Masco Sound System have a painter on stage when they play. On Thursday night she was painting with her canvas upright and I thought I knew what’s going on in it, and then she turned it sideways and my perception changed completely. That’s what being at a Masco gig is like -you think you’ve got a handle on their sound and their songs, and then it changes.
There’s weird time signatures, a trombone, and even a melodica at different points. Psych rock, reggae, rockabilly and funk were weaved throughout the set, as they played songs from the Live EP that they were launching.
Earlier on we’d walked into a pretty packed room for the first support act, the folksy acoustic pairing of Jumpin’ Jack William and Neil Wilkinson, who ran through a number of melodic, familiar sounding songs. As the opening act for a massive show, they were a good choice but the songs did tend to blend together, and by the end of their set I was ready for something new. The heat was turned up a notch by Sugar Teeth, who immediately displayed their variety with a noisy psych track followed by a soulful but rockin’ number.
Finally, the six-piece groove machine that we all came to see took to the stage. It was a weird beginning to the show, with the drummer playing a vocal sample over the top of Kygo’s remix of Marvin Gaye’s Sexual Healing on a drum pad. Having seen Masco a couple of times, this was absolutely not what I was expecting from the rock’n’roll band, but the reason for it became clearer as the night went on.
Bound by no genre, Masco Sound System defied expectations and delivered a show unmatched by anything I’ve seen this year. Mixing in songs from a range of styles from the Live EP with older favourites like Peolac, they were as stoked with themselves as the audience was with them. I’m sure I’ll be waiting a while before I go to a gig with better vibes than this.
WORDS BY ELIJAH HAWKINS
IMAGE BY IAN LAIDLAW
LOVED: The happiness of the band.
HATED: The bass player being hidden behind the painter’s easel.
DRANK: Water, it was some thirsty work.
