Bodega
November 2 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

THIS WAS essentially a Battle of the Bands type contest, where some well-known bands from around Wellington came in to try and sell themselves to university Orientation organisers from around the country (and thus guaranteeing themselves a national tour during peak-student-drunken time). But instead of the usual amateurism you see at most battle of the bands-type competitions where there’s actually nothing worth winning other than being able to proclaim yourself king of the world, here, there were some great performances.

The catch was each band only had fifteen minutes to play and the crowd constantly had to move upstairs and downstairs at Bodega. As fun as that sounds, it did mean bands were missed out of sheer laziness. The first band I saw was The Aviators. Having heard an EP of theirs, they promised to sound in the similar to the white-boy Odessa funk that grooves around the place. Their performance offered a bit more variety than Odessa and was a rollickingly enjoyable dance set. Shame the only person dancing was a drunken 40-year-old who gave away his whiteness with extravagant head movements (and little feet movement). That said, The Aviators were able to justify saying “those honkies can play funk music”.

Charlie Ash followed on the upstairs set. With their crazy costumes and electroclash sounds, they clearly fit into the new sound that’s hitting the Wellington scene. Thanks So So Modern you rapscallions. Their strutting Patti-Smith sounding vocalist certainly commands the stage (reminiscent of bygone Wellington band Lady Luck) and their synth sound worked well despite its potentially overbearing 80s trappings. I thought they sounded great. However the band didn’t think so and proceeded to tell the audience. My word of advice would be not to say anything (except to the sound guy) because suddenly the audience around me went from saying “this band sound great” to “this band sounded pretty good – shame about the mixing”. No-one would have known.

Downstairs Elston Gun played. While their rhythm section sounded great, and there’s some innate talent in the lads, they need to move away from their adolescent Smashing Pumpkins fix and try to experiment their sound a little bit. Otherwise they’ll end up as a band people might simply say in a year, “I remember Elston Gun, they were ok”.

Next up was a dub band – I didn’t catch their name. Yes, their vocalist sounded great, their horn section played more than a few notes and their guitarist was able to strum off-beat (which is more than a lot of dub bands around the place) but there’s something kinda done about our appropriation of Jamaican dub. Very done. The same songs about hope etc. should have by now destructed into a cocaine-fuelled haze rather than being built up for play on The Edge.

I’m starting to get a soft spot for Tommy Ill’s self-deprecating white boy rap who played next. Sure he’s taking the piss but there’s something oddly compelling about his style. Plus, his break into Justin Timberlake’s ‘Sexy Back’ was classic. Absolute gold.

Imon Starr’s newish band Olmecha Supreme were up next. Damn these guys are good, breaking into funk, blues (well he is the son of Taj Mahal), hip-hop and soul with complete ease. Plus they have Wellington’s premier busking beat-boxer creating his own Phil Spector-esque wall of sound in the background. There was also a rapper who sounded Jamaican so I wasn’t able to figure out what he was talking about. Turns out he was rapping in Spanish.

Tight-jeans and matching shoes followed with the Bonnie Scarletts. When I first heard them they sounded very Kings of Leon-y. Now they sound like what would have happened if the Beatles had discovered P not LSD. Their music was made for a raucous good time; it remains to be seen if they want to add an edge to it. However a friend of mine thought they looked very “spunky”. I on the other hand, wanted to tackle them and force-feed them cheeseburgers and greasy French fries. They also had the best freak-out dancer since The Aviators.

Indian/Sri Lankan rappers MC-ed their way onto the stage next and keeping with an informal Jamaican theme of the night, proceeded to sing like they were Sean Paul. Or Shaggy. Their production definitely needs work – frankly, it sounds like what a kid learning the guitar would play, but when they used Indian music samples they sounded really interesting.

My winner for the night: Olmecha Supreme. Plus the really funny guy who played last with the great voice and the ukelele.

Finally, hopefully there’s a lesson from tonight. Don’t sing like Jamaicans unless you are indeed, Jamaican.