Last week Melbourne public radio station PBS FM began hosting their annual Drive Live shows, with three bands performing in the studios for a live broadcast in front of an audience of lucky subscribers at the station’s Collingwood HQ.
Kicking off the series’ second show was Melbourne bands Pony Face, The Hello Morning, and Brothers Grim And The Blue Murders back to back.
Going to a gig inside a radio station in late afternoon during summer could almost throw the body clock out of whack. The door closes on the sunlight and the world is transformed to the red-lamped dim of a pub or club and it feels like 10pm.
But this is no ordinary gig: what is usually a workspace for the PBS staff and volunteers has become a venue with its own tiny bar, and three glass-walled studios are the stages.
Speakers pipe in the voice of Claire Stuchbery, host of the Firewater program – a weekly two-hour show of swamp rock, dirty rockm, and southern influenced blues.
She introduces the steadily building live audience to Pony Face, a Melbourne three-piece gaining a loyal following since their first release in 2008, Bearded Little Girls.
Pony Face’s sound doesn’t easily slot into any single genre. Singer and guitarist Simon Bailey’s smoky vocals deliver a hint of Springsteen to their psych-rock tracks, boosted by Anth Dymke funkin’ it out on bass and Kris Edmond’s superbly diverse drumming. Occasional electro loops reverb and distort to create a genre-bending depth.
They opened their set with the driving beats of “Alabama” followed by the irrepressible groove of “Holly Said”, both from their 2012 album Hypnotised, and quickly had the growing crowd’s full attention.
The vibe mellowed for the mesmerising electronic intro of “Stars Are Bright”, the title track from their 2010 album, which received plenty of airplay on public radio.
The hypnotic soundscape of “Stripper” and their final track for the evening, the rhythmically intriguing “Disco Cops”, no doubt reaped a few new fans from the appreciative audience.
As a few sponsorship announcements hit the airwaves, it was time for the crowd to shift their gaze to Studio Two for The Hello Morning. The songwriting partnership of Steven Clifford and Matt Smith goes back to 2004 and has since expanded to a six piece country-rockin’ band.
While fitting them all into the tiny space wasn’t possible, with Clifford on vocals and guitar, Joe Cope on keyboards, and Matt Vance on drums executed some mighty fine tunes.
They opened with “Don’t Let the Green Grass Fool You”, a bluesy piano ballad showcasing Clifford’s powerful swooning vocals.
Their friend Ali had also squeezed into the studio to share lush harmonies on the chorus, chiming in for the next track’s country vibe on “Don’t Let It”. There was only time for one more song in their short but sweet set before the final act for the evening kicked off.
A deep southern Yankee voice lured the crowd back towards Studio Five. James Grim, vocalist and frontman of Brothers Grim And The Blue Murders, was hyping up both the audience over the airwaves on their drive home, and the crowd in front of him.
Through the glassed wall, all four members looked rearing to go. With James’ brother Matt on guitar, Dominic Lindus on a massive white double bass, and Stephen Devlin on drums; Studio Five exploded into a frenetic blend of high-powered Delta blues rock.
Space was no hindrance to the performance antics of frontman Mr. Grim. His Iggy-esque moves included leaping on an amp and pressing himself up against the glass wall, instantly bonding with his live audience before bouncing back to the studio floor.
It was easy to imagine how mind-blowing this band must be on an open stage – they had Studio Five pumping like a fishbowl on steroids.
Brothers Grim And The Blue Murders’ blistering seven-song set justified the growing fanbase this Melbourne band has amassed since they formed in 2007, with a sell-out show for their album launch at The Corner in 2011.
No doubt the listeners on the airwaves and in the live audience will be anticipating a tour for their forthcoming EP.
Stuchbery’s voice graced the speakers again to close the show, cueing the crowd to spill out into a sun-soaked Easey Street with a lustful taste of local swamp rock in all its gutsy, bluesy, psychedelic, punkfucked glory.
