Something with Numbers

Something With Numbers have been touring across Australia, and the stage was set for this band at Melbourne’s Hi-Fi bar. First things first, due to the wonderful traffic coming into Melbourne’s city centre, I unfortunately missed Slow Down Honey’sopening set; so a big shout out to these boys!

After arriving fashionably late I caught the eccentric, messy and thoroughly enjoyable performance from The Galvatrons. Booting their set off with a massive intro, this four piece band was psychedelic; holding a massively high amount of energy from start to finish. Their music and stage persona represented the high drama of early eighties rock. Dressed in tight jeans, retro shirts and sporting long blonde hair gave them an old school look. This is not even mentioning their music, which had that same mix of an electric keyboard and heavy rock, which is iconic with eighties tracks. These didn’t come off corny or stale, quite the opposite actually.

Tracks like Cassandra and She’s In Love sounded great, and was lapped up by the audience. This band was a breath of fresh air, proving that the eighties are still alive. Watching The Galvatrons set was like watching Van Halen in their prime. The group flaunted their apparent skills; featuring mind melting tap solos, crazy dancing, wild riffs, and tight work from bass and drums. There was never a dull moment during their set; between songs when the group would grab a drink, there would be a keyboard or drum solo; which kept the atmosphere electric. This group demanded attention and certainly got it with their big sound, awesome use of early 80s rock elements and an excellent stage presence. These guys won me over as Johnny (lead vocals) ended the show saying, “The milky bars are on me!” Summing up this band: The Galvatrons are like joy-riding in a time machine.

After getting a taste of a band that will be going far in the industry, I settled back into sinking a few drinks; awaiting my main course, Something With Numbers. When this group hit the stage, they looked impressive; featuring five members, four playing guitars, which looked very entertaining. Something With Numbers played a good balance of melodic and rock tracks, keeping the audience guessing what was going to come next. But unfortunately I found that the group lacked a spark. There were a few moments when Jake Grigg (vocals) pulled out a few funky dance combos, including knee shakes and jumping about, which amped up the atmosphere; but they were infrequent. One of the most interesting moments during their set happened mid-way.

Something With Numbers seemed to feel the need to play a cover of one of the most overplayed tracks on commercial radio, that’s right Kings Of Leon – Sex On Fire! I instantly thought, not again; sure the band remixed the verses with a rap, but it was fundamentally the same song. Following this, the band played one of their biggest hits, Apple Of The Eye. I felt that Something With Numbers used KOL’s track to drag everyone’s attention, before playing their own successful track. This seemed to me an amateur move, clearly show this band hasn’t got enough big tracks to pull in the crowd, so they have to use others, rather than their own. On a positive note they sounded great live, Stay With Me Bright Eyes was another clear audience favourite, which band played perfectly.

Returning for an acoustic solo encore was a nice end, settling down the crowd; before ending the show with a quick paced track. During their encore the stage’s back-drop light up like stars which looked really good. Before this the back-drop just featured a simple picture; I don’t understand why they didn’t use this element during their show. Ultimately the band was tight and controlled their music very well; but I just felt that they seemed to lack the same amount of high energy we previously saw. I ultimately found myself bored during the majority of their performance

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