Live Review – Royal Headache, Altamont 2012
News posted Wednesday, April 11 2012 at 10:00 AM.
Related: Royal Headache, Soma Coma, Nintendo Police, Straightjacket Nation.
Royal Headache
w/Soma Coma + Nintendo Police + Straightjacket Nation
The Gasometer, Melbourne
Sunday, April 8
(Photos courtesy Christina P)
A free, “secret” show for zeitgeist-straddlers Royal Headache, held in the relatively intimate surrounds of inner-north favourite the Gasometer. Last year’s “list-approved” self-titled LP has rung out many times over this pub’s speakers. This could, and perhaps should, have been gig of the year stuff. So why wasn’t it?
Soma Coma, Nintendo Police and Straighjacket Nation are hardcore bands. If Royal Headache had not been crow-barred onto their bill, this would have been its own fucked-up little night. Instead, their inclusion saw a combustible coming together of scenes and crowds. The devoted few and the curious but nonetheless enthusiastic masses. Certainly for any tourists not intimately familiar with gigs of a hardcore persuasion, this made for a confronting cultural safari.
So for most, this was a pretty rough gig; all shoves and elbows, blood and beer sweat. The night’s first two sets saw stage dives and several leaps from the walls and speaker-stacks by the frenetic throng at the foot of stage. Both Soma Coma and Nintendo Police brought with them short, sharp bursts of tinnitus-inducing screams backed by competent rhythm sections, who each would nail a groove, only to then come to a complete halt just after the one-minute mark.
Straightjacket Nation were something else entirely though. Lead singer Daniel Stewart had previously observed proceedings from behind the bandroom’s unmanned bar. I had looked over his way a few times, secretly hoping that he and the rest of Total Control would spontaneously appear and bring something a little more considered or sedate to the stage. Instead, his arrival sparked utter chaos. More elbows, more shoves and certainly, more blood. Particularly from Stewart’s face. A blood nose and a cut to the cheek saw it streaming down his face. The more it poured, the more he grinned. That grin.
Suddenly he looked like the most terrifying, most vital man likely to take a stage in this city. He paced, contorted and wailed through bouts of seizures. No detached monotonal murmurings or synth-punk explorations here. Just a ferocious energy that defied anyone to challenge him. And is that Al Monfort’s bass driving this band? He seems a long way from Dick Diver and Lower Plenty.
A rallying cry of “fuck the hipsters” rang out from one woefully ill-advised individual. It was met with bemusement by Stewart, but there was an enthusiasm in some to leave an imprint on anyone who was there purely to see Royal Headache. At one point I push back, only to be hopelessly flung into the mesh and thrash of bodies. Somehow within seconds, I am on my hands and knees on the Gasometer floor, in the most unholy of positions on Easter Sunday, shirt stretched over my head. And yet, there’s still an inherent good nature or at least, distorted sense of manners to this sort of physicality that means I’m immediately hoisted back up by the very sets of hands that thrust my pathetically ill-equipped body to the ground. At least the squat frame of Marcus from the UV Race seems to be faring a little better on the other side of the pit.
Just as the Gasometer’s quaint fairy lights have long been torn down by stray arms and legs, the night’s initial electricity has almost entirely been expelled. Even though everything has been building up to Royal Headache’s arrival, I feel like it can only really go down from here. With no more plastic cups, beer is swilled straight from jugs as we watch Shogun harangue the sound desk. It seems a bit pedantic for a band with such an all-in, rough-and-ready aesthetic. But he’s cut something of a brooding and discontented figure throughout the night, having complained earlier about the sound while onstage as part of Nintendo Police. Perhaps it’s just tiredness; they had played Boogie the night before, and a Sydney show a few days before that. And this is a last minute free show, so we’re lucky just to have them, right? Except, this band has come to mean something to people. Quite a lot of people at that. We expect something exceptional from them. We want to hold them to a high bar.
‘Really In Love’ is hurried through to open the set in a “get the hit out of the way” fashion. With little deference to band performing, Daniel Stewart crosses the stage in between songs to watch the set alone, slouched against the side wall. I’m a little concerned by how often my gaze returns to see what he’s doing over the course of the set. ‘Girls’ has all the paroxysmal energy you would hope, but an indifferent airing of ‘Down The Lane’ sees it fail to be the unifying moment it might otherwise have been.
Seeming mindful of the night’s precursory hardcore flavour and perhaps the looming spectre of Stewart behind him (or am I reading too much into his presence?), Shogun sounds almost apologetic when introducing a “really pop” new song. Elsewhere, the “this has been our pleasure” line in ‘Pity’ has scarcely sounded less sincere.
The set’s somewhat premature end is brought about with a sigh and a look of frustration from Shogun. Royal Headache have been mostly enjoyable and always physically close, but never immediate. The line-up may have been reflective of the company the band keep, but it wasn’t a good fit. Scores of bruised indie-kids file out of the Gasometer’s doors into the night, knowing they’ll tell their friends they were here, but I’m not convinced that every one of them would do it all again.
by Jeremy Story Carter
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fixed.
I really enjoyed the night and the line up.
Mixed bills are the best.
not to mention that most of royal headache come from previous bands that fall into that hardcore genre.
It was a secret show, they played with friends, they played with bands that they wanted.
Its good to see that all bands aren't becoming complacent with playing with the same line ups over and over.
Yeah, I don't really get this article. One of the first times I saw Royal Headache was supporting My Disco and a bunch of other boring bands, and they stood out as being the only band on that bill with any excitement or earnestness about them.
''I had looked over his way a few times, secretly hoping that he and the rest of Total Control would spontaneously appear and bring something a little more considered or sedate to the stage.''
Translation: people were having fun and moshing. I wish things would get boring.
