Capital, Shakes, Rialto Decibel Choir @ The Zoo (30.5.07)

Here's another live review for you (hopefully 'you' is a few more people now).

Last Wednesday saw The Zoo hold host to local bands Capital, Shakes, and Rialto Decibel Choir. I must admit that I had never heard any material from any of these prior to the night in question; my only motivation for attending was the juicy description in last weeks Time Off of Capital combining 'good looks and pop hooks in a similar fashion to The Beatles and Franz Ferdinand before them.' Never one to dismiss hyperbole, I made my way over to The Zoo.

As the two-piece Rialto Decibel Choir came on stage, to a crowd of less then a dozen people (including bar staff), my mate and I were queried by the sound techie as to whether or not we were Shakes. While I did entertain that thought of fulfilling my lifelong dream of rock stardom and taking the stage my complete lack of musical prowess persuaded my otherwise and I resigned myself to just watching on. I had heard positive comments about Rialto Decibel Choir before and I found their set to be charming, yet, at the same time, underwhelming. Vocalist Ashleigh came off as a Broadway-style Joanna Newsom which quickly lost its novelty appeal as the set went on. Accompanying guitarist James picked up the slack though with some beautiful melodies that could only come from a Brisbane-bred band.

Next up were Shakes who definitely did live up to the hype I had heard previously. While a comparison to the Arcade Fire on account of the presence of a violinist in their midst would just be plain lazy there is definitely something Canadian about this band. Their songs constantly contained the noise and feedback so many Brisbane bands ply these days, while at the same time combining the melody of a pop song with the calculated sound of post-rock, resulting in a very atmospheric performance. The only negative point in their set was the almost completely static performance. Shakes are definitely one to keep an eye on in the next few months.

By the time Capital was up i had lost my sobriety and was beginning to dance to The Smiths' 'This Charming Man' when the song was switched halfway through to enable Capital to hit the stage to The Libertines' 'Boys In The Band'. Such a move did not endear the band to me, but they soon redeemed themselves in my eyes with a well-placed Might Boosh reference. The four piece came on strong with some tight pop numbers that got many of the patrons dancing around. It soon became clear to me that each of Capital's songs all have an obvious influence; whether it be the Futureheads, Franz Ferdinand, The Beatles, The Libertines, Razorlight or whichever British band they were listening to when they wrote the song. This is not to be taken as a bad thing, however, as the songs they performed were all highly enjoyable (the comparison to Franz and the Beatles was definitely justified).

If you're wanting to catch Capital, hit up Ric's on the 25th June, I guarantee you won't regret it. You can also catch Shakes at Ric's this Friday, and Rialto Decibel Choir will be playing the Troubadour on the 20th June.