Pull Down The Sun — galleries

You've seen this review show up and probably thought to yourself 'oh look, Jecht's put out another Gig Review, cool' or 'who's lied about being at a show again and pissed off Jecht enough to do a third review?'. What you should be asking is 'this gig happened on the first of December, why is Jecht only now doing a review?', because I have an answer for that one. Uh, I didn't have the drive. Yet now I do have the drive, and that's directed at past-Jecht for agreeing to write a gig review with the main act and not following up on it. So the passive-aggressive tone shall remain for a third time running!

DISCLAIMER: I had been hired by Sidewinder to provide photography for them during this show, with the intent of also providing video to produce a potential live video recording and a non-biased review of the show. Cherry Punch has also compensated me for providing media after the show. Due to the gig taking place three weeks before this review was written, I have refreshed my memory with the full set recordings of all three bands I had taken on the night.

Cherry Punch

Keep Up
I Am Nothing
Midnight's Creeping In
They Know
Messages
You Should Be With Me
Sick Puppy
Leave Your Man
Rot
Little Boys
Supermarket Bleach
He wants to hurt
Please

If you're reading this after checking out my 2023 Supercut (publicly released on my Patreon simultaneously to this review, coming to YouTube in January), then you'd recognize that Cherry Punch ranks amongst the bands I've seen the most of during the year alongside other bands like Dave and the Dirty Humans, Electric Tapestry, SKRAM and Sidewinder. That's partially because they're enticing performers for a primarily photography focus person, but also due to the intense mahi they've been putting in this year that's caused me to miss a handful of shows due to conflicting schedules. Probably the best problem to have tbh.

For those of you that might've missed it, I wrote my first gig review earlier this year in March thanks to being irrationally miffed at a reporter lying through their words and doing less than the minimal effort at covering Homegrown 2023. Of course, I wasn't there at Homegrown, but I was at Store Bought, so I wrote a review of the show I was 100% at on the night. Cherry Punch put on that show (played it too ofc), and getting to the point of this tangent, I've been able to watch a band and critically think about them four months after forming, and now once again nine months later.

There's one immediate thing that came to mind at another show I caught them at a week later, and it's that they've evolved and expanded their footprint in many ways since they've landed in the scene. Weird analogy, I know, but follow me on this one. This band's knack for creative song writing has led them to stretch out what defines alt-punk, to the point where it's difficult to give an umbrella genre to their music, and the way they've molded the songs to dance with the lyrical content is stone cold. You'll get a blurb at what the upcoming song is about, and like a deer meets headlights, you'll be confronted with a shock to remind you that you should probably be paying attention to the story being woven into the songs you're singing along to. Another thing of note is the live experience. Where Cherry was the main star of the show last time in March, you've got that time and experience rubbing off onto Cody, Nate and Emily lately. Everyone looks much more comfortable and energetic on stage, which can be chalked up to the built-up expertise over the months, and translates extremely well to the audience's general reception.

Sidewinder

Depths
Prisoner
Wasted Space
The Desert Song
Disarm the King
Walk of Ishi
Sirens
Red Moon
Guardians
99mph
Encore - Mississippi Fire

Wrapping up their Northern Lights Tour, Sidewinder returned to their local haunting grounds in Valhalla with vigour. Having caught their previous show in Palmerston North the week prior, I was surprised to notice that their setlist had changed between shows, alongside a brand new set intro paired with projector graphics to lead us into their recently revamped song Depths. Heavy riffs upon heavy waves came crashing down practically the whole time Sidewinder were on stage.

Of particular note here is the singer Jem's vocal performance on the night, and how her onstage persona has developed over time. She's the second long-time lead singer for the band, after Mel's brief venture in the band and Aidan's quick stint at Lovelands 2022, and like Cherry Punch, I've been able to track her growth in the band and how she's helped direct the sound going forward, and what growth she's had. Her commanding stage presence that wastes no unnecessary theatrics alongside her powerful vocal performance melds with the rest of the band seamlessly, as the personalities of each member has their own charms. Sean's going to show off and pose any chance he gets on stage with his repertoire of bass's, exerting the rule of cool alongside reliable chunky bass riffs, with Tom sneaking smiles at the crowd like a puppy dog high off praise, Grant's stoicness keeping the family in check (though he gives me some cute goofy facials at times) and Ben being the too-cool-for-school kid on stage, coming up with new ways to fling his guitar around like he's taming a wild beast. Side note, Ben's expecting me to say he went out of tune and I had to photoshop their drummer into the crowd photo, and yes I'm sorry everyone for tricking everyone, but I did photoshop Grant into the group photo. The dummy trapped himself in with the drum kit, so we made do. Oh, and I didn't really notice the guitar going out of tune, so we'll hold the 1 star for a truly ruckus showing.

Pull Down The Sun

Aka
Whare Ra
Of Rivers and Glaciers
Weta
Kehua
Utu
Pierce the Sea
Awa
Of Valleys and Mountains

I’ll always admire the dedication of these Wangas lads to come down and perform all the Poneke shows that they do, and their attitude to roam the nearby music venues they aren’t playing on the night to support and keep in contact with our music scene. Even if I’m booked to shoot a show elsewhere, I’ll eventually see a number of the boys making the rounds.

Onto the show itself, if you’re familiar with PDTS and their album, then you’ll know they typically start their set with the first three songs off their debut album (Aka, Whare Ra, Of Valleys and Mountains). A classic trilogy in its own right, but for the last year or so now they’ve altered the setlist to include ‘Of Rivers and Glaciers’ from their upcoming second studio album, moving their crowd favourite ‘Of Valleys and Mountains’ to the finale. Back to the point of this paragraph, these songs follow a very intentional buildup to gradually introduce themes present in the PDTS lineup. Our first two tracks are both, for all intents and purposes, instrumental tracks, with the first one paired well with a healthy dose of hazer to produce an atmospheric palate cleanser, with the second bringing the meat and bones, ala the heavy groove sound they’re well known for. Of Rivers and Glaciers, much like its older sibling, elevates further what Whare Ra brought before it, pairing it with Koert’s vocals to start weaving narrative stories into the set.

Speaking of musicians, you’ve got Bass Drum player Stefan out back, with Bassy Guitar player and Bassier Guitar player Jason and Koert (names not in any particular order) making up the Pull Down The Sun lineup. If I were restricted to reciting one thing from each band member from the night, it’s that Jason’s the perfect unicorn specimen for catching the most visually appealing hair-tendril photo as usual, Koert’s got the best stomps in town, and Stefan’s drum kit smashes during Pierce the Sea scare me (the good kind of course).

This is where I had put personal gripes in my past reviews that spurred me to type these out, but uh I don’t have that this time, so let’s do something nice and simple. Stats are fun to look at, and I did some counting for this year’s SUPERCUT video, so let's have a quick look at them. 17 international bands and 241 kiwi bands covered, with 110 shows and 425 sets covered (as of the 29th December), which means an average of a show being covered once every three and a bit days. That’s a lot, like a whole lot. Big lot. A huge thanks to all the bands, venues and people I’ve worked with this year and the years prior, as well as everyone on the sidelines, I couldn’t make this work without you. Enjoy your Holidays to the best you can, and I’ll see you in 2024.