Live Review: Black Lips, The Frowning Clouds

The Frowning Clouds are charged with the responsibility of warming the crowd and they do so with sweetly lo-fi pop, surf rock and garage sounds.

There is a certain innocence about the selection of cuts taken from their recent debut album Legalize Everything. The vibe they create is groovy and fun, but also, just slightly, starting to fall under the influence of heavier psychedelics. They have been around for a while but are yet another retro rock act from Geelong who are worth a listen.

Right from the first nasty twang of Family Tree, Black Lips let loose their sneering punk and garage sounds to unleash scenes of mayhem as excited fans pogo hysterically and crowd surf, much to the consternation of the venue’s burly security guards. The rough and raw energy that comes from the stage is infectiously feelgood and definitely more old-school punk than hardcore.

Black Lips connect the dots between their rather obvious influences that include Ramones, Royal Trux, The Clash and Johnny Cash-style country hoedowns. It gives their set a rather nostalgic feel but they don’t pay homage, rather it feels like they are just a bunch of naughty boys defacing and vandalising the classics. A lot of beer gets sprinkled across the crowd and cans are randomly thrown towards the stage throughout.

Now that John Lydon recently declared Sex Pistols too fat to reunite, it’s a safe bet that Black Lips will keep the home fires burning for loud, angsty teenage punk. Tonight’s gig isn’t the obvious showcase of last year’s album Underneath The Rainbow that you might imagine. Playing only a handful of songs from this album, they instead feature a lot of tunes from Arabia Mountain as well as digging deep into their enormous back catalogue. 

After a ten-year break from the band, guitarist Jack Hines is back and on tour with Black Lips for the first time. It’s kind of amusing to note that he pulls similar moves onstage to Ronnie Wood; all he needs is a cigarette. As they toss out killer cuts such as Dirty Hands, Boys In The Wood, Drugs and the irrepressible Raw Meat in quick succession, this evening’s show is a slick exposition of their music without the delinquent antics for which they are known. In the past this behaviour has included pantsless shenanigans, liberally dousing the stage in bodily fluids and band members pashing.

Between songs, the lads are high spirited but also kind of soft hearted and geeky. Cole Alexander mumbles nonsense in a weird falsetto before telling us he was impersonating Chet Faker. The raucous crowd, who are obviously not fans of Faker, cheer loudly. In his cute southern drawl, Jared Swilley asks security not to stop the action in the mosh pit. “They are only hurting each other. We don’t care,” he says ironically. Meanwhile, Joe Bradley rather sedately plays the skins with the precision of a drum machine.

Everyone in the room is sweating and feeling exhausted by the time they bring down the night with Bow Down And Die, but Black Lips have treated us to a completely satisfying evening of fun entertainment.