Check these guys out.

They're an aussie band from Brisbane which I've been following for a while now, and they're pretty popular among the aussie underground scene.

Their latest album Final Conversation of Kings is uploaded to their myspace music player.

As a Brisbane dweller, I must assure everyone that this band is genuinely awful. They started out as a nu-metal act, but they've made a concerted effort to change their sound to something a little more trendy, now that nu-metal is no longer a commercial prospect.

For a Brisbane hard rock band that isn't terrible, I would recommend the Giants of Science.

quote:

Originally posted by youandwhosearmy:
As a Brisbane dweller, I must assure everyone that this band is genuinely awful. They started out as a nu-metal act, but they've made a concerted effort to change their sound to something a little more trendy, now that nu-metal is no longer a commercial prospect.

For a Brisbane hard rock band that isn't terrible, I would recommend the Giants of Science.

Geese, dude! You’d think that even just a little local love would of been a given.

Have you listened to either Final Conversation of Kings or Imago? If you have and didn’t like either then fair enough, it’s not for everyone. But to brand The Butterfly Effect “genuinely awful” seems pretty harsh when even just an appreciation of the performances by all members on both of their recent albums surely warrants some merit.

While it is true that their early stuff had a bit of a Grungy/Nu-metal sound (- rap) which never massively grabbed me, the band has since then evolved a much more original and progressive sound that really satisfies.

I sincerely mean no offence, but given the arrangements and song lengths that have been dabbled with on both albums, your claim that the bands evolution was some attempt at commercial success seems like a bit of a pot shot to undermine them as artists, and hints that maybe you haven’t really listened to either album, otherwise we must have a very different ideas of what is considered commercial/trendy; granted, a few of their songs are more commercially appealable than others, but none of it’s commercial like Thirsty Merc or anything, and given the obvious instrumental skill of the band, they easily could have gone and written a bunch of albums riddled only with generic verse, chorus, verse, chorus, 3 chord, 4/4, 3 minute songs, and raked in the cash if they wanted to.

Final Conversation of Kings, with the exception of “Window and the Watcher,” is anything but commercial/an attempt at following trends. It’s probably their most experimental and progressive album yet, and one of the most interestingly original rock sounds to come out of the aussie scene since whenever for me. The first track on the album “Worlds on Fire” (so far my favorite track) goes through multiple nicely flowed changes over the period of roughly 7 minutes, and features a really nice trumpet sections right before the end of the song.

Pretty much all their Bass and Guitar work comes together nicely to bring some really awesome melodies; I really love the sound they produce together, it has a very distinct signature. Also, Clint Boge’s lyrics are delivered with a nice amount of dramatic impact, lots of falsetto, and interesting harmonies; he's really come a long way since their first EP. If you already haven’t, give it a fair listen, there’s some great stuff in there.

Also, I checked out the Giants Of Science on Myspace. If the band I was looking at were the guys you were talking about (there were multiple bands with that name) then they're pretty damn good. I listened to all their songs, I particularly liked “Dead Sea” and “Sisters,” a rock rendition of the Eurythmics – “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves.”

In all honesty, the originality, memorability, arrangements, melodies, lyrics, technical prowess and over all performances on both Imago and Final Conversation of Kings, are at the very least on par with the material by Giants Of Science, though obviously varying in style. However, The Butterfly Effect’s recent albums are a bit more to my tastes.

Sounds like you're a big fan, so I'm sorry if I've slagged off your favourite band.

In my opinion they've just gone from trying to sound like Linkin Park to trying to sound like Muse, and neither is a good thing.

When I say they're genuinely awful, I don't mean they're amateurish. They have a pretty slick sound. I mean they're genuinely awful in the same way that Muse are genuinely awful.

Each to their own, each to their own.

It’s all good Thanks for the recommendation, and keep em coming.

The Butterfly Effect are not my favorite band, but they’re probably my favorite aussie band of the past 2 years releases.

I've only given it one listen through but it's pretty decent. I kind of agree with the natural progression of the band, the early stuff I wasn't very fond of at all, but I was quite into Imago for awhile there. I'm sure this will grow on me.

Yeah, i gotta agree with youandwhosearmy.

They're awful. I met them once at a songwriting workshop/industry intro thingy and all nice guys, but how they got signed when others were demoing far stronger material...ah, what are you gonna do...

but then I care for very little coming out of Briz. There hasn't been a decent scene since the mid '80's.

quote:

Originally posted by Kulturtrager:
Yeah, i gotta agree with youandwhosearmy.

