Basement Birds – Live at The Forum : Gig Reviews

Every so often, music goes that extra step to reward you. Perhaps one of your favourite bands covers your favourite song, or maybe you catch your favourite singer/songwriter in an impromptu acoustic gig at a bar in front of 5 people. Whatever the case may be, it’s these occurrences that remind us just how cool music can be. Saturday night at The Forum proved to be no different, with an outstanding performance by Australia’s newest ‘supergroup’ Basement Birds.

Basement Birds

Music fans relished in the sweet acoustic driven tones of Josh Pyke, Kevin Mitchell (Bob Evans, Jebediah), Kav Temperley (Eskimo Joe) and Steve Parkin, in what set out to be an audience pleasing show from the very first chord. Joined on stage by a staggered array of red, blue and white birds, the four gents proceeded to play their way through the alt-country tunes that make up their long awaited debut (and probably only) album.

Infused with their love of vocal harmonies, the Basement Birds sound can best be described as a mix of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young with that modern inclusion of Wilco. Naturally, a reference to super SUPER group ‘The Travelling Wilburys’ is inevitable, but the Basement Birds’ did more than imitate what’s been done. They proceeded to show us what comes next. They harmonised, played around, joked, drank wine, encouraged and above all, ENTERTAINED!!! It took the crowd little more than a song to capture that ‘Australian’ feel of the music as the boys fluffed the beginning of one of their first songs and recovered in pure Australian temperament. Rather than self-annihilate their efforts, the boys laughed it off in a way that drew the audience in. They included them and made them feel like a part of the Basement Birds project too (much like the guys’ ‘behind the scenes’ YouTube videos that have been posted periodically in the last few months).

Making the most of their famous friends, album highlight Bus Stop features the cute and airy vocals of Julia Stone. So it’s no surprise that when Josh Pyke announced that she was coming on stage to join them, the crowd went ballistic. Unfortunately for some, this was a joke, however this ‘album highlight’ quickly turned into a ‘show highlight’ as the four guys invited 3 girls from the crowd to partake in the ‘Julia’ parts. Resulting in what can only be described as 4-minutes of fun, the infectious harmonies sat as perfectly as the female vocals and this, my friends, was the moment I realised I didn’t want the concert to end. The girls played their part to perfection, bopping around while singing and quite frankly, appearing to be part of the band themselves.

When I first heard of the Basement Birds’ formation, I, like many others, was extremely excited. These days, ‘supergroups’ seem to form once the public interest begins to wane in each individual’s musical projects. Almost as if it’s a ‘safe’ way to boost their credibility by teaming up with other, okay I’ll say it, ‘has-beens’. But with the Basement Birds’ this certainly is NOT the case. Not even one little bit. All at the top of their game, the Birds’ formation has been 3 years in the making and Saturday night all but cemented my thoughts. This was worth the wait. Although, if Mitchell’s words are anything to go by, you’d best catch them while you can. “We all have day jobs so this tour is probably the only one we’ll ever do.” I certainly hope not.

Personally, the most impressive aspect of the Basement Birds’ music is their ability to showcase the individuality of each musician in a collaborative sense. Different singers for different verses, joining in for choruses, Kav harmonising for Bob, Pyke for Parkin – each song was different and put proof to any waning suggestions that these guys weren’t for real. All in all, I couldn’t recommend these guys more. This is straight up fun, music for those that want to enjoy it. And I can guarantee you will.

Their self-titled album, Basement Birds is out now at all good record stores (and probably some bad ones, too).