Gallery, ReviewDitch This MagazineSeptember 10, 2019gallery, live, melbourne, howler, the amazons, fritz, boy azooga, Nathan Goldsworthy, Odin Imaging

The Amazons + Boy Azooga + Fritz @ Howler 06-09-19

Gallery, ReviewDitch This MagazineSeptember 10, 2019gallery, live, melbourne, howler, the amazons, fritz, boy azooga, Nathan Goldsworthy, Odin Imaging

words: Shona Thom // Photos: Nathan Goldsworthy @odin.imaging

The Amazons (14).JPG — Review

“..Dirtier, grittier, sexier..”

Have you ever spanked a butterfly?

This was the question of the night put forth to us by Tilly, the mastermind behind Fritz.

Im at Howler in Brunswick. Ive never been here before but the venue surprised me with a killer live music setup. Complete with tacos, booths and a surprisingly advanced lighting rig despite the venues size. I’m here for the highly understated ’Sounds Good’ gig featuring homegrown Fritz and international superstars Boy Azooga and The Amazons.

Tilly describes her music as dreamy, noise-pop from Newcastle and honestly, I think that’s perfect. Fresh off a national support tour with Ruby Fields, Fritz wasted no time in releasing a new single aptly named “Summer Holiday” which has seen her gain attention from the overlords at Triple J and spotifys fresh finds. “Hi we are Fritz, we are the biggest stadium band going around” Tilly jokes to the sparse crowd. The jokes are delivered in a coy and adorably awkward manner, which is an underlying theme present in her music about teenage heartbreak. If a 90s rom-com had a soundtrack, Fritz would be it. Fritz has announced a debut headline tour and recently appeared at Brisbane’s ‘BIGSOUND’.

It seems music is in the blood of Boy Azoogas frontman Davey Newington, with both his parents and his grandfather having impressive musical backgrounds. Hailing from Whales, that kind of musical heritage is evident in the bands age. Despite all being young lads and only having formed in 2017, Boy Azooga have a matured sound and a confident stage presence.

With over a million listens on spotify Boy Azoogas debut album ‘1,2 Kung Fu’ is hard to put into a single box and I think that’s the point. With influences from The Beastie Boys to Caribou and Black Sabbath, Davey says “The whole point of Boy Azooga is to be a celebration of loads of different types of music. I wanted the album to be more like a mixtape or something. We wanted to include loads of contrasting styles.”. The quartet are making waves internationally and Australia, you need to catch up.

I suddenly feel uncool when The Amazons step on stage. Like theses are some Nick Cave cool looking mother fuckers. The release of their self titled album in 2017 saw mixed reviews with people in the music community interested in The Amazons sound and aesthetic however feeling like the independent rock band weren’t producing anything original.

Despite the mixed reviews the album reached the top 10 charts and saw the band gracing the stage of a plethora of festivals. Since then, the world has been on the edge of its seat waiting to see what the quartet do next, enter the bands second album ‘Future dust’. With its heavily guitar driven sound, frontman Matt Thomson mentions that the band were aiming for a “dirty, grittier, sexier sound” and the band somewhat delivers this. The audience is dancing from the first kick of the drum, their music is catchy and delivered with the same quality live as it is recorded.

Its very easy to imagine these guys filling arenas with screaming young girls (and boys!), so it comes as a surprise that they were playing to a small crowd however the reason for this is simply exposure. The amazons have yet to make it onto the radio here in Aus and as a result the band remains relatively unheard of here. The Amazons could be huge because they sound like so many other British indie rock bands and therein lies the problem. Going forward I would love to see how/if The Amazons take it further with more dirt, more grit and more sex. In-order to see these guys stand out from the crowd.