Schvendes

Last night was the CD launch for Schvendes, at the Bakery. What's this got to do with new music, I hear you ask? I know three members of the group - lead singer and bassist Rachel Dease, guitarist Ant Gray and cellist Tristan Parr - through their involvement with the new music scene in Perth, going back a number of years.
Schvendes began life as the Schvendes Ensemble, a chamber group brought together by Rachel Dease - then making a name for herself as a composer - to perform her lovely, brooding chamber works at various gigs, including Club Zho and the Totally Huge New Music festival. Tristan Parr was a member of that original ensemble, which over the years morphed into the popular band that is now drawing the crowds. Over a year ago, I saw Rachel's graduation recital at the WAAPA music auditorium, which brought together some of her best chamber works for string quintet. Tristan played in that concert as well. Very different in a lot of ways from what Schvendes now serves up, but also familiar, in the way in which the music reflects Rachel's complex and sometimes troubling musical persona.
Tristan also played in the Cloud Chamber Orchestra, performing works by Lindsay Vickery (see the previous post), and for last night's gig, the band was supported by an electric string quartet, featuring some other members of the Cloud Chamber Orchestra.
Ant Grey has been a tireless worker in the new music scene for years, most recently engaging in the archiving project for Tura New Music. Watch this space for more about that. He had played in numerous bands, including the unfortunately now defunct King Wasabi. One of my most cherished memories is of an almost totally impromptu gig feating Ant on guitar, Tos Mahoney on flute and Rene Raulins on bass, at the first Wogarno outback gig in 2001. Tristan and Rachel were there too.
Last night's was a great gig, notwithstanding the grungy venue and the lousy sound system. Rachel Dease's stage presence was, as always, almost overpowering, drawing in the attention of the audience. The band's new material takes some startling new directions, and I can't wait to hear the new CD in its entirety. Sometimes the sound system made the string quartet into a chorus of screaming power tools, when it should have sounded a tad more lyrical, but there is no way of obscuring the consummate musicianship of this great Perth band.
An over-capacity crowd was highly appreciative, but I think the band was a little disappointed that no encore was demanded. Perhaps, by one in the morning, everybody was a little tired and ready to go home - the concrete floors of the Bakery are fairly unforgiving, and it had been a long night. I look forward to hearing the band in a more salubrious setting, but perhaps I'm just getting a little old for this sort of thing.
Schvendes were supported by the psychedelic revival band the Shipwrecks, who were promising, but perhaps a little over-enthusiastic with the feedback, and a couple of drum and guitar bands, the Slim Pickins and Sugar Army.