As I’ve mentioned previously, I’ve been a big fan of The Wild Eyes for ages. They played a claustrophobic show at the Kimberley Hotel on Saturday, organised by Your LMG Magazine, and I had a great time.
I’d never been inside the Kimberley Hotel before, which was just as well, as Matt and I arrived about 2 hours too early and so had some time to explore a bit…It’s a really cool place, old and poky with a high ceiling, wooden floors and a narrow staircase – not a typical music venue, but I suppose that’s what makes it quirky enough to be one.
We waited in the dark room that housed all the musical equipment, some weird paintings and a few other people also sitting and waiting. It was all quite bizarre; we watched the lighting guy test out a variety of multi-coloured lasers and patterned lights, including a rainbow one, which I’d never seen before and was oddly fascinated by…
Time wore on and after checking our email an unhealthy number of times, Matt decided it was time for the obligatory one-handed Facebook photo. It was so dark in the room though that the flash made me look fast asleep in his photo, so I had to rectify this by taking my own…unfortunately I over-compensated and look totally over-enthusiastic, self-portraits be damned…
Things finally picked up when the Wild Eyes arrived. The musical role of each band member has blurred a bit so it’s not entirely accurate to refer to Wild Eye Gareth as the bassist, but it’s easier than trying to put a name to his new role…anyway, he started things off by DJing with drummer Len. Their set was an awesome mix of 80s post-punk and more modern electro, I really enjoyed it.
We listened and watched the third Wild Eye, frontman Nikhil, dancing just off-centre of the room (even when he’s off the stage it’s hard not to watch him). People started arriving, wandering into the room and heading back towards the light of the bar and I was struck by the overall variety of the crowd; they were old, young and in-between, they were dressed in black and knitted sweaters, boots, heals and takkies, leather jackets and tracksuit tops, hats, sunglasses and beards – it was definitely one of the more diverse crowds I’d seen in a while.
After their set, Gareth and Len relinquished DJing duties to David West, who proceeded to play a loud witch housey set full of weird rhythms and ghost screams – apart from one track that was awesome, it was not my idea of fun…even Nikhil took a break from dancing for a while.
The Wild Eyes finally took to the stage round midnight and the little room was packed full. It was an intense performance – having tested a million interesting light combos, the lighting guy decided to just stick with one or two. Fair enough I guess, the rainbows would’ve been totally out of place, but the result was a very dark room with coloured light from the flour hitting the band members’ faces, an almost ghoulish effect, which again I suppose, was pretty appropriate…
The band was awesome. Their lack of movement and total disregard for the crowd was rather unsettling, and their restraint seemed to intensify the urgency, violence and tension of their music. The drum pads rang out like machine guns and Nikhil’s voice moved effortlessly from calm to aggressive; he might not move much but he’s strangely hypnotic on stage.
When they were done, Nikhil & Gareth just walked through the crowd and disappeared (Len followed, but he had to pack up some stuff first). Some people cried out in vain for an encore but that’s just not what The Wild Eyes do…I find their apathy (real or not) a little bizarre, but whatever…
Not sure when they’re planning on releasing their new material but I look forward to playing it on repeat, especially Vanilla.
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Check out the Wild Eyes on Facebook
Photos on Facebook over here.
