The Babe Rainbow/Hideous Sun Demon
The Rosemount Hotel
Saturday, December 13, 2014
It was a perfect, mellow evening for the Perth leg of psychedelic garage lords King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard’s whirlwind national tour. The house was packed, the audience were as well behaved as possible and the atmosphere was sensational as King Gizzard and associates took us on a wildly creative and inspirational journey through music.
First on the scene were Perth’s own Hideous Sun Demon. Coming packed with a crunchy, manic sound and some mad vocal stylings, Hideous Sun Demon are gaining some notoriety as one of Perth’s best live outfits for a reason; they’re damn good. Heavy, metallic riffs pounded the crowd’s face while drums slammed precisely and with intent to rock. This was proper head-banging material with a great sense of pace and energy. Not all of the tunes demanded such full body writhing, with a few more laid back, almost surf rock style tunes providing a little aural breathing room. Wrap your ears around these boys at the next given opportunity to ensure your next ecstatic out of body experience is one to remember.
Hailing from Byron Bay, The Babe Rainbow were the next outfit to cruise to the stage. Having missed the ’70s by at least two decades due to not being born yet, this felt like an opportunity to relive some sort of unknown glory years. The word cool is played out, but these boys were cooler than a penguins love spuds in skinny dipping season. Weaving effortlessly through a tight catalogue of bluesy, psychedelic rock numbers, The Babe Rainbow maintained a distinct level of perfection while never becoming mechanical. Humming basslines met washed out licks in new and exciting ways, and the drummer and lead vocalists kicked his lyrics out in a style that was part Roy Orbison and part Curtis Mayfield. Follow that rainbow and you’ll be sure to find a pot of funk.
With hardly a moment’s pause, King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard set off with what would turn out to be one of the greatest live performances I’ve ever seen. The players, while all being perfectly technical in their execution, possessed a sort of telepathy between them that gave the impression that you were listening to one perfect organism. Pace and energy were brought up almost imperceptibly before pulling back, demanding that the listener reach in with their hearts and bodies to meet them. The crowd was a veritable bouncy castle of joy as audience members bounced and crowd surfed to what felt like one endlessly lush Jam. Clocking in at seven pieces, this outfit made such a beautiful, big sound it was impossible not to get lost in the feeling of sonic meandering. The addition of a flautist, who had made his debut of the night with the rainbows, was just another crispy and thoughtfully selected texture to the audio buffet.
For myself, this was a completely fresh and unique experience to see pure musical ability presented in such a palatable and groovy format. This is one of the occasion where words are a flat mimic in comparison to the gnosis attained when the lights are flashing and the lads are making magic. I for one bow down to our reptilian overlords. The Kings put on a live show that the audience will not soon forget, and will surely be eager to repeat.
JAMES HANLON
