Live Review: Obits, Sixfthick, Per Purpose

Sunday night shows are often a weird anomaly on the Brisbane live music calendar, though when they do happen they often throw up some wonderful surprises.

Per Purpose kicked off the night at the criminally early time of 7.30pm. Approaching the venue the band were sounding quite hot into it as the sound of the group spilled out into the street, and inside was a more warranted version. The set showed the group’s usual musical flair, switching from pulsating rhythm-heavy wall-of-sound numbers to moments of early Modest Mouse space-driven guitar meandering with an Aussie flair. Glen Schenau threw up a solo-style number towards the end of the set and it was a notable side dish in the overall delicious serving of Purpose on offer this evening.

Taking the group out before a deserved encore, I Want Results spun things well into garage punk territory, simply straight-up catchy rawk.

The line-up tonight seemed to have been drawn from multiple elements of the rock landscape and it was a change of pace when swampsters SixFtHick took the stage. They were their usual selves with loud fuzz-driven guitars playing second fiddle to the brothers Corbett’s animated yet over-the-top stage antics. They drew a notable crowd for the early time and were all quite enthusiastic, notably during “Groove is in the Heart”, better known as Bitemarks. The problem is that coming to see the band perform now is slightly an expected experience, like watching an old episode of The Simpsons, which is always good, but never anything new.

The venue saw its peak as Obits took to the stage, the crowd enthusiastic for the Brooklyn pseudo-supergroup’s chops. There was a certain air of scepticism as to what the band could bring that would differ from the last time, as Rick Froberg and the crew have been on our shores in varying capacities on a regular basis over the last few years. Things kicked off quite kraut rock as the rhythm section locked into a notable groove while Froberg and Sohrab Habibion frantically noodled their way over the top. The set was, as expected, largely drawn from the group’s last two records, Moody, Standard And Poor and the slightly less engaging Bed and Bugs, and it’s the Moody tracks that shone tonight as the grimey riffs of Everything Looks Better In The Sun proved an early highlight. Taking the group out before a deserved encore, I Want Results spun things well into garage punk territory, simply straight-up catchy rawk. By the end of the set the band had easily won over all the hungover, beaten bodies’ acclaim and owned Brisbane on this Sunday night.