Karnivool @ The Greenroom, Canberra
Roquefort Tour
17 March 2006
I had a two choices on the eve of Friday March 17, 2006:
a) I could stay true to my Irish heritage and head straight into the heart of Sydney city to
party with friends and Guinness-fuelled backpackers, ignoring the painful thuds of the music offered by Sydney’s hippest bars
b) Take a three plus hour car trip with loud, crazy Karnivool gig enthusiasts to see said band at Philip’s mighty Greenroom.
I don’t think there was much competition with the latter really. Still, I felt rather horrible as I bailed on my friends with the St Paddy’s day plans to go to Canberra with some lovely folk I had met two weeks prior. Passionate people on the alt rock scene I got to talking to when we both realised after a few years on the scene, we had been in the same mosh many a time.
After a four-hour journey that included too much warm red wine, a Macca’s stop off in jacket-less 10 degree weather and getting lost in the nation’s capital of roundabouts, we finally reached the lovely little town of Philip. Our destination: O’Shea’s pub, which houses the shoebox venue that is the Greenroom.
Let me point out this is not a bad thing. There were some grumblings about the PA being dodgy, yet despite what others have said about the Greenroom, I thought the sound was fan-freakin-tastic. It hits you in the gut just the way you want it to; you don’t even have to be standing directly next to a speaker to get that slight pleasant tingling through your internal organs. My comrades in the front complained about the clarity of the vocals, but from the back of the room and side of stage I got nothing but raves and repeated “Wooooo’s!”…so - go figure.
Local 3-piece act Serenade performed impressively as the only support band on the night. Starting off with the spellbinding yet interestingly hard edged ‘Damaged One’; the crowd only increased with each song. Think a slightly mellower Butterfly Effect. Something that should come as no surprise considering their recorded their 2002 debut ep ‘guninmymouth’ with B.E.’s Dave Leonard
People were getting right into Serenade; there was a lot of swaying and head banging going on simultaneously. However I found their sound overall to be a little repetitive, and towards the end, a bit of a jumbled mess in the not-so-good kinda way. They basically started drowning in their own material.
That is however, until they launched into a cover of Jeff Buckley’s ‘Eternal Life’ as the closer for the set. At the very least I was impressed they took such a risk as a last hurrah AND for the fact it wasn’t ‘Last Goodbye’, a song that has been murdered time and time again. And a bloody good job singer Ben Strong did of it too. He hit all the right notes, yelps and “oh yeeeeaah’s” while the band bashed it out with gusto and we all screamed along. They received a raucous final applause and even though they tried their darndest to keep the smiles off their faces following this response; they were highly unsuccessful!
Ahhh and what can be said about Western Australian 5 piece heavy metal outfit Karnivool (or the ‘Vool’ if you will) that hasn’t already been shouted from the highest point of the rock hinterland? In two words: sheer brilliance. Even with their worst set, the ‘Vool could still wipe the floor with any copycat whiny little emo band or Tool wannabes. The five members of the band are so in sync for such a complex sound you’d think none of them had ever been apart for a day in their life.
From a visual perspective and to the newly converted, lead vocalist Ian Kenny is the heart and soul of the band. The most charismatic lead singer I have seen for eons, he writhes around on stage like a demented lizard, smiles demonically and widely at nothing in particular and wears too cool for school boy clothes that I’m sure makes Angus Young ask himself why he never thought of THAT combination.
Launching the set off with a powerhouse version of ‘Shutterspeed’ it took no time at all for the tiny room to be whipped into an excited frenzy reminiscent of an all ages spectacular. Following personal favourites ‘Fear of the Sky’ and ‘COTE’ (pronounced so-tay and standing for ‘Centre of the Earth’); Kenny’s incredible range is displayed when they treat the breathless audience to a brand spankin’ called ‘New Day’. The guitars soar, Steve Judd's awesome drumming sounds almost tribal and the whole crowd stops and stares with gaping mouths and wonders how the hell they can already be so into a song that has just been unleashed upon them.
Yes, mark my words, you WILL get some seriously spiritual moments at a Karnivool show. And like good date, it comes around when you least expect it. The band thunders into a song that is their most intriguing live track hands-down – a little ditty called ‘Lifelike’. It starts heavy, big drums, thrashed guitars and descends into a melodic tale of woe, begging to not feel the heartbreaking effects of a doomed relationship. The interesting part comes when the band samples Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Game’ just before repeating the chorus. Every lost soul in the place feels like instantly bursting into tears whilst the rest remain amazed an acoustic love song now sounds like it was made for heavy metal. Therein lies the magic of the ‘Vool. No matter what they do they take you to another place – but it could just as easily be floating on a cloud as rockin out in the fiery pits of hell.
