Much Better Sundays

Fighting the Shakes, Punchbowl, Pink Flamingos, Fanuc Man, The Worm, Alabaster Theatre and Death Rattle

Happy, Saturday 16th of June

How awesome was this? Bernie Galaxy presented us with a “showcase” of fresh Wellington music at Happy to celebrate his birthday.  Rumour had it that his birthday was actually a month ago and that this was his third party. 

Best new idea? Entry was $10 or a present; the presents won out by far. Bernie even gave them away at the end of the night. General consensus was that this was such a super idea that you can expect to see it again; in fact, I fully support rejecting currency entirely and returning to a system of barter and trade. It’s so much more fun! It was suggested that the effort put into a present would be determined by how awesome you expect the bands playing to be.

Best bands I hadn’t seen before? Number one: Alabaster Theatre. Yay! I heard it said that these guys used to have a big Goth following, but have now altered their style a bit. Best musical comparison would probably be Muse. Kind of melodious hard rock with guitar harmonies and synth-organ-like sounds. Reminds me of ocean waves, I can’t say why. I loved the fact that these guys look like the token stereotypes of four different genres: spiked hair, ripped shirt punk rock on the drums; high eyebrowed, cooler than black ice Goth on the fretless bass (that guy can play!); sandy, bearded alt-country on lead guitar and vocals; and the indie-electro birthday boy himself, Bernie, Frase+Bri t-shirt and shock of hair intact, on the keytar. Oh, but how they blend together…  There is hope for our fragmented world.

Secondly, Fanuc Man. For some reason, I can never remember their name. Anyway, I was actually involved in conversation throughout most of their set. But I do recall being surprised when the three of them (drums, guitar, synth) got up on stage. I think my words were, ‘Oh, they look nice.’ And I was pleasantly surprised when they started to play rocky, synthy tunes with lots of melodious, screamy vocals. Very current. Note them down.

Thirdly, Punchbowl. These girls are hot! I mean, really. But also metaphorically. It’s nice to see girls stop being nice and start being people. Musically, it’s hardcore that’s not too hard. Danceable. Also, polished and pulled together and slick. And angry; song titles include ‘You Can Stick That in My Silver Ring’ and ‘Pox Photo’ – “If I had a camera tonight/You could go home and check out my site/But I came to watch some bands play a show/Not some fucking rich kids pose… Let’s not be cool tonight/Cos it’s never that fun if you gotta dress right”. It’s all so, oh, refreshing. It’s nice to see people care about something other than their hair.

Did you miss it? Bernie tells me that he’s planning to have another showcase in a month or so (start making presents). I’m looking forward to it, just to go out on Saturday night and be reminded that there are so many bands in Wellington that haven’t yet been heard of, discovered and chewed over. This city is churning out fresh, interesting new bands at a rate of knots. Just like the southerly breezes. Wintertime is here, but the people are still dancing.              

It’s actually just a front. We’re going to start an ice cream campaign, says Grayson Gilmour, 25% of So So Modern (Inc.). ‘We thought it was a good opportunity, to begin an indie band and use that as a foundation to invest in the ice cream industry.’ ‘Colourful, karma-free ice cream,’ says Dan Nagels (who hits things with sticks, rhythmically). Aidan Leong, who, with Grayson, builds sound from pure energy via a “synthesiser”, forms another four sixteenths. Mark Leong (also synth, no relation) is not present. I suspect that they have removed him from the space-time continuum because he threatened to disclose their secret intentions to travel through wormholes on the backs of giant serpents.

If So So Modern was an inanimate object, what would it be? ‘It’s an electric toothbrush. It’s efficient and all about dental hygiene,’ Aidan says. ‘I’m still sticking with the push pop. It’s flavour you can suck,’ says Grayson. ‘How about an electric toothbrush with a push pop on the bottom, so you can enjoy it and then clean your teeth?’ Aidan suggests. ‘We’d be a faceless, soulless multi national corporation,’ says Dan. ‘So So Modern Incorporated,’ Grayson says. ‘We’d probably be a dot com. A communist torrent site!’ 

If you like music, live in New Zealand and haven’t heard of So So Modern (Inc.) then you are decidedly strange. Please become normal fast. This is, after all, the only band that I have actually seen smash an instrument on stage. While you have been brain dead, Wellington’s darlings have begun to execute their plan for world domination, beginning with an international tour, spanning the United States, London and Germany. I’ve heard that people over there quite liked them. They have now released a piece of musical merchandise, Friendly Fires, and, once they’ve finished gladdening our homely hearts, ‘would like to travel over some more oceans’.

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