Double Whammy! Grand Opening Party Dick Move, Na Noise, Grecco Romank, Dbldbl, FILTH: Aug 17, 2024

The news that the sedulous folk behind Whammy, and Wine Cellar were extensively re-envisioning the two venues, to transform them into a world-class venue was greeted with much joy. The 13th Floor’s Simon Coffey reports back along with photos by Chris Zwaagdyk.

Tamaki Makaurau had never recovered from the loss of the beloved Kings Arms, a bastion of live waiata, a room big enough for established local acts and fermenting International artists to shift enough tickets to at least not amplify their debt levels.

On the other hand, punters, who always overestimate the taonga generated from playing live, were just interested in a venue where you could actually see the act from afar. Not have to battle pillings blocking what sights that could be seen, and get to bars and wharepaku before reaching their retirement age.

More on my new second home at the end of this review, but first the raison d’être… the music!

Tau tahi of Double Whammy started tonight with a lineup of acts with connections to the people, the place, and the passion of Whammy/Wine Cellar.

Na Noise

It’s been so long…. since I last saw Na Noise, and it’s been four years since their debut LP Waiting For You was released. Change has come to the band, multi-instrumentalist (and vocalist) Ruby Walsh has taken up the reins alongside Yolanda Fagan (guitar/vocals) and Hariet Ellis (bass/vocals) and all still all members are voracious artists with multiple entities (LIPS, Half Hexagon, Dick Move) through which to be creative, 

I once read Na Noise being described as a lo-fi alternative band that is more carnivalesque than psychedelic. But, tonight as smooth sounding bass rhythms fill the room, as white girl (boy)  funk guitar subtly interchanges, as Ruby Walsh stamps her own beats (love the bongos) in an undertow. It is the Steteolabish vocals of the band acting in thrice, twice, and solo, sitting stratified within and with-over that has me rejecting both carnivalesque and psychedelic.

In a modernist twist on counter-culture folk acts like The Byrds and Stone Poneys,

Na Noise created a sound of a 60s lounge, but with bellicosity, that enthralled the crowding room, setting the evening off with a joyous vibe. Na Noise’s sophomore album beckons preciously.

Dbldbl

Real name Liam Dargaville (Te Rarawa, Ngā Puhi) is Tāmaki Makaurau based, with a trio of digital singles, all of which feature a guest wahine rapper that includes Pollyhill, Imugi and on his latest tune Fakey – Randa.

Not tonight, Dbldbl is all solo tonight onstage, albeit with his laptop, as tech issues are resolved, he, last minute shuts the backstage door and prowls the stage, works the stage, works the room.

The beats are infectious, the crowd are reactive, as he delivers a set that harks back to or draws on the old school smoothness of past acts like New Kingdom, Cypress Hill, and modernist industrial rap the likes of jpegmafia.

A furtive number narrating enjoying Christmas Day Breakfast Buffet, is a clever account, that has me wondering where is taking us on this little trip. It’s a pity no guests on stage tonight, but Dbldble crowds the stage area alone, and as the energy and beats threaten a 90s House Party vibe, a lone dancer appears on stage perhaps harkening back to her glory days at Alexandra Park Raceway.

DICK MOVE

Time marches on, to a double beat, it looks to be a long night. Fresh back from an awesome looking european escapade (if you followed them on social media) Dick Move look hungry to play. Double Whammy is rammed by now, and as Lucy Suttor stands forebodingly, commanding, the vibe changes as socialist hardcore invades the room.

With the twin punk guitars of Justin Lee and Hariet Ellis acting out, noise fills the room, a  mosh pit threatens and Lucy Suttor continues to work the room between songs.

As time marches on, the band is unrelenting, their hardcore is reminiscent of early hardcore, it resonates. It exhausts. As Dick Move complete their manifesto delivery, many in the audience stream to adjacent spaces for air, cigarettes and deep political discourse.

Grecco Romank

Technology is not Grecco Romank’s friend tonight, the running times are catastrophically fucked and worried sound techs and more are fretting.

Grecco Romank are Tāmaki Makaurau-based trio Billie Fee, Mikey Sperring, and Damian Golfinopoulos. I last saw them at the marvelous Junk Festival in OLD Whammy Bar in the OLD Backroom, a much bigger space crowd (and stage) this time. Finally… as industrial electro beats emanate from Mikey Sperring infernal machines, the other members join him on stage.

Grecco Romank’s sound, beats are fed from the stack, a tower of electronica controlled by Mikey, as others drop vocals over the top, the sound is very, totally german electro punk.

But if the crowd were expecting a continuous beat, a dance party of effortless non-stop dancing, then this is where they have to deal with the punk aspect of Grecco Romank. Their electro-avant garde-ness sees the trio occasional dropping samples and stop beats that fuck with the mono- dance-genre, it is these diversions that save the band from being monotonal, and as the band gives the crowd an exemplar in who Grecco Romank really are, a  symbiosis emerges as the crowd gets with the programme.

It’s late getting, too late, reviews need to be written, I have to shelve seeing the duo of halfqueen & JessB nee FILTH for another night. It’s been too much too soon.

Double Whammy… Tau tahi :
Wow!, e rawe!!!
The transformation that Lucy Macrae and fellow conspirators have instigated is visionary.

Entering through the old (and undergoing renovation) Wine Cellar, (where later a DJ is laying down chilled old kura hip Hop beats) You continue through the ‘puffies space’ into blackness, yes, pango is the colour of choice, walls are painted and the lighting is subtle, pleasing both onstage and in the room.

The whare, it has it, the thing, the feature I hoped for, the make or break imho. Double Whammy has raised the bar, the stage has been elevated so there is an uninterrupted, brilliant line of sight from all angles. Standing at the back I see all the artists easily, and after chatting to friendly working-folk I’m told the back area will be raised a little (likely a false floor) near the bar so even short cunts like me will see what is going on, on stage.

There are sweet spots all around: aircon, stools along the walls, an outside area for puffies of all persuasions and a stepped ledge (crowd-right) for enhanced viewing. Wharepaku are a work in progress, assured more are afoot

It’s big, yes that magic number 500 looks plausible. Bang on people, tino pai, everyone’s a winner!

Simon Coffey

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Chris Zwaagdyk:

Opening Ceremony:

Na Noise:

DblDbl:

Dick Move:

Grecco Romank: