Modest Mouse – Powerstation: April 20, 2023: Concert Review

Modest Mouse lay out a fierce and impassioned performance of indie rock, especially for band pushing past thirty years.

Lead singer and guitarist Isaac Brock is the sole founding member left from their formation in Issaquah, Washington in the early Nineties. Drummer Jeremiah Green died late last year. Damon Cox now has the drummer’s chair.

Also playing tonight are Simon O’Connor lead guitar, Keith Jarman, Tom Peloso and Russell Higbee all multi-instrumentalists between guitars, lap steel,  bass, keyboards, melodica and percussion.

The band is currently based in Portland, Oregon which continues to be an important city for indie and alternative rock.

Opening song Dramamine has the jangling guitars leading off with a dreamy reverie as the lyrics are virtually shouted to raise the heat. Feeling spaced out breathing Listerine/ I said what I said/ You killed the better part of me.

Brock resembles David Thomas, lead singer of Pere Ubu, and throughout the night he rages in controlled fury and sings at the top of his lungs. Occasionally stumbles and falls, but rolls around and keeps playing his guitar, sometimes with his teeth.

Indulges in cryptic banter with the audience between songs. He appears like a slightly demented friend you don’t want to antagonise. But there is no denying his passion and the energy level is maintained for close to two hours.

Those Pere Ubu avant-garde indie rock influences come to the fore early with Fire It Up. The drums lead the song out into hypnotic drone guitar riffs. A lap-steel adds glassy ringing tones.

That song comes from the We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank album in 2007. When Johnny Marr of the Smiths joined them for a few years as guitarist.

So does Dashboard. That does have a Smiths-style chiming guitar on the album. Tonight, it is played in a power pop to punk style with some focussed aggression and the song eventually rocks out.

Hans Pucket

Hans Pucket is a Wellington quartet who may be described as indie rock but play great power pop. I have seen them a few times as a support act, and they keep improving their skills and chops.

They are on top of their game tonight as they front for a frenetic and tumultuous main act.

Fronted by twin brothers Oliver Devlin lead vocals and guitar and Callum Devlin bass. Jonathan Nott on drums and Callum Passels keyboards, gadgets and saxophone. The drum chair is shared between Passels and Nott tonight.

My Brain is a Vacant Space is power pop with the accent on the off beat. Like the reggae punk of the early Clash. The gadgets add some techno funk. Pretty vacant alright.

No Drama, the title track from their latest album, displays their chops to best advantage. Nice guitar riffs and danceable indie pop.

Fuck my Life comes from debut album Eczema. Punk energy again with the ringing guitar making it shine. The bass takes a nice solo where he carries both the rhythm and the melody line.

A good local pop band chasing on the heels of The Beths. There are several bands like this active in New Zealand.

Modest Mouse

Brock picks up a banjo for King Rat. Hillbilly indie rock mixed into a bluegrass twang. The singer gets frantic and ends up like a demented preacher speaking in tongues. Psychobilly to psychodrama.

Several songs head into mutant rockabilly.  But their melodic punch makes them sound closer to The Fleshtones than The Cramps. That middle ground occupied by The Fall’s Fiery Jack.

A song which has a football chant of We are, we are, we are contains lurching rhythms and what can best be described as uptight funk. Like the new wave following punk in the UK. The Affectionate Punch by the Associates best illustrate the tone this tune generates.

The band has cited the Talking Heads as a key influence too, and their first four albums define uptight white funk.

They close the evening with one more powerful blast, on a song with the lyrics goin’ down to California. Drums lead the charge. The band lock in a monumental drone riff. For a moment, Brock morphs into Bob Mould of Husker Du.

Modest Mouse continue to be a dominant force in defining the best of indie rock.

Rev Orange Peel    

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