Scran & Memory Foam @ St Leonard’s Brewery 29/8/24

13th Floor resident craft beer socialist, Simon Coffey could not let the opportunity to see one of his favourite Tamaki Makaurau bands – Scran play at a Craft Beer Brewery! So with a hip-hip hooray, it was off to the home of the hipsters – Ngā Anawai aka Kingsland on a blustery spring evening.

I had put off seeing these two acts for far too long, modern life can be paru/rubbish at times, so a chance to see both in tahi night, to kill rua manu/birds with one stone was the clincher, (No literal birds are literally to be killed)

Memory Foam

Memory Foam have been stalwarts of the Tamaki Makaurau/Aotearoa scene since before Covid (just) with rua new singles released this year, well tahi and a remix, and with publicised plans to record their sophomore album, seeing these post-psychedelic punk-rockers once described as Japanese/Māori/Kiwi Indie-Noise, was a welcome taurima/treat.

On stage, in a brewery, on time, bloody genius. Artiste Yuko Miyoshi is as vocal as ever. Her aural scripture caroling out, as her bandmates jam out guitar fuzz, beats and key notes. They’re playing a stage made of beer pallets, just off the ground, which triggers a degree of intimacy on a wet spring evening, It’s a short set, 30mins, but a tasty sampling,

A song, third or so into their set, takes us on a magical trip, ma/white boy guitar with driving keys, it judders and stalls, just, but then the downhill race begins, all the while Yuko’s korero commentates the wild ride. Weather commentary interludes as the next waiata takes us back to the cusp of 1970’s punk rock, in style, sound and synergy.

Old tune Hold My Beer is a fun number about a beer life, it’s delivered in an agit-pop thrash style, that showcases Yuko’s vocal manipulation skills, the burst of beer and guitars finish suddenly. New tune Pink Tides, has a very indie electronic vibe. Sushi hats are donned by two of the five (did the props budget not quite stretch? Or did someone draw the short straw) for a song about sushi, “I’m Japanese so I love sushi” Yuko Miyoshi growls as they launch. The end comes soonish, not too soon, it just feels… ka pai.

Scran

Scran is an ono/six-piece made up of Lewis Yeats, Oscar Davies-Kay, Liam Pramm, James King, Paul Brown and Mason Fairey, with a collective whakapapa that references luminary acts such as Trust Punks, Cindy, Rackets and Louisa Knicklin, Scran could be described as a side hustle or are the others the side hustle? Collectively they play post-punk melodies, poetic, fraught with social realism and hooks that made them taonga, when I chanced upon them in 2022.

 Scran is on stage, a gentle jam emanates until familiarity pervades as New Ceremony from their debut LP fills the pō/night. It nicely deviates a little from the album version, creating shoegaze stirrings in the maddening crowd.

Wordsmith Lewis Yeats’ shades and jacket come-off revealing a handsome tattooed devil. From the high stage, driving Irish pop tones and a band creating melodic punk drone, as taima/time creeps forward. There is an erstwhile energy permeating their songs, but the groove is always present, there is the backbeat that keeps you shuffling foot to foot. The band are taonga, skilled tradesmen in creating, colabing, constructing well crafted songs.

But… When Lewis gets the pip, and raises his voice in song, the deviousness comes hither, much more noticeable is the duality of the voices when bandmates get in on the act, this is more taonga, this why Scran are deserving of your attention. There is a swathe of new songs tonight, a new album, their sophomore album is poised for Oketopa/October. Just as I think I won’t hear Primate Plan, “Let’s Have a Baby” flows from Lewis, a so-UK punk-pop-rock tune, that I hear that The Members want royalties.

The constant interplay between bass and guitar, while erstwhile impassioned words come from Lewis, is poetry in motion (I’m thanking Thomas Dolby for that line) The bass groove is infectious, you can’t help but be invited into the vibe, as the band are then in turn invited by the crowd to perform tahi/one more song: Born Again, a driven angular song with more poetry. The lyrics are tricky, “full of biblical grief “ or similar, the dual vocals are full tilt, as Scran finishes on a high. My last nga kupu/words are Ian Dury’s,  “There Ain’t Half Been Some Clever Bastards“ IMHO they apply to the members of Scran.

Simon Coffey

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Brenna Jo Gotje:

Scran: