Locals In London

Art Of Fighting and Clare Bowditch play The Luminaire

Art Of Fighting Tuesday 4th April, Luminaire, London, UK

Review by Sarah Murphy

Four and a half years after their last visit, Melbourne foursome Art Of Fighting are excited to be playing to a London audience, albeit a room filled with its fair share of ex-pats.

It’s to be expected. Hearing an Australian accent in the street is as common as minor delays on the Northern line in London town. (Here’s a tip: try walking).

Sitting backstage after the show snacking on cashews, bassist Peggy Frew remarks, ‘I hope it wasn’t just all full of Australians.’

Her concern is more about feeling like they have travelled the distance for good reason; not just to preach to the converted. Thanks to a slightly inebriated American duo heard discussing George Bush and the CIA who were promptly shushed by an English punter, during ‘Just Say I’m Right’, there’s evidence there were more than just antipodeans in attendance. Even if these political chatterers and the terse Brit were the only non-Aussies in the Tuesday night crowd at Kilburn’s Luminaire, it’s a safe bet many hadn’t heard the band’s follow up recording Second Storey, released in the UK last year. Origin aside, fresh ears listened intently when they launched into the sombre ‘Busted Broken Forgotten’.

Playing a mixture of old favourites from Wires and their aforementioned latest effort, as well as some new numbers, Art of Fighting held court at the Luminaire with front man Ollie Browne’s fine voice commanding attention (even if important matters regarding the CIA required discussion).

When a keen voice from the audience shouted out, ‘When are you putting out a new album?’ the band looked at each other and smiled. Tunes crafted last October when Art Of Fighting had intended to visit Europe will form their next record. When it surfaces in the shops is another question. Ollie tried not to make any grand promises in his response. With new babies on the way for guitarist and brother Miles, as well as bass player Peggy, it’s clear that there are other factors that may not have the band rivalling Ryan Adams in the prolific stakes.

Before the inevitable dash for the last tube began to thin out the 300 odd crowd, lead singer Ollie revealed it was his birthday. In a show of appreciation the audience launched into a less than dulcet, yet not entirely riotous ‘Happy Birthday’ sing-along. The beginning of Spring may have gone unnoticed on a ‘don’t forget your jacket’ type night in London, but the band clearly enjoyed a dose of warmth at this point, before having to load out in the cold into their black-tinted window trailer fit for a Mafioso.

Next stop Nottingham.

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Questions and Answers With Clare Bowditch and Miles (Art Of Fighting)

How would you describe The Luminaire?

AOF: Well, it trumpets itself as winner of the Time Out award for best venue of the year, which seems pretty justified compared to some of the other venues we have played in the UK. It’s above a spacious pub that serves nice Thai food, in a grungy part of town. You load in up the stairs but the owner actually helps. The vibe upstairs is like a stylish Tote, with an inappropriately raised stage and lots of red. It’s a great size at about 250 – 300 people and the room has a nice feel to it. The PA was really great, the bar staff were pleasant, there was actually a rider, the door people cracked jokes, and we got passes so we all felt like wankers. As for actually playing, the onstage sound was awesome and we had a perfect show from a band perspective.

CB: It was a small to medium-sized venue with what may have been a giant sky roof above the stage. Red velvet curtains. Smokey. Box feeling. Sold out show, great audience. Small dodgy band room with a comfortable armchair and lots of things stacked in the corner, but unfortunately no wireless access.

What’s been your previous experience, if any, playing London? Is it a tough gig generally?

AOF: We played three other shows in London, all in the space of about two weeks in October 2001. It’s not really a tough gig in that people came along and we had a good time. All the shows were organised through different promoters and so had different crowds. Compared to the rest of Europe though it’s a nasty shock cause the venues just don’t seem to give a shit (the Luminaire being the exception). They seem more like halls you hire. In the rest of Europe you get fancy cheese, chocolate and coffee on arrival. I think the key in London is low expectations ...

CB: Last show I played in London was also my first ever solo gig – it was my 21st birthday and I stood up at a bar in Soho with a guy I didn’t know and sang some songs in front of my best friends. This was a little different, but equally cool. It was an easier gig than the one before it, which was in what looked very much like a biker bar in the Swiss Alps.

