The Ray Mann Three @ Goodgod Small Club, Sydney (16/02/2012)
A show at the Good God Club is always great in one way or another; the venue itself is just fun and that atmosphere permeates in the room and with the band and crowd. The 16th of February was no different with the Club hosting the Ray Mann Three and supporting acts Briscoe and DJ Nick La Rosa.
Briscoe is a five-piece band reminiscent of post-grad students looking for amusement; that’s not to say the music isn’t good. Their sound is similar to Midtown, though much less polished. Their set was played to a packed room, wherein all age groups (legally allowed in of course) were represented. Their songs were pleasant and received a lot of a crowd support. The beginnings of some of the songs were lacklustre, leaving the sound a bit jilted though this was corrected toward the middle and end of the songs.
On Thursday the band were launching a new single called ‘Animal’, once again to mass support; a feeling very common at the Good God Club. The band had face paint on and throughout the set they were joking around, fixing instruments and chatting. A particularly amusing song addressed the behaviour of drunk girls and guys. The last song of the set had a chorus of “Oh oh Mexico” and was an excellent and memorable choice.
In between Briscoe and the Ray Mann Three was a DJ called DJ Nick la Rosa. Immediately the question is why there was a DJ in this spot? If the purpose was to fill time, that is exactly what occurred. The DJ’s set was really music that just really seemed to detract and pull crowd members away. The sound levels were a bit off and the song choices jumped between hip hop and oldies. While the DJ would normally have been fine, probably quite good, in between two live bands he just seemed out of place and disjointed from the point of the night.
The Ray Man Three came on stage to cheers from the crowd. The band consists of Ray Mann and two others, one of which also played for Briscoe. Immediately setting the band apart from their cohorts is the format of the performance. Placed behind their set is a white media screen drawing attention and which would become the focus of this bands brand of performance. Their set is rather like an art-music installation with the songs always accompanied by an artistic tale or video on screen.
The band has a very smooth form of as Ray Man states “soul music” which could be comparable to music with a jazz funk grove and a blues beat. The beat of the music was similar in style to the Blues Brothers, though that was their only similarity. One thing I love about this venue is the audience participation every band seems to get, whether they know people or not it doesn’t seem to matter; they get people doing what they want. In this case Ray Mann had the audience jangling their keys and laughing heartily about it. The format of a show in the club is quite interactive and this meant that in terms of live performance the Ray Mann Three were amazing.
The room was less full for this set than even thirty minutes earlier for Briscoe but it really did not matter; those who stuck around were really treated to a great set. There were many new songs played and the band ventured into rock territory on one new song, which payed off if the crowd reaction was anything to go by.
The music was just encompassing the night and while sometimes it seemed to play back-fiddle to what was on screen, overall the band just played a really organic set. The music sounded as if we were hearing for the first time jamming in a practice, not at all unpolished but simply having that fun and first-time feeling to it. For a band who admitted several times to not having played a gig together in year this performance was brilliant and amazing to be a part of.
Casey Cunningham
Briscoe is a five-piece band reminiscent of post-grad students looking for amusement; that’s not to say the music isn’t good. Their sound is similar to Midtown, though much less polished. Their set was played to a packed room, wherein all age groups (legally allowed in of course) were represented. Their songs were pleasant and received a lot of a crowd support. The beginnings of some of the songs were lacklustre, leaving the sound a bit jilted though this was corrected toward the middle and end of the songs.
On Thursday the band were launching a new single called ‘Animal’, once again to mass support; a feeling very common at the Good God Club. The band had face paint on and throughout the set they were joking around, fixing instruments and chatting. A particularly amusing song addressed the behaviour of drunk girls and guys. The last song of the set had a chorus of “Oh oh Mexico” and was an excellent and memorable choice.
In between Briscoe and the Ray Mann Three was a DJ called DJ Nick la Rosa. Immediately the question is why there was a DJ in this spot? If the purpose was to fill time, that is exactly what occurred. The DJ’s set was really music that just really seemed to detract and pull crowd members away. The sound levels were a bit off and the song choices jumped between hip hop and oldies. While the DJ would normally have been fine, probably quite good, in between two live bands he just seemed out of place and disjointed from the point of the night.
The Ray Man Three came on stage to cheers from the crowd. The band consists of Ray Mann and two others, one of which also played for Briscoe. Immediately setting the band apart from their cohorts is the format of the performance. Placed behind their set is a white media screen drawing attention and which would become the focus of this bands brand of performance. Their set is rather like an art-music installation with the songs always accompanied by an artistic tale or video on screen.
The band has a very smooth form of as Ray Man states “soul music” which could be comparable to music with a jazz funk grove and a blues beat. The beat of the music was similar in style to the Blues Brothers, though that was their only similarity. One thing I love about this venue is the audience participation every band seems to get, whether they know people or not it doesn’t seem to matter; they get people doing what they want. In this case Ray Mann had the audience jangling their keys and laughing heartily about it. The format of a show in the club is quite interactive and this meant that in terms of live performance the Ray Mann Three were amazing.
The room was less full for this set than even thirty minutes earlier for Briscoe but it really did not matter; those who stuck around were really treated to a great set. There were many new songs played and the band ventured into rock territory on one new song, which payed off if the crowd reaction was anything to go by.
The music was just encompassing the night and while sometimes it seemed to play back-fiddle to what was on screen, overall the band just played a really organic set. The music sounded as if we were hearing for the first time jamming in a practice, not at all unpolished but simply having that fun and first-time feeling to it. For a band who admitted several times to not having played a gig together in year this performance was brilliant and amazing to be a part of.
Casey Cunningham