The Growlers | Northcote Theatre | January 22nd
After a 5 year hiatus, The Growlers return to Australia for the first leg of their world tour.
Hailing from Orange County in Southern California, The Growlers were pioneers of the ‘beach goth’ genre they have made famous, blending elements of post punk with psychedelic rock and country and western.
They’re one of the most influential rock bands to come out of California this millennium, and at Northcote Theatre they played us a career spanning set, showcasing the many twists and turns their careers have taken since they formed in 2006.
The smokers balcony slowly thins out as the clock ticks towards 9:00. As the house music fades out and we go inside and the band takes the stage. Frontman Brooks Neilson declares “so fucking stoked” and The Growlers launch into Big Toe, the first song of their seminal 2014 album Chinese Fountain.
Brooks is exact with his vocals, and his melodies often stretch into blue notes, refusing to resolve until the chorus. They play Black Memories a touch slower than normal, leaning into the lonesome cowboy, country blues elements of the song. Brooks holds his hands behind his back and sways slowly as the song resolves softly.
Tijuana begins with a low droning and the band comes in one at a time. The song progresses and the drums build, the bass and keys are playing conservatively, and slowly the guitars start to trade melodies. Brooks stands in the middle of the 6 piece band, hands behind his back in a tall trench coat as the musicians trade melodies.
The band went on hiatus during Covid, and this world tour is the first time anybody has seen them perform, outside a few small, well published shows in Southern California at the end of last year. They cover Nancy Sinatra’s Some Velvet Mood, challenging the crowd of old fans with its alternating time signatures and rapid shifts between heavy and soft tones.
We are standing right up on the back steps of the balcony with an unobstructed view of the entire stage. In front of us all night a couple talk shyly, and smile at each other when the band plays a song they know.
The Growlers closed their set with Night Ride, and left to stage to extended applause from the crowd at the packed Northcote Theatre.
The Growlers are a band you have to see live. They tease out the slow and brooding undertones of their ‘beach goth’ throughout the set, subtly changing the tempo of their songs and accentuating different notes of the melody to lull the crowd into a haze of the Western American frontier, the sun baked, old Spanish towns of the Southern California coast.