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Words Jackyboy.
Photos Adam Russ – Right Eye Media Australia
[It seems our reviewer blacked out after his nitrous hit… just keep reading…]
Remember when two piece bands were a new thing? I remember listening to The Black Keys and The White Stripes and thinking “yeah they’re pretty cool, imagine how cool they’d be if they got a fucking bass player.” Last Thursday a promise of a free pint had me in an Uber on it’s way to The Reverence to write a bit about new Melbourne band Three Headed Fool. I was told it was going to be awesome, and hey, a free pint’s a free pint. It had been a while between shows for me, responsibilities far less exciting and my regular droogies off tackling their own obligations had left the old date book a bit bare.
Strolling into the Reverence found me cheerfully surprised at how populated the room was already, and at 8:45pm. Ah, of course. Clowns are headlining. Clowns are my favorite scene-y claim to underground fame at the moment, after playing Cherry Rock and crushing a fat national tour recently I fondly illustrate to those in-the-know that back in 2010 my band tried booking them for our first few gigs but they could never get their shit together. I’m glad they did in the end.
Free pint in hand, talking shit with the photographer I was waiting for the rest of the band to get on stage, when I realised Three Headed Fool are a two piece (I feel like they should borrow a band member from Two Headed Dog, their band names would make more sense to me). I wasn’t about to drop my drink and walk out, I was still happy to be there, but a dull anxiety crept up on me that I may have difficulty producing a positive review. How fucking wrong I was.
Guitarist Joel Parnell riffs like some kind of riff-gician (that’s a thing, shut up) casting a level 4 stoner rock spell on the audience. Breaking in and out of solos effortlessly his guitar skills are awesome, his guitar tone very Homme-esque. What occurred to me watching 3HF was that without a vocalist or bass player, the remaining members have absolutely nowhere to hide. If they fuck up, they fuck up half of the music that’s being played. Apart from the drummer Sam Krieger dropping a stick on one occasion as a result of smashing the living fuck out of the drums, they didn’t miss a beat. Let’s talk about Sam Krieger for a second. The only thing guitarists know more about than guitars, is drummers. Not drums, not drumming; but the kind of drummer they’d want to play with, the sort of drummer that would turn their bedroom heroism into global domination. Sam’s been playing guitar for quite some time, drums for about a year. He’s clearly been thinking about drummers for a lot longer. His technique is so heavy to call it an homage to Animal from the Muppets would be an understatement. Overall, Three Headed Fool had an awesome progressive stoner sound carried by taught musicianship. If you like riffs and huge drums, see this band.
With work the next day and a breakfast date with my hot wife penciled in I decided that it was time to head home… Right after one more pint… And watch Wet Pensioner… And have a nitrous hit..?
When in Footscray my friends. When in Footscray.
