23/03/2025

Fazerdaze – Powerstation: March 22, 2025 (13th Floor Concert Review)

Fazerdaze, aka Amelia Murray, released Soft Power back in November of 2024 and now the album has finally gotten a live airing at Auckland’s Powerstation, aided and abetted by Amelia’s bandmates, collaborators and friends.

They say it takes a village…that’s what it felt like last night at The Powerstation as fans congregated to see and hear Fazerdaze perform the songs that make up the album, Soft Power.

One could easily spot members of other bands, various music biz movers and shakers and fans a plenty wearing Fazerdaze merch.

Elliot & Vincent

Part of that village took the stage at roughly 8:30pm in the form of Elliot & Vincent. Duo played a hard charging 30 minutes set that had audience members cheering that they had made the effort to show up early.

For the initiated, they are: Elliot Finn (drums and vocals) and Vincent Cherry (guitar & amp). I spotted Elliot back at the bar during the Fazerdaze set, so, yes, they are part of the village.

Stashed in a corner of the Powerstation stage, the two musicians made a hearty racket, nixing distorted guitars, pounding drums and breathy vocals…sure you could make the obvious comparison with The White Stripes, but it’s clear that Elliot & Vincent have their own, unique sound that comes from the chemistry between them. They seem to urge each other on, to play harder and better, simply by eye contact between them.

So far, they only have one song officially released...Doberman...which closed out the set. Hopefully there is more on the way.

Office Dog

And then there was Office Dog.

The Kane Strang-led trio has done well, touring the States, signing with New West overseas and Flying Nun here at home.

But as the threesome ran through 7 songs, most in the dark, I couldn’t help but be unimpressed, and neither, it seemed did the audience, who chattered loudly throughout their 30 minutes.

If Brian Eno was auditioning for a new ambient series titled, Music To Talk Over, this would hit the mark.

Along with the lousy lighting, there was precious little engagement with the audience, a few incoherent mumbles were all I could make out.

I think they played a new song called Laughter and a few tunes from their Spiel album…Antidote, Gleam and Big Air.

Other than that, not much to get excited about…perhaps they need to return to smaller venues like Whammy.

Fazerdaze

It was a big night for Amelia Murray. She made a heartfelt, emotional, even tearful speech near the end of her Fazerdaze set thanking one and all who helped her get the record made and this concert happening, citing emotional struggles.

She is very grateful to Auckland and its supporting network for the arts, particularly, MusicHelps.

“This record was so hard to make”, she confessed, “so I turned to them for help”.

Good on her.

And good for us as we were treated to 90 minutes of Fazerdaze’s finest…the complete So Easy album, along with highlights from 2022’s Break!

The band is Amelia on vocals and guitar along with long-time guitarist Dave Rowlands, drummer Oliver O’Loughlin and bass player Kathleen Tomacruz.

Guests included album collaborators Buzz Moller (Voom), Cass Basil (Tiny Ruins) and Shannon Fowler (aka Tom Lark).

But the focus was on Amelia and her songs, many co-written with Goodshirt’s Gareth Thomas.

The performances took on various configurations, from full band rockers like Come Apart and Thick Of The Honey to synth-driven songs such as A Thousand Years and Distorted Dreams…a solo performance of City Glitter and a duet with Dave on Sleeper.

The show ran past 11:30, but, hey, it was a Saturday night, and close to a full house at The Powerstation where some of Auckland’s finest were showing off their skills. Where else would you want to be?

Marty Duda

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Azrie Asis

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