Midnight Juggernauts, Fire!SantaRosaFire!, Taught By Animals
Tuesday 24 April, Fowlers Live



Turning up at around 8pm to be two adding to a grand total of ten was a little unnerving. Slowly however people trickled in to see locals Taught By Animals kick off the night. Doing their best to entertain a lack lustre crowd, the three piece put together a competent, tight set. There was no bass, a deep kick drum with some songs punctuated by funky maracca shakin' and creative guitar work. However, they were plagued by sound problems, namely being too loud so now and then people walked out for the sake of their ears. To their credit lead singer Jon Walsh, my partner claims, is 'enigmatic', despite sporting a dubious pair of brown checked slacks.

The first of the over long 40 minute breaks began in which some found amusement in Frogger and Pac Man whilst others in beer and gratuitous hugging. Fire! Santa Rosa Fire! seem to be collecting a dedicated following with cheers going up for favourite tunes and a claimed 'once-only' rendition of Sexyback again tonight - disturbing. Their youthful exuberance, an excitable lead singer and the tambourine thwacking of the keyboardist warmed everyone up.

Finally the 'Jugs graced the stage and proceeded to work their disco-groove magic on the crowd. Fond of the extended intro to build up some of the suspense, it wasn't until a five song punch with some incredible drumming that things really let loose with tour namesake Road To Recovery. Intense synth loops and crunching guitars were the order of the day as well as cooler than thou vocals and trendy facial hair. By this point everyone was moving like little dance robots and two intrepid gentleman invaded the side of the stage stripped to the waist to waggle about.

Shadows brought one of the biggest responses of the night, a song that always begs to be played a disco roller skating rink. The deep thumping beats and shimmering synth line pummels your feet's resistance to dance rendering it nigh impossible to do much else. Surprising was their reworking of 45 And Rising - no robotic voice and the melody of the verse tinkered with. Perhaps I only wanted to hear a faithful copy of my favourite Juggernauts tune so there was no great loss.

Suddenly an hour's set was done and the crowd loudly implored an encore from the band. Treating us to two more songs it seemed a shame that more people had missed out.

Lauren Boxhall

Photo: Tanya J