Review: Custard at Milk Bar
Custard at Milk Bar
w/ The Fauves, Lonesome Dove
Friday, December 6, 2024
Brisbane legends Custard formed way back in 1989 and went on to be one of Australia’s most loved indie rock bands of the nineties, putting out a string of great albums before breaking up in 1999. Who would have thought that they would reform in 2015 and release four more albums of their unique brand of cleverly dishevelled pop genius and be touring as strong as ever in 2024!
It’s even more doubtful anyone would have thought their lead singer/songwriter, guitarist, and sometimes drummer, Dave McCormack, would go on to voice a cartoon dog in a wildly, internationally popular children’s animated TV series! While Bluey would certainly be paying the bills, lucky for us, McCormack is a restless creative and prolific songwriter and has brought us an epic new double album, Suburban Curtains, and an accompanying tour.
The boys have been kindly visiting us regularly lately and proved that they are still at the top of their game as live performers—they were always one of those bands that are better and rock harder live. With nineties Aus rock back in a big way, Custard are leading the charge. The Custarenaissance is upon us!
It was perhaps the most appropriately named venue, Custard have ever played, and making this merry night at the Milk Bar even more special, they brought The Fauves with them! The Melbourne band are very much of a similar vintage and also have a new album out. It was a great double bill, and our own local legends, Lonesome Dove kickstarted the night early on.
They were a well-chosen support with their crunchy brand of indie rock conjuring that nineties vibe of Dinosaur Jr., The Smashing Pumpkins and Liz Phair, with heavy, fuzzy guitars and soaring lead riffs complementing the duelling vocals of Nici Ward and Ben Protasiewicz. They are backed by the tight rhythm section of Nick Vasey and drummer Ethan Darnell, also from fellow grungey rockers Tired Lion. After a few years playing around town, scoring some prime supports, the band have been going from strength to strength lately, releasing their WAM Award-nominated debut album, Sucked In, last year.
While they haven’t been around that long, the band all have solid musical chops. Both Ben and Nici have much band experience—Ben as frontman of the much-loved and missed Pat Chow, while Nici had a successful career in Melbourne with her solo project, Nici Blue Eyes. Music is in her blood, as the niece of Suze DeMarchi from Baby Animals, and her mother, Denise De Marchi, is also an acclaimed singer/guitarist. Ward is a natural rockstar with a sweet but sassy voice and an effortless cool on stage.
They were well received by the growing crowd as they featured some songs from their new album. The ferocious Four saw Ben on the lead vocals while Sixteen had Nici up front. They have an ever-growing repertoire with killer, catchy tracks like Bully. A great live band with good songs, there’s much potential for Lonesome Dove to fly.
The Fauves were always an interesting band, who much like Custard, had a unique style and did things their own way. With their new album Tropical Strength out now, they started with a few new tracks from it, kicking off with the jaunty opening track Un-Australians.
Sporting a classic WA t-shirt, lead singer/guitarist Andrew Cox bid the crowd good evening, and was in a chatty mood all night. He promised to wear another WA t-shirt he owned for anyone coming to see the second show the following night at Mojos.
After the new material, they started to delve into their surprisingly deep catalogue. The band have steadily been releasing music since the 90s and have released 13 albums! For a band mostly known for a few fun and funky singles back in the day, they have a wealth and breadth of material, and busted out a great set that seemed to alternate between more droney indie in the vein of The Dandy Warhols and more funky disco vibes with bouncey basslines and synths reminiscent of Regurgitator.
Their last album from 2017 Thousand Yard Stare was featured too with the frenetic Medium Pacer, which is a corker of a track. As well as Going For My Blue Belt and Give Up Your Day Job, before the funk fest continued with (hot) Nairobi Nights from 2002’s Footage Missing.
The crowd were really getting into it and they finished strong pulling out the big hits, from their breakthrough 1996 album Future Spa, with Self Abuser sounding as fresh as ever, before they unleashed the wonky stomp of Dogs Are The Best People complete with three way vocals.
While that seemed like the obvious final track, we were treated to a surprise bonus track, featuring Custard lead guitarist Matthew Strong. This allowed Cox to take off his guitar and jump around the stage a bit, showing off some dynamic moves. They left to applause worthy of a headliner, as Cox acknowledged that there was a lot of love between the band and the boisterous crowd.
The crowd was well and truly primed now, and after a break, it was finally Custard time. They burst onto the stage with the new track Someday, a sweet, catchy little pop song that, on the album, features vocals from Canadian singer-songwriter Serena Ryder. Never Loved Melbourne (Till I Met You), another great track from the new album, followed.
The energy levels were already off the charts. You could never really say Dave has an amazing voice, but there’s something about the way he delivers his slightly off-kilter vocals that gives the songs a certain edge.
He has an unpredictable kind of manic energy on stage. They bounded through Hit Song and Lucky Star as he jerked about in his spotty red shirt, glasses and truckers hat, constantly adjusting his mic stand and shouting random things between songs like, “They said we couldn’t break it down, but we just did!” And then pulled out a megaphone to lead the crowd in a Happy Birthday singalong for drummer Glenn Thompson.
The wonderful Pack Yr Suitcases was delivered at a frenetic pace, with Matt playing some Corona bottle slide as Dave shook the maracas. Pinball Lez saw him hand out a cowbell to someone in front to play along to their punky version of a Ramones-style track. Then suddenly he was running through the crowd with his maracas!
He bounced back onstage for a run-through of I Love You FNQ, one of the heavier tracks from the new album with distorted guitars and Paul Medew’s rumbling bass, while a cool, slow version of The New Matthew had a Pixies-ish vibe, which was fitting with the Pixies shirt Matthew was wearing.
Then, as is tradition, Dave swapped with the Glenn on drums, giving the birthday boy a turn to sing some of his songs—including three from the new record. Black Rinse sounded better live with a great, rolling, retro groove. Their best new single Molecules Colliding sounded awesome and for Coat of Paint, the man of the people, Dave, took a break to watch from the crowd while “Big Russ” took over on drums. The Thompson-fronted set ended with fan-fav Music Is Crap.
Dave was back onstage for Girls Like That (Don’t Go for Guys Like Us) with its swampy disco bass, and he changed the lyrics to “I am considering a move to West Australia.” So many awesome songs, and they’re all so short that they move through them at a rapid rate. Funky Again from 2020’s Respect All Lifeforms sounded great, as it asks the pertinent question of ageing gentlemen—“Will we ever be that funky again?”
Their sweet ode to Jim Henson, Singlette, kept the funk going. It’s one of their earliest songs and still one of their best, from their 1993 Brisbane EP and included on Wahooti Fandango – their 1994 debut LP on the legendary rooArt record label – and it always gets a big reaction.
Then, after pretending to go off stage, they finished the night on a high with an ‘encore’ of one of the greatest Australian singles of all time, Apartment, which saw the crowd go crazy as they tore it up, before everyone had one last little boogie to Ringo (I Feel Like).
The only thing that could have made it any better was to have finished on The Leisurely Everly – the epic closing track of the new album. But it was a cracker of a setlist, and as was overheard afterwards in the men’s room, “A good night of rock ‘n’ roll!”
ALFRED GORMAN
Photos by Karen Lowe
