Concert Review: Echo Ohs ‘Wild Weeds’ EP release – Whammy Bar, September 6, 2019

Echo Ohs and friends invaded Whammy Bar last night to celebrate the release of their Wild Weeds EP, with four bands delivering ear-melting electro, dreamy stoner blues, blistering punk, and psychedelic cowboy surf rock to a beautifully celebratory crowd.

Anyone who follows my concert reviews will know that I both love Echo Ohs, and am constantly complaining that their performances as an opening act aren’t given the attendance and attention I will argue they deserve. It was of no surprise that their headlining performance at Whammy Bar last night – to celebrate the release of their Wild Weeds EP – was brilliantly executed and attended, but I didn’t expect a gig of nearly four hours to deliver such a remarkable collection of diverse musical talent.

Kicking off the gig was hard-hitting, ear-melting duo, BIB Kids, who opened with Hypamelt – heavy, dirty synths and slow-building drums blending punk-inspired Soulwax and Pertubator with the intensity of a collapsing star. Their next number, Heathens, could very well have been a bonus track from the surreal electro nightmare of Hotline Miami, continuing to blur Michael Vincent-Sperring’s frenetic drums together with Tash van Schaardenburg’s screaming vocals.

The deep, humming bass of Wannabe would have felt right at home on Radio Soulwax, while mic-volume issues following Take A Risk put the endurance of Vincent-Sperring’s drumming to the test – relentless, frantic, and absolutely glorious to witness – before washing out under waves of white noise and heavily chopped vocal samples. Underwater alien electro in 100 Degrees finished with wild static, before the grimy car-engine-inside-a-black-hole growls of Earthquake rattled almost every brain in the room.

BIB Kids closed with the gentle, sweet respite of Radioactive, an extraterrestrial poetry-meets-drum-and-bass tune which made the returning backing music of Whammy seem almost silent in comparison. The only downside of the concert as a whole was the wait between BIB Kids and next band, Te Huhu – with nearly 45 minutes between the two – which was alleviated by the almost back-to-back performances of the latter three acts.

Te Huhu opened with a slow-building psychedelic stoner Intro and Fire, a dreamy, anaesthetised sound that combined the best of Comfortably Numb with continual flavours of Jimi Hendrix. The group continued this vibe through When It Gets Back and Strong Arm, with consistently restrained, melting electric-guitar riffs and the measured, growling Jim Morrison vocals of Samuel Smith.

Almost all of Te Huhu’s numbers were stretched out, psychedelic musical sedatives, and flooded me with nostalgia for the couch-littered opium-den setup of Wine Cellar many years ago. Closing numbers, Another Love and No Body Moving cemented the group as a beautiful and worthy facsimile of The Doors meets Floyd, with the naturally flowing electric guitar sounding less like individual riffs and closer to a persistent thread sewn across the set as a whole.

The upbeat Outro dialled up the foot-tapping bass and drumming with high-pitched vocals, before a sudden stop saw a round of applause and a rapid breakdown of the gear – Hamilton-based Contenders were preparing to storm the stage with their relentless, hi-octane punk-rock mayhem.

Oh boy. If you made the mistake – like I did – in thinking BIB Kids were going to be the only heavy-hitters at Whammy Bar last night, then you’d be equally unprepared for the juggernaut of punk rock that is Contenders. Before the group opened with Attract / Repel, my ears and head were already beginning to throb in the best way imaginably. Dark, distorted guitar thrashed through the room. Volume magically dialled itself beyond its limit. Drum roll.

I haven’t felt so wildly driven to stop reviewing a gig and jump into a crowd as I have when Contenders opened, delivering a relentless performance that seemed to take the raw, garage brutality of Offspring’s Smash and the entire discography of The Lillingtons, grind them into a paste with the growling vocals of lead singer, Cilla McIntosh, and serve them as sub-two-minute shots of adrenaline to the entire audience.

One Flew Over, Skate Assault, and Good To Be You pierced through the crowd one after the other, separated only by momentary howls of unapologetic guitar feedback and fast-punching vocals. This was ultra high-energy punk at its finest, with new songs, Bad Advice and The Heat, showing the remarkable on-stage chemistry between band members, Cilla, Liam, Justin, Alex, and Cam. Guttural vocals, tearing guitar, and beat-perfect drum rolls saw the entire band own the stage, and chew through it song after song – it wasn’t the slightest bit surprising that the equally energetic crowd screamed for an impossible encore following closing numbers, Dead Brain Rot and 122.

Finally, it was Echo Ohs who took to the stage, performing what I’d argue was their best performance I’ve seen to date. It’s unsurprising that they poured every bit of clarity and precision into their EP release concert, but I was still amazed that they could sound just as good – if not better – live as they do on a recording. Everything was perfectly clean and sharp, opening with cowboy guitar and Cramps style riffs of Aliens before following up with the gorgeously chasmic bass and sharp guitar solo of The Crawl.

Their sound last night felt like a literal audio wave washing over the crowd, with regularly performed numbers, Dog Bone, Fool, and the celebratory Wild Weeds showing a band capable of harnessing their unique sound without sounding repetitive – joined on stage by Hariet Ellis of Na Noise. Every Echo Ohs song sounds like an Echo Ohs song, but each one is distinctly individual, the kind of almost-infuriating brilliance that forces you to relisten to every track they have to find the musical moment that burned into your brain.

Their new song, Lone Ranger, dialled up the spooky-cowboy guitar of Guy Forks into a slightly more rock/punk-inspired tone, while The Moon brought the greatest display of vocals by Yolanda Fagan – every moment underpinned by the steady, precise, and exceptional drumming of Antony Pike. Closing song, Anna Ant, delivered the spookiest, most haunting vocals of the set, with Fagan barely taking a breath before requesting two encore numbers, the howling, tearing guitar of Bruiser and drum-driven, surf-rock masterpiece, Black Like Your Heart.

Finishing with her trademark vocal whoop and a slow, resolute strum of bass, Fagan thanked the crowd for attending the wonderfully celebratory and inclusive event amidst a round of well-deserved and truly appreciative applause from the crowd. With the floor stained with spilled beer and the crowd buzzing with excitement, I almost felt guilty for leaving – but not as guilty as I’d have felt if I hadn’t sped straight home, both delighted to have seen an entire collection of unique, marvelous musicians, and eager to share with you an experience that felt both long overdue and simply unforgettable.

~Oxford Lamoureaux

BIB Kids Setlist
Hypamelt
Heathens
Wannabe
Take A Risk
Chummus / Cizz
Gimp Software
100 Degrees
Earthquake
Radioactive

Te Huhu Setlist
Intro / Fire
When It Gets Back
Strong Arm
For Love
Roy
Rabbit Hole
Another Love
No Body Moving?
Outro

Contenders Setlist
Attract / Repel
One Flew Over
Skate Assault
Good To Be You
Bad Advice
Teenage Crybaby
The Heat
Dead Brain Rot
122

Echo Ohs Setlist
Aliens
The Crawl
Dog Bone
Fool
Wild Weeds
Lone Ranger
She Said
The Moon
Line Check
Waist Deep
Anna Ant
Bruiser
Black Like Your Heart