The set is at its most frenetic point as the band rip through heavier songs such as ‘Headcase’, ‘Scarabs’, ‘Fade’ and ‘Mauseum’. The purely instrumental tracks are thoroughly breathtaking, with Kenny leaving the stage and bassist John Stockman stalking across the stage wowing the musos in the crowd and make the ladies swoon. Gigantic grins were plastered on the faces of every sweaty, grateful punter in the pit.
But if the roof could have been lifted off Canberra’s finest live gig venue, it would have when the boys well and truly sunk their teeth into current radio smash ‘Roquefort’. The buzz in the air reached fever pitch as guitarist Andrew ‘Drew’ Goddard asked the audience “Eh, does anyone know how to play the trumpet?”. Even though no brass instruments coutesy of the Cat Empire ended up in this particular version of the song, the plain old edition of ‘Roquefort’ that appears on the album ‘Themata’ did everybody just fiiiiine. The most enthusiastic sing-along occurred here, with Kenny asking the audience to question whether they wanted to “Chaaaase this rabbit down a hole..”. Fantastic stuff and appropriate too. Every patron in the joint was like a small furry animal eating out of his hand.
The crescendo would not have happened of course, without the grand closer to the set that was ‘Themata’. The title track to the debut album that has garnered a massive amount of industry praise and saw them win yet another West Australian Music Award (WAMI) earlier this year. Despite a slight stuff up and a start over of the song due to a freak out on behalf of Drew’s guitar; I could not help but go completely mental for this incredible live track. Majestically dropping up and down in melody and tempo, it is controlled chaos at its very very best. If Kenny’s voice is at its greatest on any one song, this is it. The fine backing vocals of Mark Hosking on guitar should also not be overlooked – the song is a thousand times stronger for them.
In the popular new tradition of Aussie bands NOT doing encores, Karnivool join COG as the cool kids at the back of the bus.
Stupendous, awesome and ever-evolving. If you havent seen the ‘Vool live get your arse to the Come Together festival in June even if you see NO ONE else. You probably won’t need to, so euphoric is their effect, after you scrape yourself from the ceiling you'll need a good lie down just to digest, reflect and breathe.
Roquefort Tour
17 March 2006
I had a two choices on the eve of Friday March 17, 2006:
a) I could stay true to my Irish heritage and head straight into the heart of Sydney city to
party with friends and Guinness-fuelled backpackers, ignoring the painful thuds of the music offered by Sydney’s hippest bars
b) Take a three plus hour car trip with loud, crazy Karnivool gig enthusiasts to see said band at Philip’s mighty Greenroom.
I don’t think there was much competition with the latter really. Still, I felt rather horrible as I bailed on my friends with the St Paddy’s day plans to go to Canberra with some lovely folk I had met two weeks prior. Passionate people on the alt rock scene I got to talking to when we both realised after a few years on the scene, we had been in the same mosh many a time.
After a four-hour journey that included too much warm red wine, a Macca’s stop off in jacket-less 10 degree weather and getting lost in the nation’s capital of roundabouts, we finally reached the lovely little town of Philip. Our destination: O’Shea’s pub, which houses the shoebox venue that is the Greenroom.
Let me point out this is not a bad thing. There were some grumblings about the PA being dodgy, yet despite what others have said about the Greenroom, I thought the sound was fan-freakin-tastic. It hits you in the gut just the way you want it to; you don’t even have to be standing directly next to a speaker to get that slight pleasant tingling through your internal organs. My comrades in the front complained about the clarity of the vocals, but from the back of the room and side of stage I got nothing but raves and repeated “Wooooo’s!”…so - go figure.
Local 3-piece act Serenade performed impressively as the only support band on the night. Starting off with the spellbinding yet interestingly hard edged ‘Damaged One’; the crowd only increased with each song. Think a slightly mellower Butterfly Effect. Something that should come as no surprise considering their recorded their 2002 debut ep ‘guninmymouth’ with B.E.’s Dave Leonard
People were getting right into Serenade; there was a lot of swaying and head banging going on simultaneously. However I found their sound overall to be a little repetitive, and towards the end, a bit of a jumbled mess in the not-so-good kinda way. They basically started drowning in their own material.
