Pacific Avenue set their Soft Machines to maximum, and blast out original songs heavily invested in classic Sixties Rockarolla but without sounding derivative at all.
They have a keen sense of the Wild Gift of Rock’n’roll as defined by X, on the Los Angeles Rockabilly Punks best album. Their energy level and approach remind me of watching an early Arctic Monkeys concert at the St James in Auckland with two teenage sons.
Harry O’Brien lead vocal and guitar, Jack Kay bass and vocals, Ben Fryer lead guitar and Dom Littrich drums.
They come from Gerringong in New South Wales, just down the coast a bit from Seed-Knee. The name may translate from the Aboriginal to fearful place. That may be part of the alchemy and voodoo.
Their debut album Flowers (2023) resulted from the youthful exuberance of flatting together, partying at the drop of a boomerang, and revelling in the feeling of invincibility and seemingly unbridled freedom. Lots of testosterone too.
Sounds like they are combining the Young Ones and the Monkees, at the level of wish fulfilment and fantasy.
Over their short tenure they have supported the Wombats (are these the Australian tree bears?) and Tash Sultana (we know she’s not).
Spin Me Like Your Records. A flying start for them. Mitchell Starc opening the bowling and trying to take out the Kiwis’ straight away.
This is their first international show even if it is just across the ditch. I’m puzzled that they obviously haven’t played in Tasmania then.
Spin me like your records, darling/ So if you say tonight, I’ll give you everything. These guys are smart enough to reference Robert Johnson and Phonograph Blues. In metaphor at least.
This is good, effective Power Pop but they crank it up from there.
City Lights draws on the Fab Four unashamedly. The sound of Beatlemania and the close harmony vocals of classic Merseyside. They sing about turning the stereo up and washing all their obstacles away. Near the end they throw in a vocal coda imitating the ones the Beatles used on their legendary version of Twist and Shout. It was actually shared amongst the Liverpool Beat Groups.
Leaving For London. They make the Beatlemania influence even more explicit with their finest unison vocals. If I’ve gotta get a ticket to ride/ She’s leaving for London/ You could be my roller-coaster.
Strawberry Daydream. The hard on-point singing and rock guitar flourishes, and they have a good crack at the Oasis legacy.
O’Brien has in interesting tenor voice. At times listening to the album, I wondered whether they had a female lead singer. He has the same timbre as Davy Jones of the Monkees. He cranks it up to higher energy levels and the only other one I can compare him to is David Surkamp of Pavlov’s Dog.
Kay the bass player has a similar timbre, only more so. They are versatile enough to play with variation on their combined vocals.
On Dancing Queen (yes, that one) they turn it into a dirty Rock version. As if Bon Scott was trying to find a way of turning AC-DC into Punk. Not what you would expect at all, and satisfyingly irreverent.
Well, Sid Vicious and Glen Matlock were absolutely girly gaga over ABBA.
The opening acts are both Grrl Power going Pop.
Mila Guttenbiel lead singer and rhythm guitar has a brash charisma to belie her age, and does remind me of the young Benee (when she was the same age in a band called Bene). A strident young girl voice, which she pushes up to the maximum and gets our attention.
Georgia Wallace lead guitar, Elliot Smart drums and Imogen Pierce bass.
They play their current self-penned singles, Oblivious, Alibi and Girl Named Sue. Concise little Power Pop songs which they sprinkle judiciously with Rock guitar licks.
They do one called Gin and Tonic which starts with Garage Rock guitar. Has a New Wave style with a loping guitar riff and a solid bass anchor. They could resemble the Donnas.
They make a nice racket with a cover of the Kings of Leon’s Sex on Fire.
Certainly promising as a young band. You do need good drum attack to stand out from the herd these days.
Last night in Wellington, she played in that band as support act to Pacific Avenue.
Tonight, it’s her Rafflyn project. She plays a harder edged Power Pop assisted by her three band-members James bass, Doug drums and Ellis on guitar.
A meshed guitar sound with enough sparks generated to satisfy. The engine room bass and drums supply all the forward momentum energy.
That’s what we hear on She, Overdrive and Canopy.
Seventeen suffers from a vocal being buried. I was interested to see how it compared to the Sex Pistols song of the same name. The band carry it over. Written when she was that age and pissed off about the world.
A cover of Ruby Field’s Pretty Grim is a highlight. I’m hungover again/ Fourth weeknight on the piss/ I’m barely scraping rent. The song reflects pent-up rage, and she can approach the phrasing of a Miley Cyrus.
Corduroy Boy has some of the style of a Dresden Doll tune. Can get fraught and edgy.
Not full tonight, but word-of-mouth will spread the word, I am sure.
Easy Love has garnered a lot of international attention. Maybe the heaviest Rock number tonight with loads of lead guitar flash.
The finish with Something Good. Ringing guitars and a driving down the highway song on the EP Strawberry Skies. Tonight, it gets a supercharged Rock guitar makeover, and they get it to fly.
Pacific Avenue are surprisingly good. They are aiming high if their sights are on Oasis. I am picking them to get there, since they are so close already.
Rev. Orange Peel
