THE GRATES, THE PANICS, ED KUEPPER, EXPATRIATE, DAVE McCORMACK, RED RIDERS, DAPPLED CITIES FLY, MACROMANTICS, PURPLE SNEAKERS feat. PhDJ, BIT BY BATS, WHITLEY, WONS PHREELY, OPERATOR PLEASE, THE TEMPER TRAP, VIOLENT SOHO, YVES KLEIN BLUE, RED GHOST + more to be announced.
Photo credits: Marc Grimwade
PAUHAUS FESTIVAL - TIME OFF REVIEW
Brisbane Powerhouse: 09.06.07
What better way to have a housewarming after a substantial reno than by inviting 1300-odd of your closest friends to a nine-hour knees-up? That’s just what our lady of Lamington Street is doing today - the new, improved Brisbane Powerhouse is lifting her skirts and kicking up her heels in celebration.
And what a celebration! A true youth festival, everyone’s hyper but well-behaved, all ages are represented here and it’s very much a family affair, cementing the Powerhouse’s rep as just a big, swanky community centre. Thankfully, a lot of the modifications are unseen - the industrial unpretentiousness of the Powerhouse remains intact.
You can lose your bass player, you can break a debilitating amount of strings and you can still be the best rock band in this town right now! Being first up on the revamped Turbine Stage doesn’t stop Violent Soho from drawing a sizeable crowd and giving 100 per cent, as well as giving the kids an awesome introduction to the legendary God.
Yves Klein Blue’s thin Franz Ferdinand-patented sound has trouble filling the cavernous Powerhouse Theatre. Dinky melodies and being hopeless romantics does little to raise their songs above curiosity value - but the silent film playing all the while behind them on the brickwork is an interesting distraction.
Gold Coast kids Operator Please power into a set suffused with the kind of energy only youngsters like them can muster. Just watching them makes you feel old, and the three levels of crowd (perched on overhanging gantries) get proportionately more grizzled the further away from the band they’re standing, while the kids down the front are having a blast. One imagines the same kind of crowd protocol is in force at a Wiggles gig. Nevertheless, the five turn in a solid set of 60s-influenced summery pop, laced with some frenetic fiddlework courtesy of Taylor. This young band are on top of their game.
The Temper Trap frontman Dougy blows out his amp after the blistering instrumental intro, opening a set plagued with technical difficulties for the band - but they cover it well, mixing up their set list and switching out instruments, maintaining a good mood and keeping the crowd’s energy up throughout. These lads are all twinkling guitarwork and epic, cinematic drums, and the backdrop of silent flicks fits their sound perfectly.
Bit By Bats are in-your face, with their fast, bombastic indie-pop seemingly without letup from the very start of their packed set until the end. However, there’s a weird soullessness to their sound and it’s all somehow samey. The perfect act for the mid-arvo slump at a festival.
There’s clearly a dedicated little following here to see Macromantics, and the Melbourne MC is certainly one of the most distinctive acts on the Pauhaus roster. Livening it up with a little bit of hip-hop, Miss Macro shows off her clever rhymes, agile freestyling and breathless energy, backed up ably by faithful DJ Amy. One thing, though - at the end of her set, the number of times she’s said the word ‘Macro’ seems like a thousand!
How much do Red Riders want to be Bloc Party? A lot. Trying for the same kind of sound but falling a little short, they’re heading down the right path at least. In their favour, though, they’re a fucking tight band with a first-rate sense of timing. The only thing tighter than their playing is their jeans.
Downstairs in the VISY Theatre, punters are packing themselves in to witness David McCormack in full flight. Surely this is the best way to see him, in the round, interacting with an audience which clearly loves him as much as he loves us. His charm, wit and relentless self-deprecating deconstruction of his own songs (and indeed the entire songwriting craft) is a breath of fresh air. Cries for ‘Balloonist’ don’t go unanswered - it’s a worthy set-closer.
There’s something wholesome, even Beatle-esque about The Panics tonight, captivating the restless room with their assortment of indie melodies and laconic swagger. The band jokes and makes their way through their set like we’re a big bunch of friends at a barbeque, not a mini-festival in a newly refurbished power station.
While the kids are upstairs, the older members of the crowd are downstairs soaking up the homespun ambience of Ed Kuepper, tonight dueting with a cellist. It’s not Jeffery Wegner, but it’s an interesting accompaniment. Unfortunately though, it adds little to his already impossibly consistent performance, the heavy and colloquial mood hanging thick throughout his set.
Headliners The Grates create a rare scene on the Turbine Stage with a ‘happy moshpit’ the response to their set. By now, it’s certain that the infectious pop created by these three rascals from the Redlands will never wear thin, favourites like ‘Sukkafish’, ‘Trampoline’ and ’19-20-20’ sounding just as vibrant and wonderful as the first time you discovered them. It’s the new songs though that are the most exciting (and ROCK!), ‘Blue November’ alone making this all-day indoor excursion worth every penny.
ALEX GILLIES & BAZ McALISTER
With your wristbands and stubby cooler gathering dust in the corner, your sunburn long healed and the ringing in your ears just a sweet memory, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the Queensland music festival season had ended until next summer – fear not!
Secret Service and Brisbane Powerhouse are thrilled to bring you PAUHAUS: a festival of contemporary music on Saturday 9 June!
Celebrating the re-opening of the refurbished building across the Queen’s Birthday weekend, PAUHAUS - a spin on the term Bauhaus used to describe a rich period of art and architecture in Europe throughout the 1920s - will take over Brisbane Powerhouse encompassing all performance areas and featuring some of Australia’s best indie, rock, guitar, acoustic and electronic artists and bands.
Curated by Paul Piticco (Dew Process Recordings/Splendour in the Grass), PAUHAUS plans to help put the Powerhouse back on Brisbane’s live music radar.
Performing at the inaugural PAUHAUS festival is: THE GRATES, THE PANICS, ED KUEPPER,EXPATRIATE,DAVID McCORMACK , DAPPLED CITIES FLY, MACROMANTICS, PURPLE SNEAKERS feat. PhDJ, BIT BY BATS, WHITLEY, WONS PHREELY, OPERATOR PLEASE, THE TEMPER TRAP ,VIOLENT SOHO, YVES KLEIN BLUE,RED GHOST + more to be announced. Little ones, never fear - PAUHAUS is all-ages! If you're over 18 and wish to drink, please bring photo ID. PAUHAUS is fully licensed.
Check out www.pauhausfestival.com and www.myspace.com/pauhausfestival for more info and to sign up to the mailing list. PAUHAUS is supported by Time Off, Triple J and fasterlouder.com.au
Time Off failed to report on Dappled Cities and Expatriate, perhaps the two top acts of the festival. For me, anyway. And Red Riders sound nothing like Bloc Party, as far as I'm concerned. Both bands are awesome but in their own ways.
I have photos of the festival up on my flickr site, if anyone's interested. Majority of the photos are Dappled Cities and Expatriate, but also getting a look in are Operator Please, Bit By Bats, Whitley, Red Riders and the Panics.
Hey guys, I hope all is going well. I'm the coordinator of an initiative called Platform. It's a showcase of female musicians and aims to promote them and support their original music.
Platform now has a page of its own and I'm aiming for as many females to be a part of it and support it, as possible.
If you could go to this page and add it, that would be awesome!
