Weekly Live Music Review is a regular online feature where Guangzhou-based musician Kirby Carney reviews a live performance in the PRD.
This past weekend was the final of Hooley's 8th Annual Battle of the Bands. If you didn't get a chance to attend, here's a rundown of how the first half of the night unfolded:
Memory Car
First up is Memory Car. They are Memo (guitar and vocals), Gregory (bass and backing vocals) and Carlos (drums). These boys kick off their concert soft and seductive with a funky grooving tone that quickly turns into a true funk jigsaw piece. The chorus hook of ‘Besame’ (which means ‘kiss me’ in Spanish) is something more than half the female audience is interested in taking Memo up on (he’s taken ladies, sorry). These boys are letting it rip early on, setting a high precedent for the upcoming bands.
‘Fool’ is an original with a melodic upbeat start. It’s got rhythm. Memo’s high octave voice and funky poppy style kills it with the hooks of this song.
‘(She’s a) Maniac’ has a touch of heavy rock madness to it – as if American punk grabbed hold of its poppy sister and introduced it to spikey boots and eyeliner. Gregory takes over on vocals for this one, which gives Memo an opportune chance to shred like paper is going out of fashion all over his guitar.
The last song of the set is a mash-up between ‘Hump de Bump’ from the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Stadium Arcadium album. The extended solo creatively turns into Coldplay, and a funked up version of Coldplay sounds damn good, especially this one.
Talking to the boys pre-gig, we learn they’ve known each other most of their lives and are in this to have fun. Memo explains he prefers to let his guitar and musical ability do the talking and selling of the band (which just made bank with this gig).
Gun
Gun has a little hype behind them. Several people talked up their one-off appearance a few weeks ago in the same venue. Mark, on bass (and in full black as per the rest of the band), is a semi-regular at the Wednesday open mic. Johnny is wearing a T-shirt referencing wrestling and indubitably doesn’t give half a damn about what anybody thinks. Zack is your front man with classic lines and rock star swagger that has the audience captivated before they have even started, with ‘Darkness’-esque vocal ability. On the keyboard is straight-faced Yuri.
The band has straight-up tunes and can handle the pressure Memory Car inevitably dealt the rest of the bands. Their first song, ‘One Night in Beijing’ has become ‘One Night in Guangzhou’ to the absolute joy of Mandarin-speaking attendees. It’s cheesy as cheddar and yet it comes off incredibly through the passionate energy shared onstage and the catchy hook that resonates through the room. Zack has an incredible voice for this.
The crowd’s favorite is a classic that the lead singer himself made famous after a student filmed him singing it and posted it to Youku. The viral video even got the guy a gig on The Voice of China. The crowd eats it up and sings along in an incredibly touching moment.
The last song of the set, ‘What’s Going On,’ starts as a slow ballad and turns into a massive sing-along. Here is the band showing they have versatility – even during a short set. It feels like the end of a festival gig: the bar is really damn high now. Zack lets his inner nerd out, powering up to super Saiyan and plays a much faster version through the end that culminates in a shredding solo.
Talking to Zack after the gig, it’s clear the man lives and breathes for the big stage. He loves performance art. He loves being in front of a huge audience.
The Mojoheads
The first song is a timeless classic: ‘The House of The Rising Sun.’ Den has such a chilling voice that it's sending shivers through the audience. Who knew old time classics could be reinvented so well? Their next tune, ‘Stone Faces,’ is an original song sung in Russian. It sounds like an Arctic Monkeys-influenced, slick lick based track filled with tight choppy indie guitar riffs and soothing vocals – neither of which seems to overlap or overbear the other.
One thing you’ll notice when you go see The Mojoheads is that they personify cool, calm and collected as if it were tattooed on their foreheads. Poise must be the band’s middle name because they are so focused on hitting exact notes on the bass and are so tight and slick it’s like you’re slipping on invisible soap in the shower.
But again, I digress. Saying I’m jealous would be an understatement. Iggi is one guitarist I’m really enjoying at the moment – he has a nice shift between rhythm and lead guitar.
Back to the gig, this group plays an original song, ‘Ocean,’ which quite frankly sounds like an organized mess – the guitar a black hole of swirling riffs that are structured in the form of an alternative pop tune. The boys have taken the best of 00s indie, 90s grunge and a pinch of the late 80s. Den has a clean-cut vocal line weaving the track together.
‘Born to be Wild’ falls just right on the senses. It has an original classic feel with Iggi’s extra licks to modernize the song. Den looks comfortable rocking to such an iconic tune, while Alex on drums is competing with the original drummer to see who can play it better. I’ll be damned if he isn’t at least keeping up or, dare I say, maybe taking the lead.
Now, almost a week after the show, the results are out on this very close competition. These three groups absolutely killed it (overkill is an understatement) that night, and I hear the later acts were pretty epic as well. Catch you at next year’s battle!
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