[Gig Review] EARTHLESS w/ STEPMOTHER & GRIM RHYTHM, Melbourne (AU) 13.09.25
Not looking properly at the gig details, I ended up at Max Watts on Friday the 12th of September, hoping to see renowned psychedelic rock band Earthless, with support from Stepmother and Grim Rhythm. Cursing my stupidity, and extremely thankful that I’d driven instead of taking the train, I paid $15 for five minutes of parking and booked it down from the CBD to The Corner Hotel in Richmond, which I somehow hadn’t been to in years. The last time I went was to see Flyying Colours in 2022? It’s gonna be the psych venue in my head for a while now, I think.
I made it by the skin of my teeth, and secured a spot at the right side of the stage as local riffmeisters Grim Rhythm began their set.The first in a night of power trios, they started off strong, slinging big, rock ‘n roll riff after riff, which hit just the right mood for the crowd, which had filled maybe half of the Corner by that point. They’ve got music on bandcamp with a singer, but I wouldn’t have guessed because they sound really good without the vocals, riffs and groove and super solid musicianship really hitting the stoner rock spot on their own. A cursory google search isn’t giving me names, so I’ll just say that the guitarist’s solos were bluesy in all the best ways (some of the rare slower stuff reminded me, gratefully, of Robin Tower, even David Gilmour), the drummer had solid groove and energy, a kick which I felt in my gut, and pretty gnarly fills across the kit. In particular, I was super impressed with their bassist, who I felt led everyone else, with absolutely insane finger-picking and shreddy, bendy, baslines that were especially impressive by bass standard. I listen to a lot of moody, progressive bullshit, and so I tend to forget how good a slab of well-delivered rock can be. Grim Rhythm reminded me.
A 20-minute wait later, Stepmother took the stage, and I wasn’t sure about them initially. I’m too introverted for most punk rock, and frontman Graham Clise’s cap, sunglasses and leather jacket were not immediately endearing to my square, law-abiding ass. What I will say is that over the course of the set, the vibey post-punk psych energy won me over by the end, specially how tight this trio of punks sounded overall. The spotlight was definitely on Clise this time, as he yelled through the verses and choruses, and then brought the noise with chaotic solos heavily bolstered by whammy bar work. Clise is clearly a seasoned performer, and the internet tells me that it’s also worth noting that Clise is/was in Annihilation Time, Lecherous Gaze, Rot TV, and Witch. I haven’t heard of any of these bands, which is some testament to how out of my wheelhouse I feel “reviewing” these guys. I recognise some seriously rocking energy, though. Maybe I don’t *always* get punk, but I do *get* noise, and Stepmother brought the noise in some of the most fun ways I’ve seen recently.
The curtains closed before Earthless, and the crowd filled and pushed accordingly. I settled second-row from the front, and after a twenty-minute holdover, during which I had a drummer’s (dubious) pleasure of listening to Mario Rubalcaba sound-check on his kit, finally the curtains opened, and the band walked onstage. Isaiah Mitchell, wielding a Barbie-pink guitar, promptly greeted the crowd, and then the band immediately launched into their trademark noisy stoner-psych, almost equal parts riffs, shred and noise, and I and everyone else in the crowd was instantly transported. What songs did they play? None but the most ardent Earthless could say for sure, I think – setlist.fm is mostly blank there, and even what is there is puncutated with question marks – but really, I don’t think it matters. Earthless could have been improv-jamming Grateful Dead style for the first hour of their set, and I would have banged my head and whipped my hair around just as enthusiastically. Rubalcaba and bassist Mike Eginton (small man, *huge* sound!) held the rhythm down perfectly for Mitchell to play his psychedelic leads over huge chunks of the music, and the free-flowing nature of the band made it feel more energetic than most bands I see. It feels like there’s so much and so little going on at the same time, and the amount of sound that was generated by these three men was astounding.
You know, reviewing Earthless’ Black Heaven for Overdrive Music Mag back in 2018 was one of the first pieces of writing that was ever published. I don’t know if that review got archived – even if not, it’s likely still in my inbox somewhere – but Black Heaven, for all of its vocal-driven and song-y charms, would never have prepared me for how far I away I felt from the Corner Hotel last Friday, as I spaced out to their music. I ducked back towards the merch desk for their encore, which mostly abandoned the space-rock and learnt into the party atmosphere, and Mitchell started singing some of that Black Heaven blues-rock (or maybe it was a cover – I’m honestly not too sure) and they had a guest vocalist (in an annoying trend I couldn’t quite tell who he was or where he was from – it was a work day, I was exhausted, okay?) but who led us all through a round of “happy birthday” for Mitchell, whose birthday it was to be come midnight. It was a fun cap to a great night of psychedelic wilding.
Earthless (& Stepmother) are playing again at The Tote on Tuesday. Highly recommended.
LINKS:
Stepmother
Official Site:
https://www.earthlessofficial.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/earthlessrips
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/earthlessrips
Grim Rhythm
Bandcamp:
https://grimrhythm.bandcamp.com/merch
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/grimrhythmband
Earthless
Official Site:
https://www.earthlessofficial.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/earthlessrips
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/earthlessrips