That is however, until they launched into a cover of Jeff Buckley’s ‘Eternal Life’ as the closer for the set. At the very least I was impressed they took such a risk as a last hurrah AND for the fact it wasn’t ‘Last Goodbye’, a song that has been murdered time and time again. And a bloody good job singer Ben Strong did of it too. He hit all the right notes, yelps and “oh yeeeeaah’s” while the band bashed it out with gusto and we all screamed along. They received a raucous final applause and even though they tried their darndest to keep the smiles off their faces following this response; they were highly unsuccessful!
Ahhh and what can be said about Western Australian 5 piece heavy metal outfit Karnivool (or the ‘Vool’ if you will) that hasn’t already been shouted from the highest point of the rock hinterland? In two words: sheer brilliance. Even with their worst set, the ‘Vool could still wipe the floor with any copycat whiny little emo band or Tool wannabes. The five members of the band are so in sync for such a complex sound you’d think none of them had ever been apart for a day in their life.
From a visual perspective and to the newly converted, lead vocalist Ian Kenny is the heart and soul of the band. The most charismatic lead singer I have seen for eons, he writhes around on stage like a demented lizard, smiles demonically and widely at nothing in particular and wears too cool for school boy clothes that I’m sure makes Angus Young ask himself why he never thought of THAT combination.
Launching the set off with a powerhouse version of ‘Shutterspeed’ it took no time at all for the tiny room to be whipped into an excited frenzy reminiscent of an all ages spectacular. Following personal favourites ‘Fear of the Sky’ and ‘COTE’ (pronounced so-tay and standing for ‘Centre of the Earth’); Kenny’s incredible range is displayed when they treat the breathless audience to a brand spankin’ called ‘New Day’. The guitars soar, Steve Judd's awesome drumming sounds almost tribal and the whole crowd stops and stares with gaping mouths and wonders how the hell they can already be so into a song that has just been unleashed upon them.
Yes, mark my words, you WILL get some seriously spiritual moments at a Karnivool show. And like good date, it comes around when you least expect it. The band thunders into a song that is their most intriguing live track hands-down – a little ditty called ‘Lifelike’. It starts heavy, big drums, thrashed guitars and descends into a melodic tale of woe, begging to not feel the heartbreaking effects of a doomed relationship. The interesting part comes when the band samples Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Game’ just before repeating the chorus. Every lost soul in the place feels like instantly bursting into tears whilst the rest remain amazed an acoustic love song now sounds like it was made for heavy metal. Therein lies the magic of the ‘Vool. No matter what they do they take you to another place – but it could just as easily be floating on a cloud as rockin out in the fiery pits of hell.
The set is at its most frenetic point as the band rip through heavier songs such as ‘Headcase’, ‘Scarabs’, ‘Fade’ and ‘Mauseum’. The purely instrumental tracks are thoroughly breathtaking, with Kenny leaving the stage and bassist John Stockman stalking across the stage wowing the musos in the crowd and make the ladies swoon. Gigantic grins were plastered on the faces of every sweaty, grateful punter in the pit.
But if the roof could have been lifted off Canberra’s finest live gig venue, it would have when the boys well and truly sunk their teeth into current radio smash ‘Roquefort’. The buzz in the air reached fever pitch as guitarist Andrew ‘Drew’ Goddard asked the audience “Eh, does anyone know how to play the trumpet?”. Even though no brass instruments coutesy of the Cat Empire ended up in this particular version of the song, the plain old edition of ‘Roquefort’ that appears on the album ‘Themata’ did everybody just fiiiiine. The most enthusiastic sing-along occurred here, with Kenny asking the audience to question whether they wanted to “Chaaaase this rabbit down a hole..”. Fantastic stuff and appropriate too. Every patron in the joint was like a small furry animal eating out of his hand.
The crescendo would not have happened of course, without the grand closer to the set that was ‘Themata’. The title track to the debut album that has garnered a massive amount of industry praise and saw them win yet another West Australian Music Award (WAMI) earlier this year. Despite a slight stuff up and a start over of the song due to a freak out on behalf of Drew’s guitar; I could not help but go completely mental for this incredible live track. Majestically dropping up and down in melody and tempo, it is controlled chaos at its very very best. If Kenny’s voice is at its greatest on any one song, this is it. The fine backing vocals of Mark Hosking on guitar should also not be overlooked – the song is a thousand times stronger for them.
In the popular new tradition of Aussie bands NOT doing encores, Karnivool join COG as the cool kids at the back of the bus.
Stupendous, awesome and ever-evolving. If you havent seen the ‘Vool live get your arse to the Come Together festival in June even if you see NO ONE else. You probably won’t need to, so euphoric is their effect, after you scrape yourself from the ceiling you'll need a good lie down just to digest, reflect and breathe.
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