Anyone that’s spent even a little bit of time with a New Zealander knows that most of them carry with them a giddy irreverence only matched by the Dutch. Growing up on that long stringy island seems to instil an attitude to a life of refusing to bind yourself to any sort of rule of order and a natural tendency to break conventions. The music of Connan Mockasin and his band are a prime of example of this as they tread water in a pool of psychedelia, jazz, soul, funk and synth pop.
The subsection of the Melbourne community that’s accepted Mockasin’s mind-bending oddness into their ears didn’t appear to have much rhyme or reason as they filed into the Howler band room. The only apparent commonality was a certain penchant for bowl-cut mullets with a preference to the colour of platinum blonde, making the wearer look like an extra from Total Recall. Whether that’s Mockasin’s intention is hard to say, considering the man himself looks like Matt Damon with the late and great Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s sandy hair and just a touch of Charlie Manson craziness in his eyes.
His band preceded Mockasin and started up on a smooth soul jam that moved the audience’s hips into thrust mode and caused the hormone meter in the room to sharply peak. The frontman took his sweet time, sauntering up to the microphone with a glass of crimson wine sloshing around in his chalice. Seemingly one to take nothing seriously, Mockasin was one song in before he flaunted his body into the crowd for a little surf before hitting shore of the stage to launch into Why Are You Crying? followed closely by It’s Choade My Dear.
His level of crowd control made him seem like a telepathic monk as he coaxed the audience into movements and harmonies without a single word mentioned. Mockasin held a single note in his voice box and waved his hand for the crowd to follow turning the room into a resonant chamber containing a single entity held together by that particular frequency. I’m The Man, That Will Find You saw a few bodies getting down and dirty with each other before the now near-naked band closed on Forever Dolphin Love. It appeared the smooth tones of the past hour had seduced a fair few punters with many a bare body seen scrambling for clothes as the retina burning light came up.
BY RHYS MCRAE
Loved: The dog and cockatoo dress-up duo rocking out.
Hated: Myself for shouting “Piggy!” at the dog girl even though she was obviously a dog
Drank: Vitamin B shakes.