They're awful. I met them once at a songwriting workshop/industry intro thingy and all nice guys, but how they got signed when others were demoing far stronger material...ah, what are you gonna do...

Sorry to see you’re not a fan, Ish.

The band released their self titled debut EP in 2001. It received frequent airplay on Triple J which led to nation-wide popularity, and exceeded sales of over 10,000 copies. They were eventually picked up by Roadshow Music due to the continuous and growing success they had achieved; in short, people just liked their music.

Roadshow Music is an independent label. I don’t think The Butterfly Effect have ever been signed with any of the Big 4, or any subsidiary of the Big 4, except for distribution of their releases in other countries.

quote:

Originally posted by Kulturtrager:
but then I care for very little coming out of Briz. There hasn't been a decent scene since the mid '80's.

Pfft to Brisbane Come down to Melbourne, mate. That's where the scene is at.

quote:

Originally posted by -[Johno]-:
I've only given it one listen through but it's pretty decent. I kind of agree with the natural progression of the band, the early stuff I wasn't very fond of at all, but I was quite into Imago for awhile there. I'm sure this will grow on me.

Honestly, when they first uploaded it on their Myspace, I was a little disappointed, but it has really grown on me after several listens.

Yeah mate, I never got into them, but they seem genuine and passionate, so that counts for something.

And doubly yes to Melbourne being more the scene right now, although Brisbane has given the world two of the greatest acts ever to walk the Earth; namely The Go-Betweens and The Saints.

In fact, I could probably live for 40 years on a tropical island with only their records and some coconuts and I would have all I need.

Is it me or is "Butterfly Effect" becoming as cliche as, say, in a movie whenever someone starts talking about prime numbers, it has to be explained as if the audience is made up of complete idiots.

"Hmmm...there seems to be a pattern here. Yes, wait, could it be? Aha. It is. Look here. Prime numbers!"

"What's that you say?"

"Prime numbers. Any number that is only divisible by itself."

"You're sooooooooo smart."

"Just elementary math, actually."

"Hehe. Ok, now that we have the pattern, we should be able to solve this case, right?"

Truth be told, I don't think Brisbane or Melbourne have much to speak of in the way of a scene right now. I agree Brisbane hasn't done much since the mid 80s. Not that it hasn't produced a few good bands in that time, though.

quote:

Originally posted by youandwhosearmy:
Truth be told, I don't think Brisbane or Melbourne have much to speak of in the way of a scene right now. I agree Brisbane hasn't done much since the mid 80s. Not that it hasn't produced a few good bands in that time, though.

I guess it depends on what you mean by “scene.” There are some really popular acts that are local to Melbourne like: Rook, Kisschasy, Trial Kennedy, Freestate, Mammal, Hinge, Bushido, Sleep Parade, however they may not be your cup of tea.

Apart from the bands mentioned above, the amount of venues in Melbourne that are bookings shows every week with original rock acts is off tap. Based only on my list of venue contacts alone, I’d say anywhere between 50 – 70 venues every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday night have got shows on with roughly 3 – 4 original and independent acts, per night. So the scene is actually quite massive; thousands of original acts, an abundance of venues, rehearsal studios with 20 plus rooms all over the metropolitan area that are packed out 4 nights week. It’s really something quite awesome, and it seems to be growing.

Hehe… I remember listening to Dave Grohl talking on the radio a while back when he was here in Melbourne. He referred to the Melbourne scene as “the next Seattle” although I’m sure he was just blowing smoke up our ass.

quote:

Originally posted by Super'Shed:

I guess it depends on what you mean by “scene.”

I meant the quality of music being produced. I know there's no shortage of quantity coming out of either city.

Melbourne has always been far better than Brisbane as far as venues are concerned, which on the face of it is obvious re: population...however...

There was a lovely period in the early to mid '90's where a hungry band could get regular gigs all over town.
The decline came in a rush. Almost overnight, it seemed that to be in a band was to be reduced to playing a couple of pubs in the suburbs with a crowd looking for Achy Breaky Heart.
Live music went chronically out of fashion.

Happily the climate is much kinder these days, and the ingenuity of promoters and the tenacity of Brisbanians to not have yuppies overtake the Valley with their wails of 'too much noise and grime' cannot be underestimated.

So it goes.