Gig Review: Hollywoodfun Downstairs @ The Wine Cellar, Auckland 23/03/2018

Despite the heaviness of the tracks, there is sharpness, with some beautiful cleaner lead guitar riffs, and a very snare-heavy drum style. Overall, the Old Loaves are well practised; checking their tuning between each track, and very tight timing with the start and ends of their songs, they all start at the same time, like a well synchronised machine. With a Beastwars vibe, their particular instrumental style is almost reminiscent to that of French Blackgaze outfit, Alcest. It was announced during the set that their drummer had had a stroke a year prior, and it was unknown whether he would survive, let alone ever play again, but there he was on stage, giving it his all. A brilliant performance for an opener.   

I would say they started with an unconventional bang, but unconventional is an understatement. Almost coming across like they are taking the piss to see how far they can take their musical “style” before people will stop following them. They performed several tracks with small portions that had an early-Incubus (think Fungus Amongus and S.C.I.E.N.C.E era) or Weezer influences, but while clearly talented musicians, and actually having great vocals and harmonies when not yelling and cawing like a bird, their experimental style throws out the rule book on song structures and flow, instead choosing to create and perform pieces that sound like multiple demos stapled together. 

Interesting to observe and could be considered a musical version of interpretive dance, but difficult to determine when a song ends and when another begins, unless you know their entire 18-year back catalogue. One of their tracks started with some tambourine while vocals included umm’s, mmm’s, and moans like a porno was being filmed, before transitioning into some version of a Christmas hymn, then into a rock track from there; no consistent cohesive style persists in a Qui song. Perhaps best described as an artistic “shock” musical outfit, they pride themselves on their weirdness, but it’s not for me, and neither the crowd, which whittled down in size by 90%, giving a wide berth to the stage. They finished their set with Ashtray Heart.

The group being a duo, Kurt Williams takes on both guitar and vocals, a high-intensity and a high-focused role that has him glued to the microphone in a single static stance for long periods. On the other hand, you have Joel Wright manning the drumkit, dressed in singlet stubbies and a sweatband, he looks ready to play tennis in the 1970’s (compared to Williams dressed in all-black formal wear), and is going manic with the speed and double-kick, limbs flying in all directions. 

For a duo, their sound is a solid punch to the face, and could be compared to Marilyn Manson if he decided to go into speed metal, or New Zealand’s own Villainy is they had taken Syria further into the alt-metal genre. Williams vocal style varies from track to track with similar nuances to At the Drive-In’s Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Rolling Stone’s Mick Jagger, and Dead Favours Jared Wrennall. Their speed and intensity are impressive and Wright does incredibly well to maintain a semblance of rhythm with his snare through the cacophony of noise. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to bring out all the crowd that had been present for Old Loaves, but they definitely managed to gain back some of the crowd that Qui had pushed away.