Meridian Vibe @ Whammy Bar, Auckland 11/10/14

October 11, Saturday night, 9pm, my mission to review a young band called Meridian Vibe, I listened to their newly recorded single which sounded cool and rocked hard, and so armed only with that knowledge, a date, a time and a venue to find I ventured out to Karangahape Road in uptown Auckland.

If you don’t know of it, you wouldn’t find it, but off K’Road in St Kevin’s Arcade through a understated door and down a forgotten scrappy stairwell, then through a dark tunnel devised to let your retina’s adjust to the dark there is the cavernous venue known as The Whammy Bar. With just enough lights to let you know you’ve arrived, you can sense this place has staged some substantial combat that only infrared camera’s would be able to verify. A small crowd started to filter in and soon were being warmed up by This Flight Tonight a young man named Ralph Warren Engle on his acoustic guitar playing some covers and originals which were cool enough, but going by what this guy has published both online and CD he would be better served by a backing band to fill his songs with more character and some sturdy rhythm.

The volume levels were escalated soon enough when Meridian Vibe hit the stage! These guys found a way to fill the room with sound alright, it was just one distorted guitar, some chunky bass and kicking drums, but it changed the atmosphere and heightened the tension quite well. Their sound is like a psychedelic surf rock stomp played fast like punk but with more open garage band distortion. Their stage presence was a bit subdued, they basically let their music do the work, although maybe they did do something special, but I could hardly see them. There was just two simple lights shining on the singer guitarist Kelly Lunow-Haldane and Bass man Harry Rush, and how the drummer Logan Trow, did his work in complete darkness was a credit to the young man. I had to walk right up to the stage to see if there actually was someone playing a drum kit there. The show would benefit so much with some LED Par lights, and as no one is allowed to smoke the air is way to clean, so maybe a smoke machine to add that missing murky element would be good too.

They don’t sound like their recording which is not necessarily a bad thing, the recording I heard is punchy, tight and clean and this performance was more thrash bash and grind. There was some good vocal harmonies and subtle variations on beats and song structure, which showed the potential that may come from more gigs and recordings. It’s early days for these young guys and if they stick to it they have the ingredients to refine and impress, I will be looking forward to hearing their next recordings and in then in the future checking out another live show to see what develops of Meridian Vibe.