The Fumes & Elliot Brood - Notes Live, Sydney (24th October)

Having just returned from a North American tour, Sydney’s The Fumes brought Toronto’s Elliot Brood back home with them for a night of variations on gritty blues, country and folk at Notes in Newtown. 

Tucked into the side of Newtown’s Enmore Road, Notes Live is a relatively inconspicuous venue. Situated across the road from a brothel (not so discreet with the neon-lit ‘Open 24 Hours’ sign as its shop front identifier) you’d be forgiven for wandering into Notes in suit and tie with a fistful of bills for your visit to the gentleman’s club. Indeed, the persistent discussion about Notes having once been home to ladies of the night is led credence by the high podium to standing space ratio, one which seems quite at odds with the current use of said space. The raised areas possibly once home to non-load bearing poles are ar tfully filled with candle-lit dinner tables and couches whilst the floor space is filled with an evening meal crowd. It’s hardly a place you’d expect to be seeing live music, but that expectation is obviously debunked by the assorted guitars assembled under lights on stage.

Canadian three-piece Elliot Brood took the task of playing to four long tables worth of post-dinner chatter, managing to turn heads in their direction with a set of Avett Brothers meets Mumford and Sons alt-country balladeering. Regardless of whether guitarists Mark Sasso and Casey Laforet were toggling fuzz pedals through their acoustics, strapping on a banjo or dueling ukuleles, Elliot Brood managed to round out a set full of blues, folk and country inspired rock to impressed ovations across the venue. With vocals sometimes crossing 13th Floor Elevators’ front-man Roky Erickson, the Canadians pulled off the ultimate support act sin; putting in a performance that’s incredibly difficult to top.

With the waistcoats, shirts and ties of Elliot Brood leaving the stage to be replaced by the blue singlets, Blundstones and trucker caps of The Fumes, the night’s line-up did seem a little inverted on appearance. Of course, all it takes is the opening strikes of Steve Merry’s ground to shit Telecaster for The Fumes to parlay any confusion as to who should be supporting who. From their breakout hit Automobile (a song that will forever be their benchmark) to the acid trip ho-down Psychedelic Warlord, the duo powered through a set crossing their first two records, leaving few stones unturned.  Just as capable of blowing you away with booming rock tracks like The Letter as they are at jerking tears on Sundancer, their live show is one that drags you through the full range of blues-rock emotion from open to encore. 

While Merry switches between his Telecaster and the rich tone of his steel-bodied resonator, drummer Joel Battersby acts in almost telekinetic tandem, forever complimenting his front-man’s every move up and down the fret board. Meanwhile, Merry’s understated and under-rated lyrical ability pulls out turns of phrases like “coincidentally I just killed a man” on Python for a Pillow, flavouring the dirty, gasoline soaked arrangements with vocal moments that perfectly align. In The Fumes, you have a duo completely in tune with each other, their abilities and the style of music that they create, all of which are consistently proven each and every time they take the stage. 

Despite the god awful table set-up half-filled with an arrogant dinner crowd reassembling chairs and laughing over bottles of wine to the music, Notes hosted a great night of tunes. While the Fumes gave every indication of being one of the country’s finest current Blues acts, Elliot Brood debuted on the Australian stage to an impressed reception that will no doubt see them back here in no time. If you could forgive Notes for the dinner tables, ignore the eerie (or arousing) sensation that you stood where a naked woman once gyrated and deal with the $7 bottles of Coopers, then the venue was the host of an absolute power pack of some of the most exciting gritty blues-rock that the Commonwealth has to offer.