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Saturday 10 April 2010
Location: Ward Park & Shannon Reserve
Bands: Bearhug, Belles Will Ring, Fergus Brown, Jonathan Boulet
The Surry Hills Festival is presented by the non-profit non-government Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre. The Annual Festival is a major fundraising event for the community based centre’s activities. Funds are raised through gold coin donation.
This year the festival was located across both Ward Park and Shannon Reserve. I preferred this in comparison to last year’s location at the Prince Alfred Park (right next to Central station) as it provided two more intimate locations instead of everything being all bunched together. I also took pleasure in walking along the sunny footpaths between the two stages. There was plenty of music, market stalls with vintage clothes, food and art for sale to keep people occupied. Alcohol was not for sale at the festival this year and punters were encouraged to visit official sponsor hotels; Trinity bar (I am a fan) and The White Horse (Not a fan).
I’ll warn you. I wasn’t very impressed with the line-up. But all the bands were playing for free so expectations can’t be too high.
First band I saw was Bearhug; they reference Broken Social Scene on their Myspace as an influence. Website Twothousand when describing Bearhug say their influences are ‘hardly recognisable, and their sound is definitely their own.’ Implying they have their own unique sound. I disagree; I don’t feel they have a clear sound at all. Watching them felt like listening to a couple of guys jamming. Sparse vocals and too many similar instrumental moments, I thought perhaps Surry Hills festivals poor sound set up could be held responsible but the next band up Belles Will Ring showed what the sound system was capable of; definitely a more professional band. They took to the stage and had a presence. No muffled instruments. Belles Will Ring are seasoned players. They have been around for years and have perfected their live show of ‘beautiful harmonies and one of the best rhythm sections you’ll ever see’ (fasterlouder.com). I have never really been one to appreciate a band with a flute and I’m not really a fan of Belles Will Ring but the professional nature of their performance was clear in comparison.
Fergus brown’s most recognised song is ‘nerds in love’. His myspace says Fergus Brown’s melodic guitar-pop is reminiscent of The Shins, Bon Iver and Ben Kweller. I hear no Ben Kweller in his music but I can see that he may be trying to be like a happier Bon Iver. I find his music uninteresting. His talking/singing style is a drag and tedious to listen to. Drum Media have said "Couldn't be any cooler..An endearing blend of wit and sincerity." It could be a hell of a lot cooler.
And last but certainly not least Jonathan Boulet, the primary purpose and saviour of my day. Described accurately by Modular people as; 'A precociously inspired 21-year-old skate rat from Sydney city’s northwest. Boulet makes a brand of ceremoniously uplifting, deeply colourful pop’. Jonathan Boulet and his merry band of uni and skate friends provoked the most crowd participation of the day. I enjoy their chanting and their tribal like use of drums. A lot of emphasis has been placed on the fact Jonathan Boulet (also drummer for
I do love Surry Hills festival it is a great day to spend with amazing people. Perhaps some better bands next year though. .
The Drumming in the Jonathan Boulet set was definitely the highlight. Espescially when the keyboard player switched to a seperate snare drum creating a very big and tribal sound.
ReplyDeleteIt's also interesting to hear that he's the Trent Reznor of Sydney with his one man band skills.
Thanks for the tips, sounds like a great community event and I'll definitely have to check out the festival next year. I hope they have some better bands performing next time, since the line up wasn't so great. I'll be keeping up with your posts for more interesting and fun bands to see.
ReplyDeleteThat was a good read Shannon. That makes me want to attend this festival next year. Good photos too!
ReplyDeleteYou gave a good contrast on the quality of bands that can turn up to non-paying gigs, with Bells will ring sounding much better than bear hug, and they sound like an interesting band if they have a flute player!
ReplyDeletesounds like a great comunity festival and surry hills has the right sort of people for it
ReplyDeleteRiver – yeah snare drum was great!
ReplyDeleteTrue Trent Reznor reference also i was thinking of billy corgan he technically had first solo album the future embrace, but anyone who's followed his career knows he's been writing all the music and playing all the instruments in the studio since he started Smashing Pumpkins
Katie J – yeah it’s an awesome community event. Attracts so many people who aren’t from Surry hills aswell
Nehal – You should definitely go next year.
R.Bodycote – If you’re into bands with an array of instruments you should see arcade fire ‘in addition to instrument mainstays guitar, drums and bass guitar, members play piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass, xylophone, glockenspiel, keyboard, French horn, accordion, harp, mandolin and hurdy-gurdy. The band takes most of their instruments on tour, and the multi-instrumentalist band members switch instrumental duties throughout their shows.’ I saw them when they played big day out in 2008
Alistair – i know what you mean when you say surry hills has the right sort of people for it, agreed