What was the audience like?

AOF: There seemed to be a mix of serious older music lovers, Aussies, friends, and hipsters. Sometimes all of such combined. I think it sold out or almost sold out so it was a great crowd to play to. People were up for a good time, which was lucky cause it was a Tuesday. The crowd seemed to know the old songs, and the new ones got a really great response. In fact, the audience were really into all the bands (a band called We vs Death were on the bill, too). Apparently the promoters (Club AC30) have a reputation for putting on nights that attract committed listeners. We all know the type.

CB: Sold out show, very enthusiastic audience, and people at the front singing along; quite a marked contrast from the anonymous shows I’d been playing in Germany and Switzerland, where I changed some of my lyrics from English to German just to get the point across. In London they seemed to appreciate my loop-pedal version of ‘Boys Don’t Cry.’

What stood out about your fellow Australian act’s performance?

AOF: When she performs solo Clare has a way of giving her songs a context and a space that makes them really personal to her at the time she performs them, and that gives you an insight into the process of writing them, which is pretty special and makes the live experience pretty magical.

CB: I watched every single one of AOF’s soundchecks – I have been a long-term hard-core fan of the band and kind of feel happiest when I am watching them play. But the reality is this; I actually didn’t get to see one single AOF show, and it’s because as soon as I finished my show, I would get ushered into the tour van by our driver and be rushed back to the hotel so I could high-five Marty and take over the babysitting of our three-year-old, who, by then, was fast asleep. I spent most of my nights in the hotel writing a new album. Based on the sound-checks, the thing that constantly impresses me about AOF is their absolute dedication to the performance process, and their harsh self-rating system, which seems to keep them in perfect performance shape, and the way they spend hours nutting out the one song, making subtle changes, in a way that would drive most bands to drugs. They are remarkably dedicated to the process, and everyone who takes the time to listen gets rewarded with this, and it’s part of the reason they have such insanely dedicated fans.

What was your favourite moment in your own set?

AOF: It makes me laugh when people yell out a song request and get it wrong, particularly when it reflects something about their state of mind. I was therefore pretty thrilled when our incredibly drunk friend from Norway tried to request our song ‘Just Say I’m Right’ and asked for “Just Say I’m Alright”. I think it was clear from his slurred words that he was far from it.

CB: I decided to approach my shows in Europe in a very different way; to use the anonymity to just experiment, and to play half of my songs with classical guitar and the other half using electric guitar and loop pedals, and to muck around with playing drums and guitar at the same time. So my favourite moment in my own set was playing a song called ‘Human Being’; mainly because I sang it in German, and played guitar, high-hat and kick drum at the same time, whilst also wearing a pretty old Dutch dress. It felt new and dangerous, and ridiculous, and fun.

Did the English come through with a decent rider?

AOF: Instant coffee, two slabs of Stella Artois and four small bottles of water. Exceeded expectations significantly.

CB: Not in comparison to the Germans, who put on a slather of meats and cheeses and dinners and any drinks we liked ... but I think in England they gave us beer and coffee. That was enough.

By law, any Australian act that plays overseas is enjoying a triumphant tour, what’s the reality been like for you?

AOF: I am not sure if it was as triumphant as that of other Australian bands. But then, we are not really into triumph. I think we would more characterise it as an experiment that went right. We played a brief two-and-a-half-week tour with fourteen shows with a bass player who was six months pregnant, and a three-year-old who is the rather delightful spawn of our drummer and the support act for the tour (Clare). We sold some CDs, road tested a lot of our yet to be recorded new songs, met up with old friends, saw some sights and last, but not least, played songs to some seriously appreciative crowds. We got some very tasty riders and worked out how we wanted our new record to sound. Sounds good, but maybe not triumphant?

CB: In my opinion, AOF were triumphant as always. For me, this tour was (I’ll say it again) a chance to just take a few chances with electricity and drums, and they paid off, so for this reason I would have to class it as a personal triumph. The shows were small, but glorious, and I met some cool people, and I’m heading back over. We’re all talking about the possibility of basing ourselves in Berlin for a little while this year or next year, so we can follow up on some things.

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