polaroids of androids

Below Par Records Showcase @ Paddington Town Hall - 26/07/2007

It's hard not to admire Below Par Records. What started as high school project in Sydney surburbia has tranformed and grown into a successful Australian record label. A million years ago they used to throw random little 'showcase' parties for the bands that were on their label.

On Thursday night they brought back these said showcases and threw a party at Paddington Town Hall - featuring performances by The Scare, Something With Numbers, Soft Tigers and Kisschasy.

The Scare..

Somethings are immediately noticeable about The Scare..

1. They sound very British (even when taunting the audience to move forward).
2. They spit a lot.
3. The lead singer (in between screaming at random people in the crowd) is a little bit camp.

Camp?

They were enjoyable - wild and unpredictable. I am looking forward to their debut long player which is due in stores sometime around October. It will be interesting to see what they are like without the visual aspect as well as I get the feeling their live show is pretty much what I find appealing about them.

Songs with lyrics about 'cum on dresses' are pretty good as well.

Something With Numbers..

One night while leaving Spectrum we ran into the lead singer of Something With Numbers (the tall guy with the frizzy hair) who proceeded to tell us all about his night. Being nice citizens we gave him the chance to get out of the conversation and pretend like he thought he knew us when he originally stopped us. But he kept going right up until we asked him if he was the lead singer of 'something for numbers'.

I left just as The Numbers were about to take the stage to find some food. I am going to say, even though from all reports they sounded pretty damn awesome, they couldn't possible have been better than the burger I had.

Nice food > Something With Numbers.

Soft Tigers..

I ranted a bit about how good the Soft Tigers were at a show a few weeks back. On this occasion they definately weren't as enjoyable. Slightly too 'loose' and chaotic - which although might not have pleased their fans too much - it did match the party atmosphere.

People cried out that they are too closely aligned with their influences of Pavement etc. I am too young to see such things. I also spent most of my teen years listening to Wu-Tang Clan so references to pioneering indie bands are wasted on me. I like them because they don't take the whole thing too seriously but also aren't 'a joke band'.

Side note - There is going to have to be some pretty good songs released in the second half of this year to bump the Tigers' M.A.R.I.A from my end-of-year mixtape.

This was the point of the night where people started to realise they may have overdone the free booze. It (coincidentally) was also the point where the beer being given out changed from some fancy imported Portugal stuff to VB. There were drunken loats left, right and most notably in the centre of the room with an unbuttoned shirt, swinging two bottles around and grabbing girls asses.

Kisschasy..

I put Kisschasy in the same grouping as Something With Numbers. Their pop-rock-punk music is harmless enough but it just doesn't grab me. Seeing as I was getting overwhelmed by people who like to party on a Thursday night and because I am getting old I headed home before the headline act took the stage.

From all reports they were very impressive - utilising the surprisingly good sound of the venue and showing off how much they have been practicing lately with their new album and national tour.

All in all it was an entertaining night. Hats off to the Below Par people for not only creating a label of diverse local acts but also giving a little something back to the people that buy their releases and ultimately keep them in a job.

So (other local labels) care to put on a similar thing?