Both bands having long been bathed in industry tags like ‘ones to watch’ or ‘next big thing,’ Sydney’s Megastick Fanfare and Brisbane’s Oh Ye Denver Birds have decided to multiply their hype by embarking on a co-headline tour down the East Coast, the tour being squared to the power of the awesomeness. Having begun back in September, they’re set to wrap things up this week, playing the final dates of the tour this Friday Oct 21st at Spectrum in Sydney and this Saturday Oct 22nd at Yours & Owls in Wollongong.
While both bands experiment and explore the limits of pop music, building layers of melody and rhytmn in their songs, the results are quite unique from each other. Megastick use a litany of sonic toys such as tape loops, samplers, loop and delay pedals as well as more traditional instrumentation such as guitar bass drums and synth, to build up soundscape pop songs reminiscent of artists such as, and I shudder to mention, Animal Collective or our very own Jonti, that are nevertheless underpinned by the band’s own playful and joyous style. Oh Ye Denver Birds, on the other hand, use harmonies and synths to create transformative pieces, their songs meant to explore the ideas of adventure and its power to change you and others.
Megastick recently releasing their debut album Grit Aglow to critical praise, the album being named album of the week at FBi, SYN and Rave, Brag naming it Indie Album Of The Week, and with Oh Ye Denver Birds having released a steady stream of singles in the lead up to their debut album expected in 2012, which has seen them pop up regularly in tastemaker’s mix tapes and the music media in general, you’d be forgiven for saying this might be one of this year’s most hotly buzzed local tours. Let’s hope I do.
Anyway, the tour having gone gangbusters so far, with the bands having played to packed houses all up and down the coast, be sure to grab your last chance to see the two bands play side by side this Friday and Saturday.
Megastick Fanfare and Oh Ye Denver Birds play Spectrum in Sydney on Friday October 21st and Yours & Owls in Wollongong on Saturday October 22nd, for more information visit the facebook event.
