The Warratahs & Swamp Thing – Tuning Fork (Concert Review)

A bill can be confusing. I read The Tuning Fork’s billing for last night’s show to mean that Swamp Thing and The Warratahs would be playingtogether; oh, what a wonderful noise that would have been. Instead, as drummer Michael Barker explained to me after the show, the idea for last night’s concert came out of a conversation he had had with Michael Neff, current occupier of The Warratahs’ drumming stool; the two bands had agreed to perform together, but a joint performance wasn’t, apparently, on the cards.

Instead, Swamp Thing kicked the evening off with an hour-long set that showcased their distinctive  sound. I’d seen them a couple of nights earlier playing bridesmaid to Jon Spencer’s quite undeserving bride, so I knew what to expect — a tight, fresh power-blues drive that, despite only being propelled by a drumkit, a guitar and a voice or two, sounds full and mighty. Their hour-long set — oh, how un-rock-and-roll; they started early — focussed on a modern take on classic blues, the typical I-IV-V progressions set aside in favour of straight-ahead intensity. Guitarist Grant Haua scraped an effortless boogie out of his Gibson semi-acoustic for Voodoo Doll; Bones saw his trademark electrified acoustic making overdriven noises that really have no business coming out of an acoustic guitar as he played it like it was a tightly-set-up solid-body electric.

They might not have, yet, the profile of The Warratahs, even four years into their time together, but Swamp Thing provided another highly entertaining show. Barker is an accomplished drummer, his classical percussion training shining through as he worked his way around his kit. The xylophone solo was intriguing; the kazoo — Barker, in one of his charmingly rambling song intros, explained to a very enthusiastic audience that brass kazoos are always worth the few extra dollars — was more effective than I was afraid it was going to be.

Haua is a powerful singer, his Rotorua roots hidden behind a deep, resonant blues roar. While his solos tend to lack focus slightly, his rhythm work and his occasional essays in slide guitar drive the band’s songs, while Barker’s virtuoso drumming, at once intricate and intense, add a dimension of energy and detail to the performance.

And so to The Warratahs. Where Swamp Thing were edgy, engaging, dynamic, The Warratahs were the musical equivalent of an old, comfy sweater. You don’t go to see Barry Saunders and his band looking for innovation or invention; you expect to hear safe, familiar, comfortable music played with warmth and joy. And that, then, is exactly what The Warratahs provided last night. They are, essentially, Saunders’ and Nik Brown’s act these days, drummer Mike Neff, almost perfectly obscured by Saunders for the entire show, and bassist Nick Theobold their backing band. Saunders, faintly Keith Richards-esque in his questionable leopardskin-trimmed shirt, sang and strummed his way through an hour and a half of old and new material, songs from new album Runaway Days making up, as he had promised at the start of the show, a decent chunk of the set.

The show, for the most part, was a two-hander. Saunders’ vocals are as strong as they were when the band began; he again reminded the audience of “that stormy Thursday night at the  Cricketers’ Arms in Wellington,” the show that forms the heart of The Warratahs’ mythology, as he led the band into Maureen, the first song they played together that night. His guitar work was unremarkable, but his voice was strong, breaking ever-so-slightly country as he reached for, and usually made, the higher notes. But the star of the show, undeniably, is Nik Brown. Without his fiddle and his mandolin, the Warratahs’ music would be pleasant but undistinguished, nice but not special, country-tinged soft rock. But as soon as he starts to trip his bow across the strings, songs like Mount Victoria Rain come alive and find a whole new dimension of lovely.

A Warratahs show will give you what you expect, and not really a whole lot more.Runaway Days, the title track of the new album, plodded some, while Up With The People, again from the new album, managed to be pleasingly dirgey and droney, Saunders strapping on a harmonica to round out the sound.

The show wrapped up with Drivin’ Wheel, an energetic little number that saw Saunders’ voice edging dangerously close to Elvis territory, and that offered Theobold’s bass a chance to thrumble up through the mix. Encore As Far As The Eye Can See closed the evening on a powerful note, Nik Brown’s fiddle workout reminding us what makes this band special.

The show was billed as “The Warratahs and Swamp Thing;” on the strength of the two performances, I’m really not sure who should have taken top billing. The Warratahs might have the name and the history, but the future belongs more to Swamp Thing. But next time, I want to see them playing together.

Steve McCabe

Click on any image to view a gallery of concert photos by Amina McCabe: