Polish Club
30th June 2017
Whammy! Bar, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review and Photography by Sarah Kidd.
In a world full of often carefully choreographed performances, planned to the nth degree it is refreshing to witness simplicity in its purest form. Polish Club has just rolled into town to play two shows in NZ following a sold out tour across Australia. The Sydney based duo consisting of vocalist/guitarist Novak and John-Henry on drums have been capturing people’s hearts and minds with their debut album Alright Already.
Yes, Polish Club is a duo, and yes they make a hell of lot of noise on stage for just two blokes with a couple of instruments. But there is intelligence to their music, not only in the lyrics which can swing from good old party anthems to poignant soul searching; but in the way their songs are structured and punctuated with combinations of both chord and tempo changes. Dressed simply in black, Novak and John-Henry walk out and immediately get straight into it, interestingly enough both the drum kit and mic stand as close to the edge of the stage as possible.
‘Where you Been’, and ‘Beat Up’ are early favourites, the pair pouring out their hearts as they expend all available energy. As Novak downs a bottle of water John-Henry tells the crowd that Novak is bloated from eating burgers and three different types of chips before the show. “Fuck you John” Novak quips back without even looking at him, John-Henry laughing to himself as he once again adjusts his kit which has with each song been slowly moving away from him due to his thrashing with the sticks. This rapport that the pair have between them is one of the keys to their success, there is a genuine friendship there and an ability to communicate with barely a word in regards to what direction to take next.
There appears to be no pre-decided set list, John-Henry and Novak often quickly and quietly consulting with each other after every couple of songs making swift decisions as to what to next to play; adding to that overall spontaneous feeling. Novak’s voice pierces through the gritty blues infused rock n roll, moving from revving up the fans on tracks such as ‘Come Party’ to sending out emotional vibes on the ballads. After a bit of a back-handed compliment from a member of the audience who had obviously partaken in the wares of the bar for most of the night; John-Henry starts quipping that the band is “Mint”, Novak looking at him with a raised eyebrow as John-Henry repeats the word a few times, attempting to add a bit of New Zealand edge to it. “I think we may be drunk” John-Henry laughs resting his head on the drum kit in jest.
Novak addresses the audience advising them that they have a choice of a cover song tonight between The Strokes or Weezer, the latter eliciting more cheers from the crowd. Their rendition of ‘Undone – The Sweater Song’ was true to the original version and yet was elevated from being just another cover by their sheer tenacity. A couple of songs later (Shark Attack! And the outstanding ‘If It Was Me’; with its sudden tempo change at the 2:30 mark, something that as Novak explains in a recent interview that he often feels the need to do) and the duo ask if Flume is a dirty word here in NZ like it is in Australia as they are about to perform a cover of his track ‘Never Be Like You’. “Hopefully you will like it, and if not, well…it will be over soon” Novak laughs.
Finishing their set with ‘Able’ the boys thank everyone for coming and bid the crowd goodnight, a young female fan quickly approaching the stage and speaking with Novak, “Ah I think we are done, well maybe one more…?” Novak looks to John-Henry who has already left his kit. The young fan had requested her favourite track but had also pointed out that they had not played ‘Divided’ either. “Oh shit! We forgot to play Divided dude” Novak exclaims to John-Henry, “Should probably play our latest single right?” And with that Novak once again picked up his guitar, John-Henry joining him behind the kit and delivered such a heart-wrenching version of the track that the majority of the crowd stood stock still as Novak’s vocals soared across the room.
“Thanks and Goodnight” Novak waves, leaving his guitar on as he lays it down on the floor and exits through the curtain, John-Henry, drenched in sweat trailing behind him. Swagger, vulnerability and raw honesty – rarely do you ever get to witness such emotions on stage, making tonight truly one for the memory banks.
Were you there at Whammy! Bar for this hot and sweaty noisy rock ‘n roll show? Or have you seen Polish Club perform somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!