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[Review] Lord Huron @ The Forum, Melbourne 27/01/2024

Trying to find the words to describe Lord Huron is so difficult. They’re so much more than ‘indie-folk outfit’, ‘country sensation’ or any other combination of words rattling around in my brain. The show at The Forum proved to me that Lord Huron are so much bigger than a little box. I haven’t been able to get them out of my head, and that’s exactly what they were going for.

Support act, Asha Jefferies, should be a household name already. Her lyrics are beautifully understated, melancholic, and yearning. Her vocals aren’t like anything else I’ve ever heard. This is the last day of the tour, and yet Asha still soars to these breathtaking heights. If there is a ‘calling’ – this is hers. I stop before the main floor of The Forum, spellbound. She’s like sirens, harpies, or something else that would sink unsuspecting music writers. She feels like something out of a fantasy book. “The sound guys here are like the coolest, funniest guys ever! Give them a round of applause!” There’s just a moment of hesitation from the crowd, we are shaking off a musical spell. But then we cheer and clap and hoot and holler before she launches into one last song. “I have a new album coming out in April, check it out if you can!” I have marked April in my calendar with a big ugly red circle as a reminder, and you should to. “This last song is about loving your friends. I’m dedicating this one to Genie and Isaac, who are here tonight. It’s called Spinning.” I might gasp, or cry, or shuffle off this mortal coil for a minute. Spinning is stunning, it’s angelic and mysterious. How does Jefferies manage to capture nostalgia and aching so well in a 3-minute song? I feel like my heart strings have just strung her guitar. Listen to Asha Jefferies, remember to lie down somewhere soft, and let her take your hand and guide you into a part of yourself long neglected.

After a 30-minute break, admiring the beautiful interior of The Forum, the lights go dim. We know what that means; Lord Huron making their way onto the stage. They’re all wearing suits, in earthy fabrics like tweed or linen or suede. Two of them have bolo-ties, the bassist has a neck scarf. I see two big, black-brimmed hats. They look like relics from a bygone American era. I don’t think the cowboy aesthetic is an act for them, it feels natural. I could be convinced they bought those hats in 1879 from Ye Olde Hat Emporium. There is something timeless, powerful, and enigmatic oozing from the band.  Front man Ben Schneider seems aware of the folkloric, mythic quality the band has. After a haunting opening of Time’s Blur and Love Like Ghosts, Schneider takes the mic gently between his hands – and you could hear a pen drop in a sold-out Forum.

“We’re going to try to sort of take you on a musical journey. There’ll be ups and downs and twists and turns. Heartbreak and redemption, laughter, tears, high-fives, pats on the butt, making out – everything in between, ok? So, if you find yourself bored, or thinking ‘This isn’t for me.’ Just wait a little bit. Something your flavour will come up.”

Immediately, the band comes to life again. The lights on the forum stage dance in sunset reds and oranges and golds. Meet Me in the Woods, Mine Forever and Dead Man’s Hand, all perfectly flow into each other as I am spellbound by those lights. The instrumentals are flawless, they’re better than the album. Intricate guitar work, mesmerising vocals and a perfect dance of drums and bass in the background – it’s musical bliss. There are moments in the songs that follow that feel like homages to Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young and countless other classics. Every song is Lord Huron listening, growing, and incorporating. Their entire setlist, their whole discography is a love letter to music. It’s written for those who came before then, and ferociously studied by those coming after them.

Wait by the River feels like a sermon. Schneider’s hands go above his head and he calls for us to do the same. Without thinking, my body obeys. But it isn’t just for this song, it’s the whole night. Every time they say clap, I slam my hands together involuntarily. They control every hair on my head, every muscle in my body. I’m not resisting the spell Lord Huron are casting. The band have themselves under a spell at times, like they’re mere vessels for something greater. The three guitarists in the back left drop their heads and sway, but somehow still play these beautifully intricate melodies. My jaw is still on the floor, if someone could pick it up as they passed – that would be great.

Towards the end of the night, is where we hit our high. Schneider leaves for a minute, and comes back wearing a comically large skeleton mask – el Día de los Muertos style. The World Ender and Ancient Names are both sung, played and demolished by skeleton-led Lord Huron. The mask adds to the feeling that these guys might be reincarnated, straight out of the Wild West. That they are mythical and mysterious and not of this world. The guitars are screaming, Schneider is strumming so fast his hands a blur. The vocals are the strongest they’ve ever been. I really struggled to describe this momento. It was so unexpected, so spooky, so perfect. A live-music best-of reel momento, for sure.

Something I never thought I’d see, was a theremín being played live. The stage goes black as Schneider changes out of his skeleton mask, and a single spotlight illuminates the neck-scarf wearing bassist; Miguel Briseño. He stands perfectly still, moving his hands into the instrument, and playing the most heartbreaking introduction to Way Out There. My heart almost can’t take it. I thought it would just get this solo at the beginning – oh, how wrong was I. For 4 beautiful minutes, we are treated to haunting theremin. His hands move with precision, melancholy, and appreciation for the strange instrument. He is a master. My friend keeps whispering “omg a theremin.” Over and over. Words can’t do the moment justice, yet again.

And of course, The Night We Met. One of the biggest songs of recent memory. This song is beautiful. It’s perfect, really. It’s so heartbreaking, so hopeful, so hopeless, so human. Listen to it. It makes my heart feel like it’s been chewed up, spat out, reinflated, and sent to find me. Everyone is singing at the top of their lungs. For that final chorus.

I had all and then most of you. Some and now none of you. Take me back to the night we met.

