Yesterday night two young bands from the east coast area entered the stage of Privatclub in Berlin. Jackson Scott and Jacuzzi Boys performed for almost three hours of pure adrenaline live act.
They both released great records during this year. Jackson Scott’s Melbourne was out last July and is one of the best 2013 debut albums so far, full of cheerful melodies soaked in lysergic and disturbing sonorities. On the other hand, Jacuzzi Boys’ self-named third record is a good introduction to their spasmodic way of playing rock’n’roll.
It was quite interesting to see the two bands performing in the same night, I wondered how Jackson Scott could adapt Melbourne psych-pop songs with the powerful garage-rock sound of the Miami-based trio. As soon as he entered the stage, he started working on his weird pedal effects, creating a bunch of noisy buzzes and creepy sounds. That was just the beginning of the distorted transformation of his typical joyful atmospheres. The set list turned into a grunge-shoegaze influenced stream of sound waves, where you could barely hear his voice singing.
While turning into a Kurt Cobain-Syd Barret unborn child, he started a personal cover of Interstellar Overdrive, theatrically leaving the stage for a minute to go to the bathroom.
Jackson Scott Performance was simply stunning, changing the usual morphine-likely harmonies in an overwhelming maelstrom of restless lullabies.
After a while Jacuzzi Boys went on the stage, opening the set list with one of their typical surf-rock songs. It’s easy to recognize their sound: both the speakerbox voice effect and the highly reverberated guitar tones are directly borrowed from their 60s heroes.
No surprises if the show was a compact and well oiled adrenaline machine, the band has been touring since 2007 looking for a proper energic sound. If latest record sounds a little bit quiet compared to previous releases, its live rendition is absolutely powerful and dynamic.
Both the voice and the guitar created a liquid cascade of riffs, sustained by pulsing bass lines and an unstoppable drum section. There was no space for any break or pause, just a constant flow of fuzzy tones and garage beats.
At the end of the show a giant feedback was still in the air swallowing any other sound. Jackson Scott lo-fi attitude and Jacuzzi Boys vigorous set list worked well together, finding a bridge between the two different styles of the band.
Any fan of sick cheerful melodies and old-fashioned rock’nroll bands should attend gigs like these.