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The Paper Scissors: Live Review
Friday 29 October 2010 saw me return to a university for the first time in many years. The last time I went to a university building, it was to host a community radio program well before I knew what a podcast was. Fast forward to 2010 to Hermann’s Bar at Sydney University where I was to attend the Sydney launch of The Paper Scissors‘ new single Lung Sum as heard on episode 8 of Insomnia Radio: Australia.
By the time the band hit the stage just after 11pm, the crowd has grown significantly from the time I first arrived at the venue. After a performance (in every sense of the word) from support band Halal, How Are You? where I was left bemused, scared, stunned, amazed, annoyed and bewildered all at the same time, the headlining Sydney act were faced with two distinct groups in the university aged crowd. There was the group at the front near the stage that were quite happy to see the band and dance along with the mood of the music, albeit with an intensity lower than I thought. The energy on stage was not being matched by the energy in the front section of the room. Behind the main group was another group of people who were quite happy just to sit down and listen to the music. As it turned out, both groups were well catered for.
On this occasion, The Paper Scissors were the complete opposite to the support act that they followed. They did not need theatrics to get their point across. Two powerful guitars, a big set of acclimatised drums and strong vocals was all the band needed. The set was tight and the songs flowed without being the same tune but different words all the way through. The small but comfortable venue filled with happy punters and a band happy to give the punters what they wanted saw everyone satisfied with the evening. If you like rock music but not into the heavier end of the scale, you will enjoy seeing The Paper Scissors live.
The songs are very radio and commercial friendly (not always a bad thing) but at the end of one song, singer Jai Pyne commented that the introduction of the song was too long and that he was working on changing it, presumably to make it more radio friendly. It would be a shame if the extended introduction version of the song was scrapped forever as for me at least, it was a highlight of the night.
If you are in Sydney and missed the gig, The Paper Scissors will be performing at the Newtown Festival on Sunday 14 November 2010. It would be interesting to see the band in a different setting (an outdoor free festival) compared to the bar venue. Thank you to SGC Media for enabling me to attend the event and for providing me with the band’s music.
EDIT: I’ve since been told by the band that they love their long intros and that the comment about changing the start of a song in particular was a joke.
