So, you've listened to DamnDogs new tunes on www.DamnDogsmusic.com and you've watched Chris's cool video about the band. What are your impressions?
A) Brilliant!
B) WTF?
C) Oh My God! Jet's gonna split! (not true, btw)
D) Chris looks hot on that video!
E) Who's Mitch and Louis?
F) You're still too shocked to answer.
G) Come to Indonesia!
There was a short piece in the Herald Sun today. Not really much to it, but I did rather enjoy this quip on the reporter's behalf:
"We don't reference any bands when we work, actually," says Cester, well known for his lust for life.
Though we do now have a definition for Doom Disco: "We want people to move when they hear it, but we're not going to coat it in dance-pop sugar."
Anyone else going to the Melbourne show tonight, or do I have full reporting duties?
Anyone else going to the Melbourne show tonight, or do I have full reporting duties?
Guys, check DamnDogs facebook, its got videos of like 5 songs or so of their last gig. Tell me how weird it is to see Chris dancing around the stage.
AWESOME! I approved of everything about it except Chris's jumpsuit. It was a strange kind of show in a way, because it was purely a showcase of Damndogs music - no merch, no covers, very little banter - but they had ten or eleven cracking songs in there. The music is way, way different to Jet, just like they've been saying. Incredibly bass-heavy - they have a drum machine but no live drummer, so I guess bass guitar is the primary rhythm instrument for them. The bass parts are more complex than the average Jet song too - I think Mark is a rather more talented bassist than I realised before. Chris's singing verges on more of a spoken word/rap style sometimes, but it really suits his voice. It was kind of brilliant to watch him warm up to the frontman role as the show went on, actually. At the beginning he seemed a bit overwhelmed, just standing very still, clinging to the microphone stand and mostly singing with his eyes closed, but by the end he was leaping off the stage and shouting in our faces. The only criticism I could make is that Louis was kind of invisible up the back, but it's partly just because it was such a small stage that there wasn't anywhere to put him where he wouldn't be hidden by Mitch, Chris and Mark.
I have to say, the music was very catchy and very dance-able. Not in that high-energy, fist-pumping rock way, it's kind of more low-key and subtle, but it was kind of impossible to NOT dance once they got going. They've clearly got an album's worth of material and now I'm desperately hanging out for more shows and the EP. It's only three weeks until it comes out but it seems so far away!
Highlight: they got through three or four songs without saying anything except "We're the Damndogs", until Chris abruptly ended a song by pointing at a guy with a beer in the front row and said "Can I have a sip of that?" It was a great ice-breaker. Then he followed it up with "All these years touring, and I still don't have AIDS!" and the rest of the band started playing again. I think they were just trying to shut him up.
Oh, and in case people haven't seen the links:
Photos: http://www.tonedeaf.com.au/photos/galleries/79819/damn-dogs-2.htm
Videos: http://vimeo.com/carbiewarbie/videos
Wow I wish I'd have been there! Maybe I should move to Australia, all the music I love is in Australia...
Anyway, thank you Halfeatenmoon! :) Glad you had a good time
Great review! Actually this Damn Dog gig makes me giggle a little. Not in a bad way (and not because of the jumpsuit) but you just can see the "wow, look at us and our new band" feeling, like when you said Chris warming up to the frontman position. It shows that even after hundreds of gigs with Jet they can still feel overwhelmed by something, and thats pretty good!
Thank you! I'm just glad I could convey a little bit of the fun for people who couldn't go. My gig buddy and I are writing up something longer but it's mostly us being music nerds and overthinking the music structure. But basically the music was wicked and I bet once they've played a few shows and loosened up a bit, the showmanship will be even better.
