November 1, 2024

LIPS, The Golden Geese & Mammalien – Neck of the Woods: October 31, 2024

On a night of terror and tawdriness (Halloween), intrepid concert reviewer Simon Coffey braved the dangers lurking on every street corner of Tamaki Makaurau infamous K Rd, to help LIPS aka Steph Brown, Fen Ikner with friends, celebrate the release of their new single The Wolf.
Lips, the Aotearoa based ensemble, have been creating since 2010, have an extensive body of waiata under their belts. From the Kody Nielson (UMO) mixed number one hit song Guilty Talk to the sublimely re-envisioned reinterpretations of The Mutton Birds’ Anchor Me and Chris Knox banger Not Given Lightly, and not forgetting the 2012 Silver Scroll Award winner, Everything to Me.

Billed alongside LIPS, were a live favourite of mine, The Cootie Cuties, and an act that had dodged my scribed opinionated opinions, The Golden Geese. Sadly The Cootie Cuties covid canceled. But in their place, an odd couple stepped in…

Mammalien

Rua/two not dressed for Halloween, enstage, they are Mammalien, and not Mammalien. vocalist/guitarist and leader, Joshua Worthington-Church (Princess Chelsea) has cobbled the pair together, as a consolation prize for the lost band.

Odd, is their schtick, vocals, acoustic guitar, saxophone(s) and a box of electro-tricks are the means by which a stripped bare Mammalien delivered a set of dower, yet poetic reflection on modern life. While the narratives may have been earnest (and mundane), the music and delivery was inviting. Crossing genres from punk, morbid acoustica, (dad) Jazz and performance (industrial) art, the two, in particular Worthington-Church, offered a enthralling window of entertainment, possibly embodied by their opening waiata lyrics “I don’t want to live on this planet anymore” and the referenced inspiration – Futurama. Then again the song with the cymbals was a banger, taonga, so to speak.

The Golden Geese

While the previous act did not embrace the po/night’s theme, by golly The Golden Geese were smitten, dressed to the nines, with front-person Mathew Crawley dressed unrecognisably.

In true punk rock antagonism, The Golden Geese are wishing all in the whare a Merry Xmas, I am already perked up. It’s rough, it’s loud, it’s brash and it’s a whole lotta fun. Crawley hams it up in and out of songs, apologising for the band not quite quitting, and introing all the songs in a manner that both annoys and entertains.

There is a tribute to The Cootie Cuties, a band they have almost played with, twice, and then, actually, a song with the cooties dude. Jazz Dad is mirthful, while High School Drop Out and its referencing of e mahi at Georgie Pie is taonga! Perhaps Impromptu, musician Will Saunders (formerly of The Quick And The Dead) joins them for a song, and as the end comes, threatens the world with a new supergroup, The Bronze Goslings.

The best bit is saved for last, as Crawley introduces the band’s final waiata, 95bfm. A driven punky neo-Modern Lovers korero about The Golden Geese seeking fame (but likely not fortune) by topping or at least featuring in the 95bFM Top Ten. Genius rears its head once again with the chorus chant of ‘309 3879’ chant which infests the tumultuous roll downhill finale. Let’s hope the gambit of quitting is just that, a ruse!

LIPS

Are plagued by tech issues, somewhat befitting the po/night’s theme inadvertently. An extra Fugazi beer later, and Steph Brown, Fen Ikner, Ruby Walsh and Maude Morris are ready onstage, perhaps even more lavishly adorned than the members of The Golden Geese, immediately rampaging their way through a version of a classic – Monster Mash.

It’s a raucous start, for a synth/keyboard EDM band as Fen Ikner drums loom loud, and it’s a few songs in before the 70’s electro noise samples influx the songs creating balancer. Not imbalanced are Steph Brown vocals, they are as rich and sublime as ever, as is her natural ability to connect with the audience. As a focal-point, her energized, waggish and emotive conversations with the crowd, feed both audience and artists alike.

In a set that, delves back and forth into LIPS extensive body of waiata, hearing older songs like Ghosts and Demons (2012) and I Want You (2018) alongside recent bangers such as; Heave Ho and Your Deodorant Doesn’t Work (from 2023’s I Don’t Know Why I Do Anything) convey a sense of evolution in their song writing. But it is the latest effort The Wolf, a single just released featuring E from The Eels, that carves pathways to where LIPS may be headed hereafter.

Simon Coffey

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