ART Of Fighting are one of those bands that feel frozen in time.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Their music is like a time capsule of Melbourne and Sydney's late '90s to early 2000s indie scene where quiet late-night introspection and romantic atmospherics were nurtured rather than the distorted blast of grunge and alternative rock.
Bands like Bluebottle Kiss, Epicure, 78 Saab and Newcastle's own Purplene were all part of a rich underground scene which never matched the commercial success of heavier and more straight-forward rock contemporaries like Powderfinger, You Am I and Grinspoon.
Art Of Fighting's 2001 debut Wires would prove the scene's creative peak. It famously beat Something For Kate (Echolalia), You Am I (Dress Me Slowly) and Magic Dirt (What Are Rock Stars Doing Today) for the Best Alternative Album award at the 2001 ARIAs.
It's a transfixing album of delicate beauty. It seeps under your skin unknowingly.
On Thursday night the Melbourne four-piece of Ollie Browne (vocals, guitar), his brother Miles Browne (guitar, keys), Peggy Frew (bass) and Marty Brown (drums) brought their belated 20th anniversary tour of Wires to Lizotte's.
With Ollie based in Copenhagen these days and Frew an acclaimed author, opportunities to see Art Of Fighting live are rare. This performance was their first in Newcastle since 2007.
Lizotte's was the perfect venue for Art Of Fighting. Wires is an album that doesn't reveal itself immediately. Each song is its own journey. A meditation. The magic is buried under the surface.
It's there in Ollie's gentle rhythmic strumming which built to a hypnotic crescendo on Give Me Tonight and the Frew-led I Don't Keep a Record, which twisted itself into a droning slice of raga rock after a steady beginning.
"It's nice to have the team back together, with much more grey hair," Frew said.
Indeed it was, because Art Of Fighting obviously have that chemistry the best bands possess. Nobody overplayed their hand.
Brown's drumming only added texture where necessary, and despite Frew's fingers being more famous now for typing words on a keyboard, she remains a wonderfully expressive bass guitarist.
Find You Lost, Reasons Are All I Have Left and Say I'm Lost were highlights as all four members locked in beautifully.
After performing Wires in full Art Of Fighting returned to the stage for an encore amid disco ball lighting. It led to one audience member jokingly calling for All Night Long.
"This isn't a Lionel Ritchie concert," Ollie Browne laughed.
The encore did expose the fact that Wires remains on a separate plain to the rest of Art Of Fighting's catalogue.
They performed Heart Translation off 2004's Second Storey, the title track off 2019's comeback album Luna Low and Misty As The Morning from 2007 record Runaways.
Upon the show's finale, the spell was broken. It was 2022 once again.
For an hour Art Of Fighting created a beautiful nostalgic trip back to our younger selves in 2001.
Josh Leeson
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
