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| nArdo EP - No Sale |
The Support Act
Well, we promised that The Metro Gnome would be a place where you could get an honest review, an honest opinion, an honest piece of advice. So here, in the 3rd issue, it's time to ruffle a few feathers. Because to make this an honest review, I just have to complain. But not about nArdo - and not about the Basement - no, I have to say that the opening act, Mick Hart, left a lot to be desired.
And that doesn't come out easily - The Metro Gnome is about telling people to GET OUT THERE! So asking Mick Hart to stay home probably seems a bit harsh. In fact, I expect that this little review might spur some negative reaction. Mick seemed to have quite a following at the Basement that night. More than 20 people left after Mick finished and before nArdo even started, which implied to me that they were only there to listen to Mick. Strange. Let me explain....
Mick's guitar sound was tragic. It was harsh to listen to. I couldn't think of another word than "crunchy." His style of playing - not strumming really, more like attacking the strings - only compounded the harsh sounds. I asked my comrades if the sound guy could (or should) fix it and I learned that it was Mick's on stage compression equipment causing the noise. We couldn't believe that he didn't make adjustments. We stood there, bewildered.
Volume seemed to be Mick's special ingredient to add texture to a song. Unfortunately, he didn't have a soft volume though. Loud and crunchy were followed by very loud and very crunchy. The problem wasn't limited to his guitar either, it happened throughout his vocals, too. If we weren't there for his guitar playing or vocals, I thought we must be there for his beautiful lyrics and song writing, but I found no evidence of that, because most of the time I couldn't understand his lyrics. My friend leaned over and said that he must have gone to the "James Reyne school of Diction." Unimpressed, she left and went outside to read the Drum Media until nArdo came on.
And now on to Opening Act Etiquette, Lesson 1. Warm up the audience and set the scene for the headline act's success. (Don't drone on for 14 songs.) Mick stayed up there for 1 hour and 20 minutes! He overstayed his welcome.
I suppose I'm being extra hard on Mick because he was so cocky about it - slyly mentioning that he's played at the Basement many times before - casually introducing each song with an annoying reference to which of his (three) CDs it came off. In his introductions (to every song) he rarely gave the songs any other context - no meaning, just a reference to a CD. He also commented to the audience that he would have played some more ballads, but that the audience was too loud for those songs to be effective. (I think he hoped that that would be a hint for people to stop talking during his performance.) But Mick was right, there was a lot of chatter going on during his set. Interesting.... Perhaps it wasn't just me.
The Headliner
Anyway, let's move on from Mick and talk about the reason we were there to begin with: nArdo. nArdo came on the stage together and started their set well. The song writing, lyrics, and music were enthusiastic, appealing, and emotional; conveying opinionated messages around relationships, politics, and the environment. Sam Nardo (lead vocals, guitar, and namesake) was unabashed in his delivery, often adding a falsetto lyric or an aggressive rap over his melodies to provide dynamics to the strong messages in the songs. And he was quite impressive in a couple of acoustic songs that he played alone on the stage during the night.
On bass, Karl added a lot of depth to the songs and, importantly, didn't over or under play his instrument. Evan rounded out the rhythm section on drums and worked well with the rest of the band bringing structure to songs that had complex rhythm changes from section to section. Overall the band had a good feel and good dynamics.
About those extra musicians... nArdo included a string section and an additional band member (keys and percussion) for this special evening. Bands like to do this on their big nights. I prefer to see and hear the pure band actually. Sometimes the special guests add to the sound, but more often than not, they cause more problems than they solve - sound issues, changed stage placement, disrupted personal intimacy, and the like. For nArdo, I suspect the strings would have sounded great, but for the most part I couldn't hear them well enough to tell. And the additional percussion and keys weren't necessary in my opinion - the guitar sounds were great on their own. The keyboard/percussion player also stuck out as different than the rest. He didn't belong - he was extra. He didn't detract from the performance, but he didn't add to it much either. I would have preferred that he wasn't there so I could focus more on the genuine band.
We left before nArdo finished their set (and I blame Mick for that because he played too long and frustrated us), but I got the feeling that we only missed 1-2 songs. I agree with the other critiques I've read; nArdo are a good group of musicians and have great potential as a band. Without hesitation, I will go see them play at least one more time to see what they can do when they can run free and just play some funky, bluesy, rocky music without the pressure of the EP launch and all of the pomp & circumstance that goes with that.
The Venue
The Basement remains one of my all time favourite venues for live music. It is small, smoke-free (YAY!), has good sound, and friendly staff. I've reserved seats for dinner and a show and also just shown up and stood in the back. Either way - it's all good. And, as a result, The Basement gets great gigs. Every single headline act I've seen there has been impressive and memorable - including nArdo.
Gnome Links:
To complain about this review of Mick Hart (or to thank me for finally exposing him) write to me.
Nardo's website is here http://www.nardo.com.au.
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