GIG REVIEW: GUM's Psychedelic Odyssey

Words by Emma Newbury

Perth-based psych rocker GUM, a moniker for the multi-instrumentalist Jay Watson of Tame Impala and Pond fame, took the sound of synths and poetically wet vocals for a lap around the country, sowing the seeds of new space-age album Saturnia into the Aus-music dialogue. 


Given the artist’s ever-full schedule across multiple bands, a GUM solo tour is a rare treat that hasn’t been seen in Australia in quite a while (try about 6 years). All psyched up from his first show in hometown Fremantle, GUM took to the stage of The Brightside on Thursday 14th September to give the Brisbane fans their dose of dreamy 80s soundscape. 

The night started with Bris-based artist Scraps, weaving her home-made concoction of synth pop and whimsical vocals around the room. The artist’s late-running set time allowed for more punters flowing into the venue at a later time to catch the end of her set, however this meant the soundcheck and starting of GUM was extremely late, with the 9:20pm scheduled start being held all the way back to 10pm - not ideal on a work night. 

After 40 minutes of anticipation, an ear-catching voltage of low synth beckoned the audience out of their picnic tables outside and into the old chapel, like a school-bell calling in class. Inside, musicians James Ireland (POND, Ginoli) was controlling such synths, Chris Wright (Methyl Ethel) was keeping the rhythm on drums, while lead GUM took over guitar duties and, of course, preaching to the choir. POND bandmate “Shiny Joe” Ryan could also be spotted helping out with tech specs as he had been also seen doing amongst the past year’s Australian Tame Impala shows. 

The beckoning synth marked the start of song Introduction from 2018 album The Underdog, before transitioning into GUM’s most popular hit on Spotify: Glamorous Damage.  Continuing on with some of the oldest works from the GUM collection was Elafonissi Blue, but this live version had a bit more funk and panache than the delayed and metallic sounding original. 

Marking the sixth studio album for the artist, GUM enthralled the team at Alterwave earlier in the month all about what the new project Saturnia was set to look like:

“The new album is called Saturnia, it’s an ancient term for lead poisoning, which I became a bit obsessed with when I moved into my new house, in a paranoid sort of way. It’s also an incredible town in Italy, full of natural spring baths, as well as a reference to Saturn of course, the coolest planet.”

Watson stated that over the years he had found it easier to keep the creative wheel turning, and the abstract lyricism, punchy drums and psychedelic keys mixed with a new element of jazz on the new Friday-released album is a testament to this. This psych-jazz colour was particularly visible as the singer dipped into new track Would It Pain You To See? 

While the show promised a great start, the audience wasn’t really sold on this as a spectacle of tech problems cropped up, perhaps due to the rushed sound check. GUM’s vocals were very washed out against the rhythmic background; you could barely make out the lyrics or one-liners the artist said between songs due to the extreme wetness in vox. 

The band also didn’t really hint to the crowd about when to expect big solos and impressive feats; there was little anticipation and not really much big in terms of showmanship to keep us on our toes. This could be a maturing and growing out of the need to be crazy, and glare and wave around like a drunk early-20s band might do. 

The crowd was also not providing much in terms of engagement to fuel the band either. Watson described the crowd as more civilised than what he’s seen at other Brisbane shows in the past, viewing us as a “buck wild” bunch of punters. 

Mid set was where the atmosphere picked up and the band fully utilized the sound system, erupting into an infectious loudness including some really good guitar solos from GUM as he gained confidence with the crowd and vice versa. The traction snowballed through tracks Gemini and Ophelia, gave us a slight headbanging breather as we opted for swaying during Couldn’t See Past my Ego, and then we were officially at a high by upbeat track The Blue Marble. The crowd really got amongst TBM, as they rightfully should have. The track sounded great, and even people sitting down were head banging and tapping their feet in time with Wright’s fills. Lots of phone cameras went up at this point, and GUM’s guitar solo ripped the roof to shreds. 

With the night marking the 21st gig as a solo artist for Watson, we were enthralled to finally see the set accurately displaying all this hard work. Anaesthetised Lesson was particularly tight, and Wright shined with his meticulously fast tempo-keeping. We were greeted by another debut from Saturnia in the form of Race to The Air, which kept building up and up before the flood banks broke and streamed into The Underdog hit After All (From The Sun)

The audience had been snake-charmed to the point where the classic encore beg of “one more song” saturated the room, and a stoked Watson reappeared, seeming surprised. With nothing prepared for an encore, the musician gave us the first ever live version of Music is Bigger Than Hair  (Freo, you missed out). The other bandmates watched GUM croon on through some beautiful falsettos, working out when to slot into the piece. The improvised performance was one of their best for the night, for it showed how authentically talented the three musos were, each excelling together and across different WA outfits. 

“My name is Jay” Watson said, and that was it for a rare look into the alter-ego that is GUM.


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