The Grates

It’s been a long time since your humble scribe has had to choose between two gigs in Newcastle on a Saturday night. There was a time when one could deliberate for hours over what band to see, as they were coming through town with a monotonous regularity. Nowadays less so, with touring bands generally eschewing Newcastle for the brighter lights of the capitols.

So here I was, torn between The Grates at The Cambridge Hotel, and Aussie hardcore legends Toe to Toe, at the nearby Lucky Country Hotel (a disparate dichotomy, I know, but hey I enjoy all the meats of our cultural stew). After feeling like the musical equivalent of Hamlet for most of the day, I finally decided on the former, the fact I hadn’t seen any of the bands on the bill the clincher.

Unfortunately my procrastination cost me dearly, missing the opening act, Brisbane’s John Steel Singers. They seemed to do their job however, with more than a few punters discussing the bands’ merits at the bar.

The Vasco Era were always one of those bands that remained just outside my periphery. However, upon seeing them, I became somewhat of a sober teenaged Barney Gumble upon drinking his first can off Duff and blurting out the words “where have you been all my life’.

They performed with an almost effortless intensity that came in no small part from the initially unassuming frontman, Sid O’Neil , whose raggedly raspy vocals soar over the chunky blues rock of the band’s louder efforts and yet still seem quite at home when they delve into quieter territory.

The inclusion of a horn section was a definite plus and recalled a sound reminiscent of an In The Aeroplane Over The Sea-era Neutral Milk Hotel, and their tortured rendition of Elvis’ I Can’t Help Falling In love With You was a pleasant surprise that had the crowd singing along with gay abandon.

But it was The Grates that the punters had parted with their hard-earned to see this evening and by now the venue with almost to capacity and brimming with innocent enthusiasm which exploded into raptures as Patience and co. jumped onstage and began their set.

There aren’t too many people other than Patience Hodgson in Australia today who are so obviously in love with the idea of performing in front of an audience. While the rest of the band limited themselves to a bit of on-the-spot dancing and twee head bopping, Patience threw herself into the performance in a way that might suggest she could get a job on Playschool at the drop of a hat.

The crowd lapped it up, too singing along to the likes of Rock Boys, Howl and Seek Me among others with the stand out being Aw Yeah of their new album Teeth Lost, Hearts Won.

Honestly, I don’t think there had been that much pogoing, enthusiastic finger pointing, and lyric shouting at this venue since the heady days of the hardcore punk scene.

Not having heard much of The Grates in the past, seeing them live reminded this reviewer of a kind of cross between a less punk Screeching Weasel and the Muffs, and approaching something akin to indie darlings Superchunk in their more mature moments.

There was a general ‘sameness’ to their set that wore a bit thin toward the end, and while I may not rush out and buy a Grates album…they were not great but they certainly did not grate.

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