bit by bugs (Sunday July 24th, 2005 - 22:05)

category: mmhuh?

Wednesday night I went to Spectrum to see the Velvet Fog, Modular Lounge and Bertie Blackman. All played well with the Velvet Fog being my favourite of the evening, suiting a mellow mood with their gentle Whitlams-esque sound. Annoyingly the short cold walks to and from the venue re-ignited my flu bug and knocked me out for Thursday and still has me hanging around the 60% of health mark.

Sitting around at Club 77 on Saturday night, checking out the revised layout I realised I’d first gone there 10 years ago but my last visit was in 2000.. time and my age is creeping up on me. The space has been opened up and the bar spruced up beefing the price for a local schooner to $5! That’s a murderous amount in my books. The crowd also seemed younger and more overwhelming than those you find at Spectrum or the Hoey – perhaps it was the night, I don’t know. The stage is a cutesy low-rise affair, sound quality is so-so, and the lighting redder than any other venue – nice to watch but I’ll know to never take the beasty camera with me.

The Crayon Fields were up first but like their name they were less than a sketch. Twee sounding short pop tunes that might be fine on record but didn’t seem to get through live, the vocals muddied up and songs starting and ending with some confusion. One thing I liked was the guitarist’s star covered strap – it’s damn hard to find guitar straps in Sydney that don’t have brands or stupid text on them. Wallspace were a kind of folky sounding trio but not my sort of thing on a Saturday night. Headliners Bit by Bats didn’t woo me like they seem to have done to a few people I know. I found them to be generic rock style with the addition of a theremin being agitated by a guitar. Watchable, listenable, but not jaw-dropping.

I’m not sounding enthusiastic? I’ve still got that flu and my head is pounding and all I want to do is close my eyes and whimper (but I have to stay awake for my Kimi).