Total Control goes in and out of form at VIVID Festival for devoted yet passive crowd

MELBOURNE garage punk bang Total Control was hot and cold, going in and out of form at VIVID Festival for a devoted yet passive crowd, writes Mikey Cahill.

A FRIEND of mine once described how he “enjoyed” listening to Melbourne garage punk band Total Control’s second album, Typical System.

“It makes me wanna smoke cigarettes and drink coffee and get super anxious. I love it,” he said, unexpectedly. “And I’m genuinely concerned for the singer.”

The viewing experience at a Total Control gig is a slightly similar trip.

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Vocalist Dan Stewart is so pent-up and sure/unsure of himself you wanna hug the guy.

Early on at the patchy gig, Stewart could have told us to stand up out of our seats and move the conversation to the active rather than the passive. He didn’t.
It was a missed opportunity.

The first time I saw a lead singer corral the crowd was at Push Over in 1996 when Something For Kate was playing.

Mikey Young of Total Control laying down the licks law at Sydney Opera House.

The second track in, then-morose, now-content giant Paul Dempsey looked at the stationary punters and said to us: “You’ll enjoy this a lot more if you move.”

Then his band kicked into Dean Martin (“Wrong answer, wrong answer”), everyone took his advice and started grooving and moshing. It improved the experience exponentially.

Solange did it two nights later in the Sydney Opera House’s main hall: “If you need to stand up, let's not question it.” Same result (sans mosh).

Producer du jour (seven years running) Mikey Young was the most active member in the room, his leg shook violently as he tore through his guitar lines on Flesh War. The lyrics “At the breaking of the day” caused a few to break through from their seats, a granola-like cluster of eight fans determined to have their moment.

We should have all followed their lead.

Total Control’s Dan Stewart admiring his bandmate’s work.

Dan Stewart laughing at the system.

Al Montfort’s comical Beetlejuice tempo changes had his band chuckling away, the blue and red lights pinpricking through the dry ice vibe from the smoke machine. Every second song was good.

Laughing At The System was a yelping kick in the ghoulies, a proper punk moment, Stewart nearly let himself get into it by maniacally laughing at us … then he second-guessed himself and stopped. “Give us an E-sharp,” yelled a fan.

“Spitting on foreign lands,” spat the always-scarfed Stewart on Glass — Can meets suburban ennui. His mic stand stood at half mast, like our Australian pride. Dan did a brief robot dance and then again second-guessed himself when he could have taken us with him.

Stewart blew two kisses — the first laboured, the second natural — then said “thanks, this is our last song,” as they mechanically grunted into their best up-tempo Black Spring and we all finally stood up and shook our legs violently just as Young had done 45 minutes earlier.

Regardless of my hot/cold take on the show, you can enjoy the whole thing here, standing/sitting, it’s up to you:

Total Control and Friends, Sydney Opera House for VIVID Festival, June 1, 2018.

3 stars

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