Live music review: Psychedelic Porn Crumpets and Acid Dad LEVITATION shows at Mohawk
Do you ever watch the crowd catch their breath collectively as one shared breath? Ribs rising towards the stage as heads rear back to thrust forward in one unified head bang? That definitely happened as Psychedelic Porn Crumpets performed a sold out show at Mohawk with Acid Dad last Friday.
Acid Dad opened up before Psychedelic Porn Crumpets took their headlining slot. The psych, alt-rock band kicked off with “Mr. Major”, with singer Vaughn Hunt delivering soft vocals, akin to that of Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins. Acid Dad’s seething wit and cynicism became apparent in the New York band’s “Searchin’”:
“Wasted teens on their knees, killing, begging for some weed”.
Their set got progressively heavier as they played “She Only Eats Organic”. Acid Dad’s recent record Get Me High was released on Levitation’s record label, The Reverberation Appreciation Society. Check these guys out if you enjoy Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth and Jesus and Mary Chain.
Between sets, that collective breathing was scattered. Maybe their breathing hit vape pens? Perhaps they took a puff from a joint? Or maybe they gulped down the National Beer of Texas (Lone Star for you out-of-towners) Who could really tell? People stood in awe of the previous performance and took selfies in front of the projections up against the side wall of The Mohawk.
Australia’s West Coast upstarts, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets started off heavy as an elephant sitting on your chest with “Tally-O” with fuzzy distortions over hard hitting drums. As soon as the second verse hit, all the air left the crowd, like a deflating balloon, bouncing in all directions, at once. As if they’d been holding their collective breaths until that moment.
“We’ve been touring for 90 days straight and yesterday was our first day off. You can probably find us at the kebab place,” as Australian lead singer Jack McEwan enunciated the ‘a’s in kebab.
Several songs in, the audience heard “Found God in a Tomato”. By this point, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard had let out across the street at Stubb’s and those riding high from the mosh pit over at that set, thirsted for more. The mosh pit swelled with new arrivals.
In a brilliant composition of psych rock and prog-rock, McEwan showcased a genius story of riffs, in perfect syncopation with the drums of Danny Caddy. “November” gave the audience a moment to catch their breath during the bluesy free-flow of the track. The face melting intro for “Hymn for a Droid” erupted in full on riots, with every color of light moving at a dizzying speed, beer and water drenching the crowd.
People moved their way to the front for “Cubensis Lenses” at the sound of a well-pronounced wah-wah pedal for their final song, before the encore. Not a much applause or encouragement was needed for PPC to start their slamming “Cornflake”, all instruments berating the mosh at once, led by crashing drums and cymbals. The crowd went berserk, and likely left exhausted by a few more days of straight slamming into anything and everything at LEVITATION.
The Psychedelic Porn Crumpets began in 2014, as lead singer and guitarist Jack McEwan dabbled with solo projects, eventually collaborating with guitarist Luke Parish, bassist Luke Reynolds, and drummer Danny Caddy in all night jam sessions. McEwan tells GuitarWorld, “The way I tend to write is to work on a song and then work on something completely different the next day, going from metal to acoustic to something else entirely.” They have a strong fondness for garden gnomes.
At the merch table, a dude guffawed over how awesome the tees were and how any shirt with the word “Porn” written on it, obtained a seal of approval. How ironic, to advocate for porn with more clothing.
All photos by Michael Maly
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