I don't understand; how is this Altamont? Who died? Who did the Hells Angels beat the crap out of?
Who are the people the writer keeps seeing across the room? Who cares?
The writer adopts an Attenborough-esque position, observing the ''hardcore gig'' and attempts to place it within their taxonomic scheme.
It's well written, unlike that last comment :|
Wow, two different opinions formed from two completely different gigs!
My point was that a. Royal Headache have always seemed closer to this sort of punk scene than anything else and b. they often play incongruous bills.
NOW with pics
Dan fucking ruled that night with his Kubrick Stare. His off the cuff response of ''KILL THE GYPSIES'' when ''Kill the Hipsters'' was yelled was perfect. There was a high level of negativity, and that was entertaining. This review is more representative of how this guy felt that night.
The line-up was excellent. Who wants to go somewhere knowing exactly what's going to happen?
agree with iamthewalrus, whats with the Altamont thing here? a bunch of punk kids had a slightly aggressive moshpit and the lead singer from a hardcore band looked intense and cut his face? hmmm...
The guy who is hugging Dan is the douche mentioned in the other thread FYI
That other thread makes my comment pretty redundant!
dredging up a writers' past work is pretty low. engage with the content of the review, but why the need to resort to a public (and personal) lynching? we're not tolerating that shit.
the altamont thing was clearly tongue-in-cheek; a reference to the ''a combustible coming together of scenes and crowds'' line from the review. the writer had nothing to do with it.
do you guys have to take everything so seriously?
I was engaging it, and I wasn't 'dredging up his past' beyond a 5 second Google search.
Come on, you googled the writer, picked out some quotes you thought you could make fun of and used that to slam his perfectly valid assessment of a gig...it doesn't matter how long it took you to do it.
I didn't post any quotes; that was somebody else who found them. I just posted a link to a video. It could have been an amazing interview, for all I know.
anyway, let's move on...
the fuck?
I know nothing about the author other than this article and missed whatever Brimstone was posting about. What grounds did you have for deleting my comment? Maybe YOU guys need to stop taking things so seriously, geez.
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''Come on, you googled the writer, picked out some quotes you thought you could make fun of and used that to slam his perfectly valid assessment of a gig...it doesn't matter how long it took you to do it.''
the quote I picked out was in the last paragraph of the article
On that note, how were Nintendo Police?
Pretty ok. Never listened to them before. They were giving away CD's but I didn't get one.
Sweaty men making music for other sweaty men. Nothing ever changes.
Tell that to Emily SJN frankie..i'm sure she would appreciate it.
the guy who wrote this sounds like he has serious feelings for DX.
I'm not an often poster, but the forum moderator removing a post and then not explaining why, beyond reference to the community policy, seems very very anti-Internet. Good Internet at least.
it's been happening pretty frequently lately.
This was an interesting read, but the Altamount reference - which I missed until reading the comments - is pretty ridiculous. M+N seems to be edging towards these sensationalist headlines lately...
quick, delete cooper.'s comment
It's okay to be gay.
And yet the lovely Shogun was unfullilling:
My favorite outraged sentence is this, though:
NOT THE FAIRY LIGHTS!
chris, do you have some weird personal vendetta? or can you just not get over the fact that someone's subjective opinion about a gig you never went to doesn't match up to an opinion you formed of the band some time ago?
Nah, I just think the review is funny, and has lots of mock-worthy lines.
i don't think it was the writer's intention, but to me, sure sounded like a fucking fun punk rock show
You need to chill out with your opinions, Brimstone.
brimstone has always been a dickhead, the only new thing is that this time it's not directed at something to do with electronic music
He seems fine to me.
In Chris' defence, the review was comical and electronic music generally sucks.
^^ fuck, selling my marshall now, damn electricity!
You know what I mean Mo
and Royal Headache, and their triumph, represent everything I value in music
I read that as selling my marshmallow now....I think I need to do some work!
hahahahahahahahaahahaha. incredible.
Isn't that just a pimple bleeding?
Interesting review, seems like there's more than a few overly-sensitive fans in the comments section with hurt feelings over the author's take on the night. Imagine that - a gig review in which the author expresses an opinion, how dare he!
i don't understand the hate either, and it's generally coming from people WHO WEREN'T EVEN AT THIS SHOW.
everything jeremy's said is consistent with the comments in this news story.
i mean, fuck, would you guys be happier if we just published set-lists?
yes, but can you publish them in reverse.
''oh, prince started with purple rain, how surprising''
''...their inclusion saw a combustible coming together of scenes and crowds.''
''Certainly for any tourists not intimately familiar with gigs of a hardcore persuasion, this made for a confronting cultural safari.''
I'm a tad confused. Does the writer really think that there's such a great divide between RH and SJN, and that never the twain shall meet with their fans?
So RH have had a modicon of success with their album, suddenly only hipsters like them / go to see them? I've always considered them closer to the hardcore scene than ''indie'' (whatever the fuck that means anymore).
i don't think he's saying that at all kuro.
royal headache are a crossover band whether they like it or not, and they'd definitely have a bunch of fans that would have never been to a ''hardcore'' gig.
I'm all for musical edumacations.
plus i think the writer was kind of poking fun at himself for being one of those fans. why so serious etc.
Yeah, the auto-defence of Royal Headache wears pretty thin after a while, especially from people who weren't even there to judge it...this is a report not a backpat, and it's clear that the writer is disappointed to have seen RH this way.
A RH show with a sulky Shogun can be really frustrating to watch, it happens every now and then - it happened at maggot fest last year and it'll happen again. It's a bit of a fucked thing to do to shoot the messenger like this though, especially when the review was a perfectly good read.
Fuck up sooks