasantly surprised to see a band join her on stage. She mentioned that the band being her southern band, in that they were a group of local musos, collected togeather for this gig. Overall it was a nice set. I was still quite unfamiliar with Emily's music but she has a good voice although her singing did not come through the PA all that clear or her speaking for that matter. There was one piece they did called The Desert, which was an instrumental number and quite experimental and different from the rest of her set and it impressed me the most. Overall both Mrs Roddus and myself  enjoyed her set and I did indeed purchase her record.

  The break between bands was kept reasonably short and soon the Miltones hit the stage and let rip into their rockin' set. The Miltones record is a combination of 70's Fleetwood Mac and modern Americana with their lead singer sounding a lot like Stevie Nicks sometimes. The last time we saw them at Blue Smoke, it was one of their Sunday Sit Down Gigs and the band was purposely restrained but still impressed me considerably with their well constructed and played music. This time they played with much more energy and it was evident from the first song that this band play together so well. The set consisted of several songs from the album, a couple or three new ones including the one that the tour was supporting and a couple of older songs that were not on the album. All that they played was great and the newer stuff bodes very well for the next album. The keyboard player was really getting into his stuff this night and his long hair was flying all over the place as he let rip with some impressive playing as well as a couple of cool trumpet solos. The Guitarist is also very skilled and on their rockier songs played some pretty cool and rocking solos as well. Another most enjoyable set from the Miltones and although their music is a bit more commercial than a lot of what I  usually listen to, I do really like and respect this band and they should be getting much more attention than they appear to be getting at present.