Mike Noga & The Gentlemen of Fortune

Initially taking to the stage without the aid of his newly-formed band, Mike Noga seemed oddly tense considering his experience playing solo shows. “Hi, I’m Mike,” he began hesitantly. “I’m going to start off softly, but then we’re going to get louder and louder until we explode, or eat each other or something…” The nerves dissipated however, as Noga settled in to the familiarity of the stage, and drank in the crowd’s enthusiastic appreciation of his down tempo country rock. Though he’s best known for his work as drummer with The Drones, Noga displayed an engrossing stage presence as a frontman, aided by a knack for melody and an admirable ability never to let a song go for too long to boot.

After three tracks he was joined one by one by the other members of the group – including erstwhile members of The Vandas and Dallas Crane – and began fulfilling his promise of increased volume. The songcraft never suffered for it, though, with the band effortlessly alternating louder and softer tunes with comfortable ease and relaxed charm. And although Noga seemed defensive at times about the self-proclaimed fact that the band hadn’t practiced much – even fishing for compliments from the crowd at one point – the vague roughness was one of the group’s strong points. These guys could play, but at that moment they were more concerned with having fun than playing the tightest set in rock history, and judging by the response from the crowd, it was entirely infectious.

by Alistair Wallis