We sing and we scream, and we cry a little, and so do they. This was a special, intimate moment for everyone there that night. No notes, perfection. Now excuse me while I go cry and yearn in peace.

Schneider leaves us with some closing words, and a promise to come back soon. I’ll leave you with them, too.

See you next time, folks. Until then, live until you die.

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InterviewsTour Interview

Interview with Ville Valo (VV)

Click above to see Mitch chat with Ville Vallo ahead of his tour downunder in just a few weeks!

Brimming with charisma and gothic melodrama, Ville Valo commands your full attention both on and off the stage. Perfectly fusing the melodic and the melancholic, Valo is the embodiment of Johnny Cash, The Sisters Of Mercy, and Elvis with the lyrical elegance of Lovecraft, Poe, and Bukowski. He is truly one of a kind.
 
Being original does not come easy and creating an entire genre is next to impossible, yet with HIM, Valo did just that when he came soaring out of land of the midnight sun, hypnotising the globe with an enchanting mix of dark rock anthems and emotionally charged ballads.
 
With his distinguished baritone five-octave crooner voice, Valo's vocal prowess is unparalleled; equally at home making Chris Isaak and Neil Diamond classics his own or wearing his heart on his sleeve on HIM hymns, Funeral Of HeartsRight Here In My Arms or Wings of A Butterfly. In fact, VVN Music has ranked him as possessing the eighth-highest vocal range of any known singer in popular music and Loudwire ranked Valo as one of the greatest frontman of the 21st century. 
 
Valo’s evolution from the vampiric leader of HIM to the solo artist known today as VV is represented perfectly via HIM’s iconic Heartagram logo. Something Valo gifted the world when he created it on his 20th birthday. The truly iconic image perfectly captures the juxtaposition of the music with the heart representing its softer side, while the pentagram conveys the heavier, darker elements.
 
With VV, the Heartagram has been updated to include two extra lines to form the moniker VV at its centre. Ville playfully comments that, “Artistically speaking, the main difference between HIM and VV is the extra line in the Heartagram, but what an exquisite line it is!
 
VV’s debut solo album, Neon Noir was released in early 2023 and it further exemplifies his storytelling prowess and the ability to contrast darkness and light.
 
VV is performing select shows featuring a perfect mix of solo and HIM songs.

Metal Wani captured the mood of the London show back in March of this year:
When the house lights are killed, the venue is engulfed in a haunting emptiness. As strands of pink and purple begin illuminating the stage, a bright, cold heartagram appears from the darkness – accentuated by the updated VV at its core. Like a lighthouse beacon it cascades across the audience and as Ville Valo appears the reception is akin to a hero’s welcome. Delivering an holistic set that spans the entirety of his career. 
 
Be still our jet black hearts..

TOUR DATES
Wed, March 13: Powerstation, Auckland
Fri, March 15: Northcote Theatre, Melbourne
Sat, March 16: The Metro, Sydney
Sun, March 17: The Tivoli, Brisbane

Tickets on sale Thurs, August 10 @ 9.00am Local Time
ThePhoenix.au

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InterviewsTour Interview

Interview with Wednesday 13

Press play above to see Cass killer chat with Wednesday 13 recently about the Australian Tour!

WEDNESDAY 13 and his current band – which features former MURDERDOLLS alumni Roman Surman and Jack Tankersley – will be performing a full set of MURDERDOLLS songs, taken from the band’s celebrated 2002 debut album, ‘Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls’ and their triumphant 2010 return, ‘Women And Children Last’, which won them the Revolver Golden Gods Comeback Of The Year Award.

Amid a 2002 musical landscape full of baggy pants, backwards caps and tracksuit pants rose a metallic glam punk band that defied the prevailing trends and brought back hard and fast rock ’n roll. Murderdolls dug up the corpse of rock, defiled it and injected pure unadulterated undead life back into it. And it was glorious! 

'Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls’ and its successor, 'Women and Children Last' were like nothing else. Fast and dirty, raw and macabre. Drawing lyrical inspiration from classic horror, each tracks is full of tongue-in-cheek horror done to perfection. Led by horror-punk icon, Wednesday 13 and the late great Joey Jordison, Murderdolls slithered their way to the top of the horrendous heights of rock amassing a colossal cult-following along the way. 

The sinister, sneering vocals, huge hooks, gang vocal choruses, pounding rhythms and some of the best riffs ever penned, the Murderdolls wrote songs for arenas and played them in theatres, making their adrenaline-fuelled odes to darkness that much more thrilling. 

For the first time in well over a decade, Murderdolls' frontman and songwriter, Wednesday 13, will resurrect his songs from the twisted depths of their dual album discography and unleash an unforgettable set when they descend on Australia, breathing fire into the raucous anthems that have defined an entire subculture. 
 

“After 21 years since its release, and the recent sad and premature passing of Joey, it only feels right to go out and celebrate these songs. We made two amazing albums that I was very proud of, and unfortunately much of the world didn’t get a chance to hear the songs live. In 2018, we all got together at Joey’s house and discussed plans and possibilities for the future, but we both had other immediate plans, We will be performing tracks from both MURDERDOLLS albums on this upcoming tour and celebrating the legacy of the band.” – Wednesday 13
 

TOUR DATES
Friday, Feb 2: The Triffid, Brisbane
Sat, Feb 3: The Metro, Sydney
Sun, Feb 4: Max Watts, Melbourne
Tues, Feb 6: Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide
Wed, Feb 7: Rosemount Hotel, Perth

Tickets on sale Thurs, July 27 @ 9.00am Local Time
ThePhoenix.au

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