Performed 8 December 2023, Botany View Hotel
It was after a long day of meetings at the University that I made my way to the Botany View Hotel in St Peters, arriving two hours early to have a few drinks and to watch the Bourke’s band - supporting The Kindness band for the launch of their EP, Wasteloves, and were opened by solo act, Marno.
Bourke’s were one of the finalists in the 2023 University of Sydney Battle of the Bands, organised by the Union. They have a fun, truly Australian indie rock sound, with a strong stage presence and are well-rehearsed - you can listen for yourself with their recently released single, Run Away. The band is made up of four students from the Conservatorium and UTS:
Dylan Chope (Composition II) - lead guitar and singer
Adam Crutcher (Music Education III - classical trumpet performance) - drums
Martin O’Flynn (Music Education III - contemporary music practice) - lead singer and rhythm guitar
Adam Powell (Environment Science III, UTS) - bass guitar
You can really hear the diversity of musical backgrounds and expertise that each member of Bourke’s brings to their music. Over their entire set you could see they were enjoying their time on stage, with their sufficient practice allowing them to focus less on getting the right notes and instead making a show for the attendees. The fun smiles and interactions of the band members truly displayed the beauty of live music as a medium to bring people together; the venue was packed with the audience having plenty of chats and enjoying the band.
Bourke’s set had a great variety of songs, and had a nice flow between different speeds and textures. The band truly understands how to create variety - melodically, harmonically, and rhythmically - within what may be perceived as boring 4-chord cycles. O’Flynn only announced titles every three songs or so, which meant less disruption to the music and helped with pacing. Their work on rehearsing these songs meant that the band was consistently together, even with shifts in tempo - particularly in the faster solo section started by the rhythm guitar halfway through the third song, Navy Blue.
Their music had a few fun bits, particularly a repeating harmonic exchange between the two guitars in Toute ma vie, the second song of their set. Translating to “all my life”, I loved the song’s French gypsy jazz-feeling - I could see myself listening to this whilst sitting on the Mediterranean with an Aperol spritz. What You Deserve, the sixth song, was a fun classic rock song in typical anti-establishment pub rock fashion, condemning Robodebt and the impacts it had on working-class people, as Bourke’s “don’t trust the government”.
The eighth song of their set was a cover of The Beatles’ Across the Universe, but it seemed they didn’t feel as comfortable with it as it wasn’t one of their own songs. The lead guitar was a tad stunted in delivering its broken chords, and their tempo changes weren’t as strong as in other songs.
The vocals were sometimes overpowered by the guitars or drums, but this didn’t prevent me from hearing O’Flynns very Australian voice. His singing was well-supported and mostly consistent across his range, and had good dynamic and timbral shifts as the emotions changed with the songs; but he was slightly ill on the night, so the very lowest part of his range was more breathy and speechlike.
It wasn’t just O’Flynn singing though; it was for the band’s fifth song that Crutcher, the drummer, took up the microphone, with Chope replacing him on the kit. The Sound - written by Crutcher - was a slower song that was placed well to break up some of the louder songs, and reflected the versatility of musical skills by the band members.
Unfortunately, lacklustre sound quality and mixing seemed to be a persistent issue throughout the night, meaning certain nuances may have been missed due to the smaller space and cramped stage (i.e. drums too close to the singer). This wasn’t a major issue for attendees, as the generally good stage presence and quality of music made up for those concerns. The night was truly one that captured the nature of pub music: bringing people together to have a fun time.
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