THE THE THE STUTTERS @ THE GLOBE THEATRE

There comes a certain day in the life of many bands when fate dictates that it’s time, finally time, to leave the familiar surroundings of their bedrooms/garages for the sweaty, hallowed grounds of the professional stage. It is a day often dreamed, pondered, dissected, anticipated and feared. It is the day when a band’s journey of rock, and or/roll, or something else entirely, begins in earnest. For Brisbane-based indie band The The The Stutters, that day was the 15th of November, 2008.

I arrived at The Globe Theatre in Fortitude Valley at around 8pm. In exchange for $10, the billing promised an all-Brisbane indie lineup with Kent St. and Real Bacon headlining, supported by Ikarios and The The The Stutters. Kick-off with The The The Stutters was to be at 8:30pm. With half an hour to burn before the show began, I busied myself catching up with friends who had also turned out to support The The The Stutters at their first live gig, and with checking out the swanky venue.

The Globe Theatre is just that – a theatre. Two theatres, in fact, which has led to its local nickname, “The Village Twin”. Built in the late 70s, one of the theatres still functions as a local cinema. The other theatre had been converted into a dramatic live music space; its sloping cinema floor providing some evidence of its past life. Connecting both theatres is the foyer and bar area, which is the first room you’ll enter after descending the stairs from the streets above. Overall, it’s a very well-kept little piece of local history, though one would imagine that the decidedly retro furnishings wouldn’t look nearly as charming in the daytime without all that soft, warm lighting to woo the eyes after sundown.

So it was a nice venue, and a comfortable one in which to immerse yourself in conversation with friends and generally lounge about. As such, we missed what was probably the first half of The The The Stutters first song. Whoopsth. As the foyer is separated from the theatre, and there were no announcements indicating that the music was about to begin (not that any such was expected), the only way we discovered they’d already come out and started playing was when someone remarked, “Hey, I think they’ve started.” Cue a sudden halt in conversation, a communal pricking of ears and panicked acknowledgement followed by a mad power walk to the music theatre to witness history in the making…

The The The Stutters are a four-piece band: Timothy Nguyen Tran and Denis Jankovic on guitars and vocals, Rod McTainsh on bass and Luke Sampson on drums.

Out of all four members, the only person I knew on stage that night was Tim, and there he was – bathed with his fellow bandmates in dramatic (yet clearly very hot) stage lights, Les Paul chiming at the hips, ponytail swishing and eyes closed as he sang. It was a proud moment (no, I’m not his dad).

For the next twenty minutes, The The The Stutters rocked, rolled and serenaded their way through six pop rock originals before their brief time was up. There were sweet melodies and exotic riffs. Heartfelt falsetto and a very shaggy-haired bassist. It was all over much too quickly, as each song they played piqued a curiosity to hear more. There was an understated yet very clear measure of complexity to the songwriting (one cannot deny the Radiohead influence), and the band delivered a tight, rhythmic performance worthy of much applause… something I unfortunately could not participate in fully as I was holding Min-Wye’s beer as he zipped around the front of the stage taking some of the great photos you see on this page.

After it was done and the last of the applause had simmered away, I was left with a very good feeling about where these guys could go. Sure, it was only their first gig, but that’s probably the most important of first steps, and the musicianship is there, as is the respect for writing songs that deny boredom a chance to set in by steering the listener in unexpected directions. Throughout the set, I found my head bopping and feet tapping a lot more than I expected them to, which is, perhaps more than anything, the most telling indication that these guys are off to a mighty fine start.

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Setlist
The The The Stutters
Live @ The Globe Theatre, 15/11/08

1. Bored and Spent
2. Nothing
3. Missing out
4. When the Devil Comes
5. Velvet Lover
6. We Are

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Thanks to…
Min-Wye for providing the photos above exclusively for if90. You can see more of Min-Wye’s photos from the night on his blog.

Tomorrow… (or the day after)
An exclusive interview with Tim and Denis!

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The The The Stutters – Official Website
The The The Stutters – MySpace