Gig Review: The Belair Lip Bombs (AUS) at Double Whammy

The Belair Lip Bombs at Double Whammy 

Saturday 14 September 2024 

Photographs by Josh Diprose

Full feature by Imogene Bedford

It’s another wet Saturday night on Karangahape Road, and like most weekends, I’m dragging three friends along to a gig on the promise this is just an unmissable show. But as we make our way into Double Whammy, for once it feels totally true. There’s just something about this evening that feels particularly special, and it’s not just the crowd’s penchant for sweater vests. It’s because tonight is Aussie rock band The Belair Lip Bombs Double Whammy debut.

People are already milling around as we arrive, watching as Phoebe Rings sets up. When the dreamy opening keys of Lazy Universe begin, a few stragglers run in from the smokers. The quartet’s dream pop has a strong groove to it thanks to frontwoman Crystal Choi’s background as a jazz musician. Though guitarist Simeon Kavanaugh-Vincent is absent from tonight’s show, the band’s set does not lack for harmony; Ben Locke delivers consistently excellent basslines throughout. “Fucking hell on the bass guitar,” Crystal says as they end one particularly jazzy track. 

This tender affection for one another feels true to the tone of the band’s music. Ocean is atmospheric and lightly psychedelic, while the bubbly Mandarin Tree has deceptively pensive lyrics. It’s the sort of music that’s meant to be heard live, and the band is clearly comfortable with crowd work. “Any Koreans in the crowd,” Crystal asks and gets a shout from the back in response. She smoothly segues this into the ethereal single 아스라이 Aseurai, the band’s only Korean language song. It’s a mesmerizing track that stills the room.

However, it’s during Daisy that my friend – for the third time – tells me how much they like this band. Alex Freer’s rhythmic drum work is complemented by layered synths, building to a sonically stunning outro. With a headline show at Neck of the Woods next month, I’d highly recommend catching them while you can.

After a cheeky Parrotdog break, Bella Rafflyn’s set kicks off as she tells us to move closer in. She laughs as we oblige and shuffle forward like naughty school children. It’s not surprising she is so comfortable on stage: she’s been the lead singer of local indie outfit Coast Arcade since 2021. The band recently released pop-punk track Baited, and her solo work adopts a similarly grungy musical direction. The guitar tones of her third song, She, are reminiscent of the Smashing Pumpkins, while Head Over Heels leans more into a Blondshell-esque sound.

Yet these comparisons don’t do Bella any real justice. Her first cover of the night is a stripped back version of Tove Lo’s club classic Habits (Get High). Her vocals draw out the melancholy of the song’s lyrics, and as the room sings along, it feels entirely her own. Rawness is also the undercurrent of her single Overdrive, a sensitive alternative rock track that evokes memories of situationships past. Her lyricism is impressively authentic and very effecting for its vulnerability.

It's this genuineness that makes Bella a singularly enigmatic presence. She throws kicks off the stage and chats shit about her Tiktok feed. “No one seems to be on the same algorithm as me, but I fucking love cucumber,” she says, referencing a viral cucumber salad recipe. The ease with which she can shift from serious to silly makes her a very dynamic performer. You can’t help but envision her on a much bigger stage, like the one she will take this Sunday as she opens for The Beths at Hollywood Cinema.

She shouts them out before her second cover of the night, a mashup of songs by two of Aotearoa’s iconic female vocalists, Liz Stokes and Bic Runga. Having seen her perform Little Death and Sway at The Tuning Fork last month, my friends and I have been waiting for this. I’m strangely giddy when she points to us and sings; could this be a bragging right I will recall in a few years when she is a major star? Watching her close with Corduroy Boy (another indictment of emotionally unavailable Indie boys), I would put money on it.

In between sets, my friend tells a stranger that I’m writing the 95bFM gig review. They ask cheekily if I’m going to start the review by mentioning the rain. I stare at the bullet point “really rainy night” on my notes and cringe. Luckily for me The Belair Lip Bombs begin to tinker around on stage and distract us from further chit-chat. The Melbourne band’s debut album Lush Life has been on my heavy rotation for months. It’s a record that ebbs from jangle pop to post-punk to garage rock whilst still making each influence sound fresh.

Opening with Look the Part, the band creates a moody atmosphere. Mike Bradvica’s guitarwork is angsty and insistent, the perfect accompaniment to the tracks sense of anxiety. “I can’t help myself, I can’t take myself,” frontwoman Maisie Everett sings. Her lyrics are both broodily self-conscious and entirely earnest: completely at odds with her laidback vibe. Unmistakably Australian, her vocals have shades of Courtney Barnett’s inflections on the softer song Things That You Did. 

The slacker rock vibe doesn’t stop the crowd from getting amongst. Even the most straight-faced punters are nodding their heads when Bradvica and bassist Jimmy Droughton close out the energetic Gimme Gimme. Each song is short, tight, and propulsive, every member of the band having at least one electric feature; though the strings are the focus on many of the tracks, it’s Daniel Devlin’s drums at the core of up-tempo Stay or Go and melodic Lucky Nine. But the album’s fuzzy opening track Say My Name showcases the band’s potential the best, pairing plaintively romantic lyrics with a relentlessly upbeat rhythm. 

In true rock show style, another friend returns from throwing up in the bathroom as The Belair Lip Bombs come to a subdued but powerful close. I reemerge onto St. Kevins Arcade with the sense I’ve just witnessed something important. It’s the same feeling I had seeing Royel Otis at Nest Fest, like I’d been let in on a really, really, good secret. Trust me: listening to this band for the first time, you’ll feel luckier than you ever will buying a Lotto ticket. 

Check out The Belair Lip Bombs 'Look The Part' below. 

Thanks to The Slack Agency for having us!