Why would anyone name a pub after a bad show that was on Channel 9 ten years ago?

Some time around last November, I attempted to recapture my lost youth went and heard a mate's band play at a pub.

The mate in question is the half of the duo known as "Simeon Acoustic" who was not actually named Simeon. Since I have played the odd gig or two with this guy, and he also played at my wedding, this is not going to be the most objective review ever. Still, having foolishly promised to write it shortly after the gig, now, a little over four months later, I shall.

I did not promise that this would lead to massive attention from the mainstream media, sales through the roof and sold out shows at Calder Park. And it won’t. Still, since good music deserves to be reviewed and this is pretty much the only forum available to me right now, here it is.

It must be said that of all the pubs I have ever been to, when it comes to acoustics and generally suitability for gigs, the Water Rat in South Melbourne must rank amongst the Top 3 "Most Pants Ever".

At number one.

Just to add to the fun, Simeon had a case of tonsilitis so bad that he could barely sing and had to cut the gig short, so it's fair to suggest that these boys may have not had their best night ever.

This turned the evening into a sort of anti-Idol experience, which can only be good.

There was no missing the obvious quality of the songs, and it's impossible not to like a duo who stop for a full five minutes mid-gig to talk about conditions in the poorer parts of Africa and provide the opportunity for the semi-inebriated crowd to sign up to sponsor a child at that table up the back.


Simeon's voice falls somewhere between Chad Kroeger and Ed Kowalczyk, but fortunately his music has a lot more orginality and less blandness than the middle of the road tragedy otherwise known as Nickelback. I might not have thought of the comparison with Ed if the evening hadn't ended with a cover of "Lightening Crashes", but once you notice it's hard to miss.


The set was almost entirely made up of originals, although it was broken up by a pleasantly rowdy cover of Paul Kelly's "Dumb Things". Good though the originals were, there was a certain similarity in style and tempo to more than a few of the songs. The set could benefit from a couple of slower ballads, some reggae in the manner of Cold Chisel's "No sense", or perhaps some sort of offbeat electric bass and horn combination mildly reminiscent of Missy Higgins' "Casualty". Or something.

The same could be said of the demo CD that I got for free just for turning up. It's probably not safe to generalise from just three tracks, but I don't think the album is out yet so I'm going to do just that.

The CD is nothing less than very, very good. The CD opens with a studio track, "Satellite" which features a driving bass line and tight-as-fish percussion. This sits very well behind the nicely melodic guitars and strong vocals. The song neatly captures the sense of being far away and missing the one you most care about, whilst avoiding any wacky 'left arm that's been lost in a war' style lyrics, which no-one but the Waifs could even come close to getting away with.


Tracks 2 & 3 are acoustic numbers, also recorded live. I haven't managed to find out the name of track 2, since it's mysteriously absent fromn the band's myspace page, so I'll move on to track 3. "I hear your voice", is, for me, the clear highlight, partly for sheer melodiousness, and partly because, as regular readers may have noticed, I am an absolute sucker for anything exploring the intersection of faith and doubt, and this song does it well.

Good bands are hard to find, so if you happen to be passing a pub somewhere in South Melbourne and you see a skinny guy with a great voice unloading a guitar, get yourself inside and chill to some very good sounds indeed.

Or, if you want to take an approach that's a little more efficient than randomly wandering around the inner suburbs, you can find the band's facebook page here and listen to a couple of tracks here.

And then go to a gig.