Oh Mercy

Halloween at the Corner Hotel meant there were plenty of eager punters keen for some good music, dripping in beer and fake blood. The atmosphere was electric in the band room with the crowd in high spirits, fired up for a ripper night of local Melbourne talent. First up were The Ocean Party. It’s unfortunate I arrived just as they started playing their last song for the evening, however it was a pleasant tune and they received a thunderous round of applause from the audience. The one song I heard sounded like a cross between The Go-Betweens and The Panics. Keep an eye on The Ocean Party, their smooth, laid-back sounds are sure to be making waves [Pun definitely intended- Ed] around the nation soon.

Next on the bill were Washington. They are led by the effervescent chanteuse Megan Washington, who’s taken a bold step and shed former band mates Ben Lee and Old Man River to strike out on her own. She is a delightful performer and absolutely gorgeous to watch. Megan seemed comfortable and confident on stage as she introduced their first song; "This is called The Hardest Part. Get your filthy minds off it!’'.

For those unfamiliar with their sound, Washington have their own unique take on indie-pop with a minimalist elegance - think the attitude of Bertie Blackman, crossed with the intensity of Ed Harcourt, combined with the showmanship of Antony and The Johnsons. Megan is a master of the keys and indulged in some classical solos between songs. Her onstage banter was equally as entertaining as the music. She made a formal apology to Alex from Oh Mercy for getting drunk at their Adelaide show the previous night and heckling him onstage: ‘'I’m sorry Alex, that you’re so sensitive'’.

The highlight of Washington’s set was a solo keyboard song from Megan (the title of which is still eluding me) that she played as a birthday gift for a friend. The song itself told the strange but sad tale of a gorilla in captivity that was the last of his kind. A woman called Petronella developed an obsession for the gorilla and visited him at the zoo everyday for eight long years. Which led to the gorilla believing that Petronella was his mate. One day the gorilla broke out of his enclosure and went to embrace the woman he believed to be his love, only to crush her to death with his super gorilla strength. The song was devastatingly beautiful and Megan sang with great emotion; '‘How can I say what I’d give, my love, just to be yours/ I would give my life'’.

Washington finished their set with a big thank you to the Ocean Party and Oh Mercy: "Sorry we had so many onstage fights, this is our final song, it's really good to dance to'’. They had the crowd absolutely buzzing and warmed the stage well for the night’s headliners.

Oh Mercy walked onstage to the deafening roar of the sell out crowd, most of whom were screaming for the bass player Eliza, who was looking cute in a lovely black and white dress. They began their set by handing out the leftovers of a fruit platter to some very ecstatic girls in the front row and launched into their opening track Seemed Like A Good Idea.

Lead vocalist Alex Gow looked like he was straight from the 1950’s, sporting a Fonzie inspired hair do and a tucked-in shirt. Gow seemed a tad uncomfortable in the spotlight, or perhaps he was just nervous that Washington would start up some more heckling. Either way, their brand of dreamy, laid-back pop was rather lacklustre live and Gow’s voice was annoyingly nasal. A few tracks into the set and Gow seemed to relax a little and launched into a bit of story-telling between songs.

The live version of Astrid, No was the only song they played that actually really differed from the studio recordings and, according to Gow’s commentary, it was written about a finger painting competition that he and fellow singer/guitarist Tom Savage entered when they were kindergardeners: "Tom won. I came runner-up and we wrote a song about it’'. They played most of the songs from their debut record Privileged Woes, as well as few new songs that were much the same as their other material.

The highlight of an otherwise dull set was a cracking version of Lay Everything On Me and their final song for the night, a cover of a Triffids song. The band seemed to wake up when they were playing a song from one of their musical heroes and it was a nice way to round out the evening, with a big thank you from Alex and a reminder to "take care of yourselves and your animals, because they’re animals and they can’t express their emotions'’.

As far as their performance went, Oh Mercy are not a lively bunch and the front-man didn’t have a lot of stage presence. I could have had more fun drinking a few beers in the comfort of my own home whilst listening to their CD, as the live versions barely deviated from the recordings. Not having my toes crushed by ridiculous chicks that insist on stumbling around in ankle-breaking heels at concerts would be an added bonus to that. However, the crowd full of Oh Mercy t-shirt wearing punters all had massive smiles on their faces and were screaming for more when the band walked off stage. And that’s the important thing.

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