The Sand Pebbles
Contact: sandpebbles @ brella.org
BEAT: LIVE REVIEW: THE OLD BAR, JANUARY 4, 2012
Sand Pebbles, Thursday January 4, The Old Bar
In a week when Rupert Murdoch belatedly tried to counter his reputation as an olde worlde media luddite by signing himself up to the moment’s flavour of the week social media phenomenon, a more significant announcement flew almost below the local music radar. Amid the standard serve of tweeting tedium and self-indulgent trivia, Sand Pebbles drummer Wes Holland declared that tonight’s gig at the Old Bar - a benefit for the Familia Moja Children’s Home - was likely to be the Pebbles’ last gig for an indefinite period.
In some ways, it wasn’t an entirely surprising development - the Sand Pebbles have played three times as many interstate gigs in the last six weeks as they’ve played previously in their entire band history - but it was potentially calamitous, nonetheless.
The Old Bar on a Thursday night in early January wasn’t particularly auspicious timing for a farewell gig, but then again, the Sand Pebbles have never professed to be a conventional band. The set began with the evocative rumbling pop of Natalie, the only ingredient lacking in tonight’s performance being co-writer Dave Graney’s irreverent on-stage prose.
From there it was laconic step to the present with the reflective adult-angst of Because I Could, a song that must one day be played adjacent to its companion piece, Future Proofed. On Long, Long Ago, the Pebbles blended the spirit of David Crosby with its patented brand of musical lysergic acid, bending and stretching the track into hitherto unknown shape and form. Chris Hollow dedicated Wild Season to the Pebbles’ dedicated fans; the song itself ducked and weaved with the viscous poise of Hollows’ former St Kilda teammate Gilbert McAdam, while Black Sun Ensemble expanded and contracted with a galactic intensity worthy of Cambridge scientific study.
After a plea from the venue management for one final track, the band returned to the stage for a typically invigorating cover of Julian Cope’s Out Of Mind On Dope And Speed, augmented by the presence on stage of a few socially excited punters. As the gig crashed into its finale, it was hard to believe this could be the end of an era. And if it was, it was a perfect high to go out on.
LOVED: The love in the air during Out Of My Mind On Dope And Speed.
HATED: The fear that this may be the last Sand Pebbles gig for an indefinite period.
DRANK: Cooper’s Pale Ale.
RAVE MAGAZINE: EIGHT MILES HIGH FESTIVAL REVIEW 13.12.2011
Eight Miles High Tuesday, 13 December 2011
The Zoo - Sat Dec 10
Howling Rabbits start this evening’s showcase of all things psychedelic with their own brand of incense-scented rock & roll. Throwing in Doors-y keyboard licks with a wealth of catchy garage riffs, the band’s heady mix of psych and hard rock provides an early highlight.
Power trio Dead Shades follow with a more meat-and-potatoes style of R&B-based rock & roll. Resembling a blend of the pub rock tradition with the rough-and-ready approach of early Who, the band may look thrown together, but mercifully there’s a greater unity to their sound.
With their excellent Constellations album behind them, Grand Atlantic reveal the psychedelic elements that have inched their way onto the new record. The performance showcases the band more eager to jam out the instrumental passages of their solid power pop. The title track boasts a particularly brain-melting coda, while elsewhere their songs have the ringing anthemic quality of Oasis or current Britpop stars Kasabian.
Black Cab are up next and reveal a rather different musical approach to the last time the Melbourne shoegazers visited our end of the coast. Replacing guitars with laptops and synths (and drums for a couple of numbers), the group retain the swirling soundscapes of the past, but throw in some Giorgio Moroder and Kraftwerk synth pulses for good measure. Most recent single Sexy Polizei vividly illustrates this transformation, while a version of Joy Division’s Heart & Soul finds an almost drum&bass rhythmic pattern.
Also from Melbourne, Sand Pebbles take us back to the world of guitar reverb and drone, but also throw in some fine vocal harmonies for good measure. While the churning guitar clang brings classic noisemakers like The Velvet Underground and 13th Floor Elevators to mind, their melodies are more classicist and gentle.
With one of the best Australian releases of the year in the excellent Crystal Theatre album, Belles Will Ring take the harmony side of psychedelia even further. Their near Simon & Garfunkel-esque melodicism goes superbly with their guitar swirl, multi-instrumentalist Lauren Crew filling out the sound nicely with keyboard and that most psychedelic of instruments, the flute. Frontman/guitarist Liam Judson leads the band through solid renditions of album highlights including The River and the hypnotic bass skip of Come To The Village.
More than anyone tonight, Richard In Your Mind illustrate the genre-hopping properties that frequent psychedelia. Theirs is an almost Zappa-like playfulness, which extends to crowd interaction – large balloons are thrown into the audience to bounce along with the group’s fevered and buoyant art rock. With his whimsical yet surprisingly powerful voice, Richard Cartwright fronts with aplomb and the group as a whole makes a likeable shimmering racket.
The evening is rounded off nicely with our own bandidos of instrumental surf rock Los Huevos. Complete with go-go dancer and horn section, the band’s blend of Morricone spaghetti western soundtracks and surf tunes would sound ideal in a Robert Rodriguez movie, while Jamie Trevaskis’s saw brings to mind pre-psychedelia soundworlds circa The Ventures In Space LP. It’s a rousing finale to a truly quality night out.
MATT THROWER
RAVE MAGAZINE: DARK MAGIC REVIEW: 15-11-2011
(Dot Dash/Remote Control)
Melbourne psych-rockers’ fifth album has decent tunes and name collaborations
Don’t let the shocking-pink, skull-emblazoned cover scare you off – Dark Magic is actually a rather sunny listen aside from some choice minor chord progressions. A unique generation-spanning combo (youngest member Wes Holland is 20 while the group’s patriarch Andrew Tanner is in his 50s), Sand Pebbles perfect the craft of an unassuming psych-pop song on their LP number five. Featuring contributions from such indie/shoegaze/psych godheads as Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips (yep, the ones from Dean & Britta/Luna), Dark Magic aims for not so much for the decibels as textural perfection – and often comes pretty close to nailing the latter. Opening on a folky, yet unmistakably hazy note with Blue Eyes In Black And White, the album quickly shapes up as a solid modern psych-rock outing. The somewhat unexpected highlight, Occupied Europe (Take Me Across The Water) boasts a throbbing bass line and dolorous post-punk arpeggios that give off a very Chameleons/For Against feel, while the title track marries a jaunty verse hook with needling ‘psych’ guitars and Long, Long Ago is an exquisite shoegaze-ballad. Further along, ex-Spacemen 3 bassist Will Carruthers figures on the moody Entrance To The Stream and Death In Vegas’s Tim Holmes lends his distinctive touch to Because I Could – which blends vintage VU groove with honeyed vocal harmonies and fuzz-guitar fills. The five-piece may have a number of great yarns to their respective names, but on DM they let their music do all the talking.
****
DENIS SEMCHENKO
http://www.ravemagazine.com.au/content/view/30119/180/
RHYTHMS: DARK MAGIC REVIEW, OCTOBER 2011
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD DARK MAGIC REVIEW, SEPTEMBER 26, 2011
