Tom's 18th Birthday Gig Review + Pics

"While most students across the country have spent their holidays with their feet up, hanging out with friends and reading anything but school-related text books, the kids from the band Tom Ugly are on the road. The 2008 winners of Triple J's Unearthed High are actually spending their term break performing their songs on the Tom Ugly National Tour.

Last Thursday night saw Tom Ugly revisit the ACT for the second time this year, after supporting The Grates a few months ago. Tom Ugly headlined the Transit Bar's popular indie music night Pyramid with special Canberra guests, The Hancock Basement...

...At the start of Tom Ugly's set, the audience were made aware that it was Tom Parisi's eighteenth birthday on the night. 'Happy birthday' cheers filled the room. "Instead of buying me a beer for my birthday, buy a shirt!", Tom asked the audience sweetly. Later throughout the night several people were seen wandering the bar with their 'Ugly' shirts on.

Their set was quite impressive, filled with funky rock cross electronic pop. Their signature tracks such as Bad With Love and Roll Again clearly were the favourites. They also featured some songs which are to be released this August on their EP.

"This is our last song," Tom told the audience. They didn't seem to respond to that, so then Tom asked, "So do you want to hear Roll Again, again? This guy at the front said he hadn't heard it yet." They were apparently skipping another song, but the audience didn't seem too phased.

Tom Ugly may look like just a pack of teenagers with some instruments, but when they all just play, there really isn't any way to describe how great these guys sound. Their sound is quite mature. By mature, the music has something which most musicians develop a lot later in their careers.

http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/reviews/events/19418/Tom-Ugly-The-Hancock-Basement--Transit-Bar-Canberra-160709.htm

Comments (0) Mon 27 Jul 2009

SPOZ'S RANT

(Gig Review, Video & Live Photos)
Ed Castle @ Adelaide - gig review, video and live photos.

http://spoz.blogspot.com/

TOM UGLY (****1/2) myspace ::

Whenever I go see a live band I've never heard of before I preferably like to go in cold. No press release, blogger buzz, word-of-mouth, magazine article, or whatever-the-fuck; not even a cheat sheet sneak of their myspace just to see if they blow a goat. For me the live gig is where it's truly at. I mean why else would I write all this shit? for all the free alcohol, the door entry, fans, stalkers, groupies, the endless infamy and the notoriety!? (YEAAAS!! I'm an Adelaide scene celebrity *cough* wait.. isn't that just an oxymoron? aarrr fuckit!). No it's all about discovering new shit first hand. As such I knew very little about Tom Ugly prior to tonight: short of the occassional mention on Triple J as winners of "Unearthed High", maybe a half heard song I never knew was theirs, and a one word description claiming they were "electronica" (which pretty much tells me nothing). As for the rest? I discovered that the minute they walked on stage. For one they look surprisingly little like a highschool band. You actually have to keep reminding yourself of that fact throughout their set. I mean sure they look the part, all kinds of gangly and a little bit goofy; but in a world where Tame Impala exists; these freaks look like grizzled war "veterans" by comparison (it also helps you can hardly see them lurking about in the shadows either). Weirder still they absolutely KILL on a live stage (so much so I initially suspected they were miming, the real band were hiding elsewhere, and I was watching the music video to New Order's "Crystal" instead). And that's not where the weirdness ends either. Unlike every other buzz band attempting to rip their schtick from the eighties, they're the goth electronic aesthetic of the late nineties. Yup, the late nineties. In their songs "Roll Again" and "Bad With Love" you can hear everything from Placebo, Suede, The Mavis's, Stabbing Westward, U2's "Pop" and Smashing Pumpkin's "Adore". They remind you of shit you'd see in Buffy The Vampire Slayer playing at The Bronze, or a band you'd see opening for Barcode and Circle Clan at The Proscenium back in 2003 (hmmm I wonder if anyone will get THAT obscure reference!?). In the flailing antics of their lead singer Tom Parisi (pulling all the cheesy crucifixion moves) you're reminded of everyone from Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode, Brandon Boyd from Incubus to Jim Morrison from The Doors (which either means he's a genius waaay before his time, or he'll be a drug addled pincushion by the time he hits his early twenties). From beginning to end they pound out brooding dancefloor grooves that are as infectious as they are wildly anachronistic. They have the crowd going apeshit, they own this room and they're still in highschool!? sheeiiit!! Tonight's the first leg of their nationwide tour with Fire! Santa Rosa Fire! and as much I was itching to give this band hell (I mean c'mon!? how hard is it to win Triple J Unearthed!?) something tells me this shit'll be well worth catching.. whodathunkit!?

Comments (0) Fri 10 Jul 2009