Tumbleweed + The Meanies + Hytest live @ The Hi-Fi, 02.05.10
Since moving to Australia, I’d heard a lot about Tumbleweed, mostly via the Time Off Message Board, all of it glowing in its praise of the band; they’ve been talked about as the main Australian band from the 1990s that missed out on becoming massive.
Although I’d checked out a few songs on YouTube and hadn’t been that impressed, I had given them the benefit of the doubt and was interested in seeing what the band were like live, to see whether they lived up to their reputation. The band were originally scheduled to play the Lost Weekend festival that I was down to photograph earlier in the year. However, after it was cancelled they played a hastily arranged date at The Zoo on what would have been the Sunday night of the festival but I was at the also hastily arranged Lost & Found show at Rosie’s that had a large chunk of the bill that had been due to play over the weekend. So when the opportunity to see them headline a show at The Hi-Fi came through I was quick to request it, even with it being at The Hi-Fi, which I’ve tended to ignore unless it’s someone I really want to see.
After all the anticipation Tumbleweed disappoint. Really disappoint. The songs feel like they go on forever and aren’t that interesting, and they play for far too long for such little variation in the songs. They follow a very standard stoner rock, one-trick pony template and you just can’t but feel that when it comes down to it they’re just a poor-man’s Kyuss. I guess they are just one of those bands that you have had to grow up with and in retrospect much of the praise I’ve read is from people of a certain age where this would have been true. They’re loud, I’ll give them that – so loud that my ears are still ringing the next morning – but once that’s dissipated there’s very little else memorable from the night. The Meanies are better value than the headliners, but as for Tumbleweed, I guess you just had to be there 15 years ago.
All Photos ©2010 Justin Edwards. All Rights Reserved.
