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For the unfamiliar, Wiki says their name was chosen at random. One interview points towards a desire of the desired name to be “absurd and non-sensical, but as colourful as possible.” There you have it.
Beginning in Australia in 2014, the band has five albums to its credit, which trend from jam-based psychedelic (trippy sounding) rock to more aggressive hard rock. The evening would include selections from all five and started with an explosive start with “Tally-Ho,” a fairly straightforward and melodic heavy rocker. Energy. Entertainment. It’s what the fans want.
The band met that expectation with a series of riff heavy songs with big beats. “Lava Lamp Pisco,” “Bill’s Mandolin” and “Mundungus” followed keeping the energy high. But it was “Found God in a Tomato” that caught the crowd, a more intricate, nuanced and extended song with catchy riffs that emphasized the psychedelic/jam band aspects that formed their identity and won their fans.
Lyric snippet:
I’m barely operating
Yet a functional being
I always seemed to be vacant
Parading myself as an abductee
Then one day I was transposed
From a simple young man
To a godly tomato that held all existence
And told me that we should expand.
Take trippy lyrics (often drug related), add lots of fuzz guitar, dial in a measured dose of keyboard squiggles = psychedelic rock. This song was the highlight of the night, but good stuff was yet to come.
“With that, the party was on, with balloons being tossed about, moshing, crowd-surfing and fist pumping.
November” followed which has a little bit of a slacker tone, is slower paced and stretches out musically, a great respite from the heights of “Tomato.”
“Mr. Prism,” “Hymn for a Droid,” and “Acid Dent,” followed, which are riff heavy rockers, evidence that the band doesn’t want to rest solely in an already bloated psychedelic genre, while still letting the band try more straightforward song structures while keeping their fuzz heavy tonal preferences.
But… their early work remains a strength, and the band closed with three songs from their first album, which still emphasized that psychedelic rock is still rock.
Jack McEwan was a great host, engaging the crowd often with his English/Australian accent (born in one, moved to the other). Audiences are easy prey for foreign accents. He and Luke Parish split guitar solo duties and both excelled.
Terminal West was a great host for the band. The sound was solid and the the lighting added energy to the show, including projected backgrounds of the expected trippy variety. The venue is fairly unique for its adjacent room for beverages, light food and chairs and a small balcony entered from a rear smoking area that, this night, featured a cool breeze. Even with those options, the concert floor was jammed to the edge of the bars at the rear.
Opener Acid Dad featured a ten song set to liven the arriving crowd. A trio from Brooklyn, they at times offered a similar mix psychedelic influences, but generally sported a vocal styling and riff heavy garage rock influence that pulled fans close and held their attention throughout the performance.
Setlist:
Encore:
