Awning + For The Girl Who Has Everything – Whammy Bar: July 18, 2025
Since the release of Awning’s debut, My Friend Dog EP, recordings made between 2021 and 2023, singer/songwriter Christian Dimick has made significant strides, and I’m not just talking distance between Te Whanganui-a-Tara and Tamaki Makaurau.
Using My Friend Dog as a foundation, and traversing up to their debut self-titled album released this month, a sense is captured and documented. Sometimes soft, slow and sonorous, Dimick’s journey of germination not just as a composer, but also as a singer, is pronounced. Accompanied by a band of friends, the band membership is both constant and dynamic, there is a sense that there is a journey, a saga, ahead, for them, once a decision is made at the impending juncture. Like Robert Johnson, will they too make a deal with the Devil?
For The Girl Who Has Everything
Tonight’s unknown quantity…existing in a form since 2016, with a kete of Bandcamp releases and a new album – Categorical, released just a few months ago, For The Girl Who Has Everything are no new kids on the block (nor NSYNC) even though they emerged post-covid with a revised lineup, and recently did a 95bFM Fancy New Band session. Liam Pram – band leader, guitarist and vocals, was joined onstage by four: Keyboards, drums, bass and lead guitar.
From the outset there are agitated jazz melodies, dispersed amongst proto fast-punk folkish fopps. The drummer is wearing a Full Of Hell t-shirt (a magnificent American Grindcore band) whilst Liam Pram looks like the character Douglas Reynholm (Matthew Berry) from The IT Crowd show. It’s confusion! Smooth Jazz meets No Wave and collides with Math Rock. Talking Heads vs George Benson vs Neutral Milk Hotel.
It’s questionable if the show worked tonight. There are bursts of lyrical genius ‘Nobody Care When You’re Dead’, ‘I Don’t Wanna Live’ and ‘I Got My Tax Back. One Day. Hooray!’ And Pram’s vocal range overly grates, cracks as his angst contorted vocals narrate the mundanity of modern life. The Lead (or second) guitarist was a shadowy figure, with a bank of intriguing plucks, intriguing finessing counter-tunes throughout many songs. For The Girl Who Has Everything intrigued me enough to take notice, in particular the tune where the keys were more pronounced, and the final song (possibly Dead Under The Sun) whence the punk rock girl took to the vocals.
Awning
Awning are punctual! On the dot, 10pm, as a six-piece, an extra guitar, and percussionist, Christian Dimick is situated stage right, almost hiding in the penumbra, and expectedly, or unexpectedly Awning proceeded to play the debut album start to finish.
Whammy Bar is packed, the show has sold out, an average punter age hovering in the 20’s, some dressed adroitly, a handful seizing attention, but most lacking panache. The fellow with the beret, perhaps Awning’s biggest fan, is upfront, adorning a speaker stack (I hope he wore earplugs) singing along and shaking it. There is a lot of tuning up, a lot of tuning up, a lot of tuning up between songs (reminiscent of so many Flying Nun bands of yesteryear), lots of ‘thanks’ for coming along and an abundant amount of smiles onstage.
Playing the album in entirety was brave, opening themselves up for expectations, and while the music, the instrumentation strayed at times from creation, and improvisation was required now and then, the extra guitar felt nefarious. However, it was impossible not to be hypnotized, (under the) influence(d) by Dimick’s delivery of angst-ridden verse, always on the edge of sonic catastrophe. His panache for wringing emotions out of phrasal turns and twists was on show, and dare I do this, I do, comparisons to Jeff Buckley are just truisms..
Standing out from the eight album songs was The Rabbit, a crowd pleaser, and Pure & Simple, a song about love, an album banger, and a highlight live. Seriously, it must be a contender for The Silver Scrolls in 2026. Awning chose genius post album, by playing an extended version of Gold Star from the 2024 EP, and a rather raucous and rambunctious final song, the title of I missed or misheard because of some people talking all the time – FFS. Maybe Double Whammy next time?
Simon Coffey
Click on any image:
Awning:
For The Girl Who Has Everything:
