Maverick Firebird album launch @ Badlands
w/ Yomi Ship, Moonlighter, Datura4
Friday, July 14, 2017
Friday night I was honoured to witness the launch of Maverick’s new album Firebird at Badlands. It had been a while since I’d graced Badlands. If you haven’t been since the change, it now has a huge festival-vibe beer garden with a automatic roof to shelter you from the elements when needed. The beer garden caters for both smokers and non-smokers and has the capacity for 200 people and they even have awesome food trucks in the beer garden every Friday and Saturday night from 7pm until late. There main room has the capacity to fit 500 people, hosting the hottest local, national and international live music shows in town every Friday and Saturday night until midnight with a DJ kicking on afterwards until 2am. They have a much bigger and nicer stage, with a PA to match!
First up tonight was Yomi Ship, a band that I have heard a lot about, but had never seen play live until tonight and I am glad I did. Playing to a relatively small crowd, but a crowd who had the attention of the band as soon as they started playing. A three piece instrumental band, with brothers Nick Osborne on drums and Jarred Osborne on guitar, and Jade Champion on bass. Yomi Ship have a very interesting dynamic and diversity in their sound and songs. Their genre is hard to pinpoint, but I would say their sound lies in-between a 70’s – 90’s psychedelic prog rock with an interesting use of key changes and time signatures, sounding like they were heavily influenced by Pink Floyd, which isn’t a bad thing at all. I was pleasantly surprised to see girl bassist Jade Champion (because, lets face it, there are not enough female musicians out there!) and man could she play. With groovy rundowns and a good sense of space, she locked in with the brothers. Quite a shy and timid band, which I guess is to be expected for a young band, but their confidence is only going to flourish as they play more. I definitely see Yomi Ship going far.
Next up was another three piece band, Moonlighter. As soon as they started playing I was hooked, I love the blues and I could hear Stevie Ray Vaughan and Hendrix. Showing of his skills and nice boots, Sascha Seabourne-Carlin led the band with strong vocals, his guitar tone and wailing bluesy riffs that stood out straight away. With an extremely tight rhythm section consisting of David Brennan on drums and Connor Hart on bass, this band had me wanting more. A very energetic and transfixing band right from the start, another band to keep an eye on, as I’m sure they will be gracing many of the Aussie festivals soon.
Datura4 were up next, a band that I have seen many many times before, and who I could see over and over again without ever getting bored. With legendary rocker of The Stems, Dom Mariani, on vocals and guitar, Greg Hitchcock from The Bamboos on lead/ slide guitar, this ballsy psychedelic blues band boasts an all star line up, with Stu Loasby on bass, and Warren Hall (Wazza), former drummer for The Drones, on drums. You couldn’t ask for better people to be playing music with.
Expressive slide and lead guitar from Greg Hitchcock, fuzzed up tight rhythm guitar from Dom Mariani.
You can tell these guys are well rehearsed as they are tight as. They played an amazing range of dynamic songs, moving vocals from Mariani and Hitchcock, Stu and Wazza locked in together as one, I just love this band and I guarantee you will too. If you haven’t had the pleasure of seeing Datura4 yet then do yourself a favour and check them out, you won’t regret it!
If you don’t know much about Maverick they are a four piece, denim wearing, 70s inspired, groove blues rock band, fronted by singer/rhythm guitarist Craig Jovanovic, Mark De Vattimo on lead guitar and backing vocals, Simon Hallett on bass and backing vocals and Nick Dudman on drums. Throughout the night I could see the crowd growing, and as the crowd soaked their already damaged livers with booze, they moved more and more as the night progressed. But I could tell that this wasn’t because of the alcohol, this audience was generally having a great fucking time! The energy in the room had heightened as the night moved on, and as Maverick stepped up on stage, the crowd stepped in closer and waited in anticipation for them to begin… and holy shit… they were on fire! From the get go, Maverick had the audience hypnotised and captivated, opening with original song Free, this ballsy piece captured Craig’s powerful and soulful voice. Simon’s infectious, driving funk rundowns flourished through the set while still sitting nicely with the band, personally he is one of my favourite bass players in Perth. Mark’s expressive and intense soaring solos made you feel things you never had before, it was almost as though he was telling a story with his guitar. And of course Nick’s strong drumming holding the band together with the strongest glue you could find.
They included three covers in their set which had the crowd singing along in return. They played Jumping Jack Flash by The Rolling Stones, Whole Lotta Rosie by ACDC and my personal favourite which showcased Craig’s vocal control With A Little Help From My Friends, inspired by the classic Joe Cocker, also joining the stage for backing vocals and tambo Kylie Soanes and Ama Quinsee from local all girl rock band Legs Electric, as well as Marissa De Vattimo, which added a nice vibe for the final song.
Maverick’s lively and energetic stage presence made me want to join in to the crowd’s head banging and dance moves as everyone’s endorphins were going off in some natural high. Maverick are the new and upcoming, they are a hard working band that have stepped up their game faster than I’ve seen any band do considering they have only been together since mid 2015.
ABBY FUZZZ
Photos by J-FFoto
