Mammal, Osaka Punch, Fresh Violet @ Fowlers Live, Adelaide 27/7/2018
Mammal are back and it’s all about The Community. A 14-date blast throughout the length and breadth of Australia this winter, Mammal continue the community warmth by personally selecting their supports acts, Brisbane’s Osaka Punch and Melbourne’s Fresh Violet.
Fresh Violet is the epitome of the contemporary artist. She’s writes and produces her own music and isn’t afraid to take to the stage alone. Where it goes to another level is that Fresh Violet is a rapper. A solo rapper at that, with no backing band. At a rock show. Talk about balls!! As Fresh Violet gets right into her high energy performance the audience watch like an animal that isn’t sure it wants to be patted or not. Fresh Violet keeps going, engaging the audience in her stories of love gone wrong and murder. New single Northside, of her upcoming album 50 Shades Of Violet, has a slowly growing audience becoming more comfortable with rap music. Violet calls her stage craft ‘Big Dick Energy’ and let’s be honest, there is nothing more punk rock that getting on stage to an unfamiliar musical audience and winning many over. Win she most certainly did.
Brisbane’s Osaka Punch came out to the Baywatch theme and if that isn’t a statement of where this show is going to go, I don’t know what is. The keyboardist and vocalist Jack is the ringleader in this four-piece who combine groove fuelled rock riffs, prog rock keyboards and the sort of left of centre humour the world needs right now. From talk of filming the video Make The Call while on acid, and being surprised they were paranoid, to a delicious Metal version of Salt N Pepa’s Push It, these guys, completed by Brenton on bass, Chrisp on guitar and Drummer Dane continue the sense of togetherness this whole bill has with audience and each other tonight.
The final piece of the wonderful community spirit tonight are the headliners themselves, Mammal. Loose limbed vocalist Ezekiel Ox came on stage with a head piece complete with horns, pushing boundaries even further in a gloriously anarchistic way.
A setlist combining old with new, the slightly older than usual audience began to revive their youth with pits breaking out all around that even Ezekiel had to remind fans that we are there to support the music scene not fight each other.
Songs like Virtue Signalling, The Majority and Community go down a treat, as does Ezekiel impassioned pleas about the possibility of the institution that is Fowlers may be closing down. Mr Devil Ezekiel is not, unpredictable he is as multiple times he jumps into crowd to get really involved eyeball to eyeball.
The band invite Fresh Violet back up on stage for The Maker’which involves both vocalists duetting with the packed crowd before the crushing Hell Yeah finishes a hectic and pulverising show.
Mammal have always pushed boundaries, they’ve always asked you to stretch yourself, tonight they did that again with 1,2,3 shot of rap, rock and metal. They opened their arms to a wider audience and they asked you to join in with all the hard working and incredibly talented artists tonight. Feel the warmth and get involved with The Community.
Live Review By Iain McCallum