KazaamBlam! with Mr. Hayday and Flick

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Whammy, Auckland

We stepped into Whammy last night to see the electronic madness of KazaamBlam and Mr. Hayday only to be greeted by concrete gothic drone metal band Evil Ocean. It wasn’t really what I was expecting, but gee-wizz it was exciting. Stevie Kaye later informed me that the band was made up of well known (to him) New Zealand artists and writers (one of whom is in the band Prince Diana).

Matt Brennen aka Flick then busted out his human beat-box, pumping drumming sounds into his home made head microphone, doctored to allow him to be a human noise machine. His music was always entertaining, but at times it became hard to concentrate, with so much sound coming from just one man. His medley covering The Mint Chicks ‘If My Arm Was A Mic Stand, Would You Hold My Hand?’ and Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’ was a highlight.

We could hardly see Mr. Hayday behind his stack of equipment and his blinking hamsters, but his electronic dance music was a refreshing change from the standard guitar bands we see a lot in Auckland. A few people got up to dance which struck me that Mr. Hayday would be an excellent night club act; I’d love to see him playing to a room full of enthusiastic teenagers. The flashing hamsters sitting in front of his equipment were very cute; imagine if they swayed from side to side.

After a loooong break, Whammy emptied out. Yet again the main act played to the smallest crowd of the night. It was 1.30am and even I wanted to go home. I stayed and it was well worth it, KazaamBlam had a stage set-up that rivalled the best band set-ups in the country. Perhaps it was fitting he played the night after German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk. Unlike Mr. Hayday, KazaamBlam seemed to be doing a lot on stage, playing guitar and mixing, slicing and dicing songs perfectly. His version of The Beatles ‘Because’ was stunningly remixed and his comment that Paul McCartney would be turning in his grave was a laugh. KazaamBlam supported Ratatat earlier in the year and on the basis of last nights performance it seems well deserved.

More KazaamBlam, Mr. Hayday and Flick live photos

Posted by Nick Fulton under New Zealand