New Estate

Despite a lethargic weekend in general, where my total achievements were the repair of a bike puncture, 2.5 hours of piano, several Hoegaardens and an hour of dwarven rogue roleplaying on the WoW Lightbringer realm, I managed to get out and see some bands at the Carlton Music Room, which is a mysteriously located room in the bowels of the Dan O’Connell Hotel. It must have been ten years since I’d been there; normally a place famous for its St. Patricks Day throng in more summery seasons. new-estate.jpg
Having been to the Northcote Social Club for all my more recent gigs – been awhile now though, it was awesome that the ever-reliable Andrew had reserved me a seat and we could actually watch the bands without having to jostle for position like at the Mountain Goats or Steve Malkmus shows. Having seen the Pink Stainless Tail before, I knew what to expect. If that band could just be a bit more inventive with their music they would be the closest thing to The Fall that Melbourne has seen in 20 years, singer Simon Strong already possessing the rambling, incoherent and shambolic sensibilites of mentor Mark.E.Smith. The in-between band Go Genre were interesting enough, but I found myself chatting to Andrew about his photo exhibition, the quiet lifestyle opportunities available in Preston backstreets, and enjoying my Coopers a bit much. The band I came to see – New Estate was from a recommendation by David Nicholls in Beat awhile back. Little did I know his partner is in that band – the sly dog. Luckily they were the best band of the night, and I’ll have to track down the CD that they said they had just finished recording – or even see them again. All three of us folk seem to have recorded this event in our weblogs for posterity; perhaps the most comprehensively reviewed Tail gig to date.