Carus and the True Believers

Carus Thompson has been writing songs since he was twelve and has been playing in pubs basically since he turned eighteen. Now at the age of twenty-six he has a slew of EPs and albums behind him, including his debut LP, 2002s Songs From Martin St and the 2003 follow-up Long Nights Are Gone featuring the incredibly catchy single Ain’t No Crime, a song that was almost flogged to death on Triple J, that gave him the break he was looking for. Touring with the likes of Ed Kuepper, Tiddas, Jack Johnson, the John Butler Trio and The Waifs helped him to establish a place on the Australian music landscape.
Since Carus started building a national profile a few years ago, he has been a constant visitor to Tasmania. He was recently here for the Lewi Day Out where he made a good impression with a set that kept the crowd going all the way through. His stage presence on that occasionally hot, occasionally rainy day at Lewisham was a real stand-out, and so when he came back to Hobart there was an expectant crowd waiting for him.
Linc Le Fevre warmed up the crowd nicely with a combination of his own solo songs, some of the new Fell to Erin tunes from the forthcoming Metre Maid EP, the more familiar Fell to Erin material and even a cover of an as yet unreleased Enola Fall song.
After a short break Carus and the True Believers hit the stage and it was clear that Carus was in fine form. Like a strange cross between James Brown and Tim Rogers, he was part rock hero, part showman and it seemed to work on Friday night.
There was a reasonably big crowd to watch the show and they were treated to one of the longest performances I’ve seen at the Republic, but what would you expect from a man that has written close to three hundred songs? To start with Carus and the True Believers kicked off with a really sharp version of Brokenheart and followed that up with Grow. By this stage, the crowd were already getting into the band and it was clear that the band, especially Carus, were feeding off the vibe.
Big Brother followed and the tempo was lifted by great, extended versions of Time Machine and Wintertime. The highlight of the early part of the set was Broken Song. With its funky reggae groove it perfectly captured the vibe of the night and the crowd responded warmly.
Carus then pulled out some of the mellower songs in the repertoire before building it up again with This Time.
The True Believers band left the stage, with Carus remaining to share a couple of acoustic numbers. The highlight of this segment was the version of When I Think of You from the Breakdown EP.
The band returned and kicked into the final part of the set with an up tempo version of Sweet Mondays from the Long Nights Are Gone LP. The Paul Kelly influences in this song were pretty obvious and as if to give a nod to an obvious influence, Carus kicked into the Paul Kelly track, Dumb Things. Sadly, it was a bit of a bland version, which sounded almost identical to the original. It would have been interesting to hear Carus interpret this classic song in his own way.
To close an interesting and enjoyable set the band played the ‘big hit’, Aint No Crime. Carus really put a lot into this and let each of the band members take a solo, including a fine display of bass exhibitionism. Not being a big fan of slap bass, it all seemed a bit indulgent but it seemed to fit the mood of the evening.
While Carus isn’t likely to be regarded as a song writer of the calibre of Tim Rogers or Paul Kelly, he is one hell of a performer, entertainer and musician, and for a night out at the pub, what more could you want?

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