ROOT!

Riddle me this. If a band have a) indie marketing appeal, b) skinny jeans and flopsy fringes and c) the barest of ability to play instruments, does that makes them x) “good”? So, if a x b x c= x, then too many people are going to see ‘x’ instead of ROOT!. Apparently, the gaspingly dull Devastations were playing on the same night and had garnered more hyperbole in the paper, perhaps due to their trendy facial hair and avant-garde fan base.

Anyway, Lightning Dead played and were pretty average. Abundantly average, even. Austin Floyd followed and were much more fun, with a heavy country spice and Clutch-esque stage presence. It was not until 11-odd that the crux on the evening presented itself (or, themselves). ROOT! in all their (ironic?) cowboy-hatted glory unburdened us of our working-class woes with tracks like I Wish I Was Tex Perkins and Orange [written about our over-tanned brothers and sisters]. Speaking of people with too much money and not enough brains, I was not a happy chappy with the way some drunk slag kept feeling up my boyfriend, and bashing into me with her handbag. Lady, if it hadn’t been so wretchedly hot in the band room, I’d have clocked you one. You too, guy who kept putting your hat in Dwarf photographer’s photos and doing the bunny-ears behind DC’s head during a prime photo opp. What a dick. ANYWAY.

ROOT! are awesome. Putting it simply. I can’t see why people are going to see bands that lazily plonk on synths to stolen beats or think they’re the reincarnation of Joy Division. Go see a band that put the effort into writing genuinely witty, appealing and amusing songs. DC’s lyricism is a prime factor in the band’s growing popularity. The man is the sharpest wordsmith in Australia. Too long have songwriters been afraid to speak out, well, fear no longer- someone with balls is here! The line “It's not soul, it's solipsism” in Get Up Yourself always makes me laugh for its clever Killers reference (think about it) and had there been more space, Back to Mine would have eventuated into a hoedown. I suppose you could call them a country band. I mean, they have an essence of country to them, but they’re not five Keith Urbans or anything. I would say they infer all the fun bits of country; those twangy strings and cowboy getup, while obliterating all the nauseating aspects to the genre, like being a douchebag and writing about the glorious fields of Louisiana. Especially when you live in Brunswick.

ROOT! played mostly from their debut full-length Root Supposed He Was Out of the Question which, in this ever-humble reviewer’s opinion, is a bangerrang record. And the fact that they managed it without having to support British India is even more pleasing. http://www.myspace.com/rootthemusic

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