Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever @ Rosemount Hotel
w/ Body Type, Tanaya Harper
Friday, October 5, 2018
Spirits were high at the Rosemount Hotel in anticipation for the sold-out show for wunderkinds Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever (or just “C.F.” these days) on the strength of two well-received EPs and debut LP Hope Downs on SubPop Records internationally a few months ago to high critical praise.
Tanaya Harper was first up, armed only with an electric guitar and voice. The heartfelt tunes were propelled by a strong voice and nifty chops on the guitar. The venue began to fill up towards the end of her set, giving the early punters some memorable tunes to soak up.
Body Type (great name!), an all-female pop rock band located in Sydney, provided some style and sass for the evening’s proceedings. Most numbers were upbeat pop ditties, with a few slower stately numbers thrown to give their set variety. Although the drums were a bit too far down in the mix for my liking, the accomplished bass playing held down the tracks admirably. A highlight was Futurism from their forthcoming EP – a mini-epic that went to some interesting places. Despite a few rough edges, especially beginning and endings, Body Type show promise and were a wise choice to support.
Rolling Blackouts C.F. have been the “it” band of Australian indie rock of late, with a great jangly sound, driving rhythms and a seemingly endless supply of catchy vocal and melodic hooks. Yes, they do channel the Go-Betweens melodically somewhat, but this is more a compliment to their songwriting prowess with Aussie stylings, not unlike The Church or Brisbane’s Blank Realm. Another influence for the pacey, driving aspects of their sound may be New Jersey’s The Feelies who were mostly active in the 1980s – I suspect there could be a few of their records lurking in these guys’ collections.
Rolling Blackouts C.F. took the stage at around 9.30pm with some cheesy disco as an intro theme. They launched straight in to Hammer from new LP Hope Downs to get the venue moving. Further faster numbers followed, including Talking Straight which really got the pace going, with a motorik driving verse and shout-along chorus. The crowd was certainly up for the gig, with many dancing and bopping to the tunes.
On any given song, the vocals are shared by the front men, which makes for intriguing viewing live. And just as they sound on record, live they are an extremely tight band with all players locked in time, wonderful to experience in a small venue like the Rosemount and its great sound system.
A focus on Hope Downs material followed, including An Air Conditioned Man and Exclusive Grave. A short break, replete with some banter and questions to the crowd about how they felt about the “Weagles” (answer: a few murmurs of positivity, but mostly indifferent silence until it was revealed they support the Bombers) set up the home stretch. Mainland sounded fantastic and was followed by two classics from the French Press EP: the earnest Fountain of Good Fortune and closer French Press that got punters singing along.
After a short break, the band regaled the crowd with two more pacey numbers, finishing up with Wide Eyes from the French Press EP. All up, a great, tight, energetic show by a hot Aussie band coming into the peak of their talents made for a great Friday night out.
PAUL DOUGHTY
Photos by Linda Dunjey
