Gig Watch: The Inkrements - Town Hall
By Max Roach
Listen to The Inkrements Online
The
Increments are yet another local Melbourne band that has quietly
crawled out from under the woodwork over the last few months - with a
majority of the buzz stemming from the new Triple J Unearthed site. The
site has recently featured some of their better recordings and has won
a bagful of airplay on Triple J. Considering it's currently Oz music
month as well, it seems like everything is just working perfectly for
The Inkrements. While only being together for a little over a
year, the boys have successfully collaborated their skills to come up
with yet another example of a great Aussie rock sound, with obvious
influences stemming from the “New York Sound”, which seems to be a
world wide favorite at the moment. With a high energy out look
(reminiscent of a good deal of other weekend pub bands) The Increments
have uniquely melded a blend of dirty pop and rock which will no doubt
have punters thinking of music stalwarts, The Stooges, The
Strokes and Franz Ferdinand. But not to be simply another rip-off
band, The Inkrements still manage to bring a distinct Aussie element to
the table, similar to The Exploders, and to an extent, The
Valentinos. With a tight knit act, this three piece hardly look
inexperienced and seem to able to adapt to pretty much any venue
(except perhaps a Nazi Rally), it could be a back alley venue playing
to 50 people or a festival stage playing to the masses. With some
super catchy hooks and effective riffs, it's pretty much a
certainty that a grander growth for The Inkrements is coming sooner
rather than later. I caught the boys live at the Town Hall hotel
in North Melbourne on Friday, where I was lucky enough to meet the
group. And never in my years in the industry have I met a band with a
more straight down the line, no bullshit stance on the intention to
make good fun music - and rock out. Talking to front man,
Ben Grosz, I prompted him with the question regarding the bands
direction since receiving such a huge amount of buzz recently: “Since
we started out jamming, we only were aiming at weekly jamming and a few
gigs here and there, but from early on we were spoilt with lots of gigs
and now with some airplay. So we have changed our direction a fair bit
- starting out as more a 60’s garage rock punk band, I think the
sound has evolved into some slightly mellower rocky tunes. “In the
future we want to try and lean towards making music with a bit more
substance but will still keep the fun in there,” said Grosz. “With this bit
of buzz, it has been exciting, and has increased hits on our MySpace
and our Triple J Unearthed site which I think has increased our momentum -
it’s all very good and positive," added The Inkrements' front man,
Ben Grosz. I went and grabbed a beer while
they set up, and although The Town Hall is a small venue, you kind of
get a sense of privilege to be one of the few people seeing them in
such an intimate environment. With
an amazing ability to jump straight into the action, the boys started
pumping out their garage sound which immediately brought warmth
and style to
the cozy room. The crowd erupted with applause at the end of each well
constructed tune, proving that The Inkrements aren’t strangers to
being
able to step up to the plate and putting down some toe tappin'
tunes. With their most popular track, Monsters,
finishing a comprehensively tight set list - it's doubtful you would be
able to find one punter that hadn't become a converted fan. You can catch The Inkrements on Triple J all week as the Feature Artist for the Triple J Unearthed site. Check it out here.
Overall: 80%
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