Live Review: Gareth Liddiard

When: November 19th, 2010
Where: The Old Museum, Brisbane QLD

"Gareth Liddiard could make going to the shop and buying a carton of milk sound cataclysmic." I read this quote in a street press interview, and for me, this is a great abridgement of what The Drones frontman is all about. Cathartic, mind blowing, and lyrically spelling binding, The Drones, pure and simple, are the finest act to come out of Australia in years. Sometimes you just have to tell it how it is and this, my friends, is how it is.

Liddiard has always threatened to drift into the direction he has taken with his debut solo album, Strange Tourist. Gala Mill's 'Sixteen Straws' is a no better demonstration into where Liddiard's bread and butter lies, and Strange Tourist follows with pure ferocity. 

Playing his album from front to back was every bit as energising as it is when you listen to it in your own space and devices. Liddiard, with simply just his acoustic at hand, delivered each piece of the puzzle with fervour. These are engaging songs that build up to something. Tirades of words ('The Radicalisation of D'), lush melodies ('Did She Scare All Your Friends Away') beside seething virtuosity. These songs need your full attention for maximum effect. The fact that this was a seated only affair was a shrewd touch, brushing against the homely Saturday morning vibes with a couch and cup of tea in hand that you often associate with (okay, maybe that's just me).  Still, it worked an absolute treat.

Liddiard also shed some light into how these songs evolved and what inspirations lie beneath. Although many song-writers tend to keep their cards close to their chest in relation to subjects of songs, Liddiard was happy enough to give insight, opening things up for the listener. Sometimes this is all it takes. A little push can definitely change the complexion of how an album feels, and I'm sure many would have come away feeling something a little different in Strange Tourist.

So many people have this ideal about music that wasn't made in the era they grew up in and how amazing it would've been to grow up around the likes of these artists who created this music (The obvious ones being The Beatles, The Stones, Dylan, Young). Closer to home, I guess young patriotic Australians who dig their music have the same feeling about Nick Cave, The Saints and The Go-Betweens back in the 1970s and '80s. Granted, it would've been a great parallel to coincide with, driving to work in your Holden Kingswood with the radio blasting out 'Messin' With the Kid', however we're just as fortunate to be living in an era where we bear witness to the greatest songwriter from our shores since then. I'm not usually one for the big statements but as they say, you can't hide behind the truth; yes, Gareth Liddiard is that good.

Words by Simon K