Josef Lawrence & The Hypocrites

With the successful and highly entertaining Perth Festival finished it was time for me to review some grass roots music at one of my favourite Perth venues. I love going to see bands at smaller venues, it’s great to support local bands and it also gives me a chance to try and hone my photography skills.  You have access to the stage and band that you just can’t get at larger gigs.

The opening act this evening were unfamiliar to me even though they feature a couple of members from 90’s Perth band The Jennifers. They are a Rock band that are influenced by classic rock and the alt-rock of the 90’s. Things start to get interesting with the Tory baiting Theresa May dedicated second song Dirty Mofo’s with it’s agit prop lyrics harking back to one of my favourite 90’s band S*M*A*S*H. 

Next song Raise it Up features some nice lead work from Ritchie Whytock and some Brian Molko-esque vocals from Ryan McRae. Things really start to kick off when frontman Ryan put’s down his guitar and channels his inner Andrew W.K. strutting the Twa Tam’s stage microphone in hand on final track We’re All In It Together.  This seems to really energise the band, particularly the rhythm section Chris Findlay on drums and Gavin Kelly.  On the whole it was a really strong set from a band who have a really distinct sound.  I will definitely try to check them out in future.

Headliners Josef Lawrence & The Hypocrites are a band that have been on my radar for a while although I’ve never seen them live.  They formed at the DIY Rock Shop a local business run by Ali Pibworth that teaches youngsters both the chops and confidence to play live.  Also, like fellow Perth Band An Orange Conspiracy their recorded output is produced and engineered by Sean Manz who has great ear for new talent. 

Their set begins strong with new track Fear which has the energy and inventiveness of an early Libertines song.  This is followed up by the bouncy Houdini which has some nifty lyrics from front man Joey and a great wall of sound chorus which is really bolstered by the triple threat of guitarists including new addition Elliot Miln.  Bass player Gray Pennock is the next one to get his moment to shine with his sick bass-line on More and he really gets a nice groove going with drummer Callum Kennedy.

Two of the highlights of the set for me are songs Social Smoker and Citrus.  The former has a strong Dinosaur Jnr. vibe (more so than the recorded version) which it combines with a pop punk sensibility.  The real standout though is new song Citrus. I love the tongue in cheek emo lyrics “When life life gives you lemons kill your self, when life gives you lemons kill everyone else” and the sound is like Charming Man if it was written by Frank Black. Filling an hour long set with quality originals is quite an achievement for such a young band. It all draws to a close with the atmospheric Spiders and it’s time once again for chips and home.  

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