Photo: Elleni Toumpas

Selling out The Zoo on a rainy Wednesday night is no small feat, yet the three young indie bands on show manage it easily. Sydney’s Soft Tigers perform first, though it’s more like Soft Tigers-lite as they’re noticeably short a band member. Their sound is extremely lacking without the keyboard and synthesised parts – even their rad summer jam Mr Icecream is delivered in the same dull, uninspired manner as the rest of their short set. The three onstage appear as if they couldn’t give a shit about their performance or reputation – perhaps an indication of the company they’re keeping on this tour.

How to play in Van She: create a handful of funky basslines, add waves of synth and an unrelenting 4/4 beat; repeat over the allotted half-hour, and the kids won’t notice that you’re playing the same generic shit over and over as they can’t keep their damn arms outta the air. It’s an endearing performance and all, but one can’t shake the feeling that they’re polishing the brass on the Titanic (to ape the Fight Club screenplay). ‘80s revival electro-pop; it’s all going down, man!

A few songs into their set, it clicks that all claims of gimmicky exploitation are unfounded. As their parents look on from the back of the Zoo, the five Gold Coast teens that are Operator Please run through a short but sweet set of well-crafted pop tunes, many of which are taken from debut album Yes Yes Vindictive. Amandah Wilkinson demonstrates her ability to write excellent guitar hooks, while Taylor Henderson’s lead violin breaks are met with enthusiastic support. There’s something hilarious about watching young adults grinning and dancing unashamedly to music made by teenagers: live, A Song About Ping Pong is two minutes of brilliant fun. Despite being a product of a well-oiled marketing machine, Operator Please have achieved popularity through hard work and dedication. They deserve all future success.

ANDREW MCMILLEN

Comments (3)

3. Written by licky, on 18-06-2009 08:17 , IP: 203.94.188.15 i like them very much. i think they have worked hard and many people may not like them, but maybe thats because their actually going somewhere with their music..    so congrats guys!

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