@alpaca.presents by Brandon van der Berg @vdb.brandon
The acts on the 14th made for a quite an entertaining evening and one to be remembered. A great pop punk artist in their early days, another more refined full band with fantastic players polishing their performances and the headliners “Soup and Cigarettes” with an incredibly supportive crowd and 60k streams within the last year.
Read about the artists and their performances below.
WAITING4BILLY
Starting with the attentive “Could someone get my family haha”
He starts the set with a poem; a prologue in to be overtaken by the strumming of an acoustic guitar and green LED’s shimmering like a high VIS off his shirt.
The deep, gritty but full bellow is somewhere in the middle of Elvis, Gerard Way and Jonny Cash if they were super angsty and in their early 20s happy-go-lucky phase. He gives a lot of empathetic punch to the vocals and the light vocal fry at times is chosen and placed very well.
He uses a lot of open chords, I’m assuming because he likes them, but they also work well in filling out an otherwise empty arrangement and solo performance, it felt thick and full enough for the audience to watch calmly; kindly.
The songs are rather emotional and he doesn’t take himself too seriously, with the occasional laugh or “woop!” dropped in for good measure and his confident resolve is assuring to a crowd that mimics and follows. The slow decompressions of his chest, eyes and smile really push forward approachability and familiarity.
It's always nice to watch an acoustic act, that isn’t sh*tting themselves, be so peaceful and idyllic; It persuades respect in the warmest of ways, like a nice hug or being in a room full of people you’re not entirely close with, but enough to let go and feel good about being there.
He could not give less of a f*ck about the applause which is refreshingly humble because pop punk guitarists, like myself a few years ago, are usually so far up their own arse they’re vitamin C deficient from lack of sunlight; you never feel any hint of that watching Billy. From the way he hangs his arm over his guitar loosely, swaying side to side and explaining the meaning behind his songs gently, to his facial expressions which are tensed with sincerity and a minor amount of bathroom mirror practice.
The rhythm in the songs is quite similar generally but you could argue that it grounds you and earns a bigger reaction when the switch is made from anywhere between jazzier progressions, to a cover of “Way Down We Go” which sounded fantastic.
I think a bigger performance would benefit this set greatly; there’s space between the vocal phrasing, use it!
Find him on Instagram or Spotify
MIA ALBEL
The band briefly on Jack Black – “He is a FINE man.” Agreed. The way Mia switches perspectives while singing is choreographed; between the crowd and the band and when she tilts her head, the glint of her eyes in the spotlights reflects upwards, against the ceiling and walls and through the audience. The bassist’s guitar strap imploding halfway through the first song was an obstacle embraced with a single of calm panic and a cheering crowd mixer. “OK we survived the first song, that’s good.” *Sighs relief*… The rhythm guitarist’s strings explode. Okay maybe only one broke but still, that was funny. I don’t know if it was nerves or just the skill of social confidence running rampant but the way Mia talks to the crowd is really entertaining and easy to get along with. It’s constant and always being brought to a punch line that the band will laugh loudly at before bringing it down to introduce the next song. That same attentiveness is extrapolated onto the arrangement. Tom, on piano and guitar, holds silence incredibly well physically and musically. Mia knows the difference between power and flavour in her vocal technique. The bassist has a great understanding of harmony and how to really support a song. The lead guitarist could kill fifty lollipops with those licks and the drummer is great at holding back and focusing on a tight performance. It does magic on the songs which need it. The songwriting as Mia put it… “You’re probably gonna have whiplash from the amount of genre changes” Although, it never actually drifts all that far away and just sounds like a songwriter who wants variation in their music and knows how far to stretch it without it feeling alien or out of place. The music is full of droning, repetition, and emotional ambiguity that rounds back to one discernible feeling you can narrow it down to. There is a lot of resolution and the lead lines that carry through endings and transitions always get attention from the crowd and are well received. Find them on Instagram SOUP AND CIGARETTES “Shall we get this show on the road?” He growls “HITTT ITTTT” The way Tom, the singer, leans over the microphone is like he’s framed in a music video; posed and pronounced. The drummer holds nothing back from start to finish and this is evident in a cry for help given by the singer. “SOMEONE GET A TOWEL FOR EMILY” The main thing that stands out about this band is how the singer is non-stop entertainment. From every dad-like dance, the constant hand gestures and pointing, the jabs at the crowd light-heartedly mocking them for their applause, total commentary and a full-blown comedy act at times especially since every time the guitarist gets a solo you can be sure that Tom will scream “GEETARRRRR!”. A worthy entrance to lead work that was consistently pulled off very well. The crowd is totally there for them as people and as an act; you could hear constant shouting for their single “Lemon and Lime” and it’s refreshing to see such an overwhelmingly supportive crowd being so vocal about it. Their music as a whole is well-rounded, catchy and upbeat. The passion behind Emily’s drumming is really there, the tense facial expressions and power behind the playing really shows they care about the performance but I would say that this act could definitely work on their stage presents throughout the set for consistency! Find them on Instagram or Spotify
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