With sludgy rock history oozing from its walls, Richmond ‘s Central Club appears to be experiencing something of a resurgence, so it’s fitting that Tumbleweed mount part of their comeback here. Listening back to my old dubbed cassettes before tonight’s show and then gazing around the room, what’s immediately apparent is just how well they’ve aged. This is not to say that their sound is timeless; their unique combination of bubblegum melodies over super-fuzz power chords is wholly of their time, a golden age in my premillennial memory banks when JJJ was a bastion of rocking guitars and smoking pot was met with enthusiastic high-fives instead of existential paranoia.
Opening with album openers Mandelbrot and Sweet Little Runaway proves a wise move, emphasising to the middle-aged wastoids that the ‘weed are no tired nostalgia act’ and can proudly promote a reunion album in this year’s Sounds From The Other Side. Early EP rarity (and stone cold classic, heh heh heh) Stoned follows, the quick-fire four note riff piercing the eardrums of the burnouts setting their Melbourne Bitter’s down on the foldback.
Surprisingly, older singles like Hang Around and Daddy Long Legs can’t match the cosmic excitement released of the latest stuff. guitarist Paul Hausmeister quite rightly pushes for crown participation in Queen of Voodoo (‘Hey! Hey!’), and the last three minutes of Good and Evil utterly explodes, its riff overshadowing anything QOTSA have done in the last decade and threatening to shake the buildings foundations.
And speaking of masterful closing riffs, I’d like totally forgotten that Nothin’ To Do With The Weather features a doozy, man! In closing, I really respect the fact that 4/5 of the band still have their iconic long hair. Almost 20 years is a long time to work a day job and raise rugrats with a ponytail in the hope that you can one day swing your locks across the neck of a Fender Jaguar, and I just appreciate the effort.
BY NICK HILTON
Loved: Richie’s head-shaking, finger-clicking dance took me back to EVs in Croydon.
Hated: I find it difficult to party in a room where someone has dreadlocks tucked through the back of a Jim Bean hat. Let it go man, I think it might be over.
Drank: Bud and bong water.
