Review by Brendan Jones
I was introduced to the Clouds thanks to Rage playing the Clouds Soul Eater video 3 weeks ago. I was impressed with the breath-of-fresh-air sound of the song. The video was pretty good too - lucky I have it on tape! Lots of wine cask bladders (like on the cover of Loot) being put to various uses.
Anyway, after Andrew Raphael gave Loot a good wrap, I bought it last week, and needless to say was quite impressed with the variety Clouds managed to squeeze onto a 4 track EP. In a word - great! Loot is currently #2 in the independent charts, with Cloud Factory at 25, but has been in the charts for 21 weeks!!
So, when the local independent music rags (Drum Media, OTS etc..) advertised a free Clouds gig at HMV's mid city Magastore at 1pm on Saturday, I thought I'd go along to sample more.
About 200 people moved into the store to hear the set and in summary I'm extremely impressed with this band. They are fresh, have a great sound, are not pretentious, and really enjoy playing. Also, for a band relatively early in their development, they have a truly remarkable amount of really good original material.
The free concert at HMV lasted 50 minutes (were you there Andrew?) and they played at least 16 tracks, but being so wrapped in the performance I didn't keep count. Also, not being familiar with all their material, I can't recall the set in its entirety, but here goes:
Fear The Moon
Heartless
Wednesday Night
Foxes Wedding
Renee's Problems
Anthem
Dive
4pm
Hieronymous
Immorta
Cloud Factory
Lucy's Eyes
Sweetest Thing
Soul Eater
Their freshness was especially apparent when they came to play Renee's Problems and Jodi (lead vocalist) couldn't find the chord on her guitar, so she apologised to the audience and leapt into Foxes Wedding. After that song, she had another go, to which the drummer, Stuart, commented the song "only has one chord" (much mirth ensued on and off stage). Jodi found it, and they got into Renee's Problems.
No pretension, just four people having a really good time. There was the occasional wrong note or off beat, but hell, what do you expect for nothing? What can I say to close off? These guys are simply brilliant. Buy their CDs. Go see their shows. Enjoy.
Review by Brendan Jones
The Clouds and the Falling Joys played the Great Northern Hotel last night in Chatswood (Sydney). About 350 in-the-know fans witnessed the event - a great double bill.
The Clouds kicked off at 9pm and played a great 70 minute set, around about 20 original songs, although I'm sure that I heard one that stole the riff from "Wild Thing" (Anthem)
The Chatswood audience seemed to be a little uneducated about the Clouds, hence only the hard-cores at the front (including Andrew) really got into Dive, Cloud Factory, Soul Eater and the like. I'll leave it to Andrew to post the set list, I can only remember the track names to about a dozen of the songs, even though I'm fast becoming their #4 fan.
Andrew in fact set me up - after about 5 songs, Tricia asked if there was a "Brendan Jones in the audience". They then dedicated Dive to me. Caught me completely off guard, but impressed the hell out of my girlfriend! Got me a back-stage pass too!
Tricia also had a nice touch by wearing a Falling Joys T shirt.
The Clouds set covered most of what they played at HMV 2 weeks ago and more. The mixing was a little rough, with Tricia's voice straining to come through, but Jodi's was in fine form and the guitar work was excellent, with lots of variety, good hard edge, and I didn't even catch any fluffs this time.
The only disappointment was they didn't seem to be enjoying themselves quite as much this time around. Hard tour??
So, if you haven't seen the Clouds yet or heard their stuff - be daring. It's good.
The Falling Joys came on at about 10.30 and also played for 70 minutes, with a two-song encore. My girlfriend is a huge Joys' fan and this was the highlight for her. They played most of Wish List (Shot In Europe, Jennifer, You're In A Mess and Lock It being mandatory) with the nice touch of getting the Clouds up on stage for Lock It which really got the audience in for a big sing-a-long.
They also played some earlier material including their first big single Shelter (a huge hit with the audience and the last before the encore), as well as a new song Incinerator.
The Joys' arrangement was a little tighter than the Clouds, and the mixing a bit more polished, but I think that's to be expected.
So a great show all up. I think they've still got quite a few more dates to go (Andrew posted a list recently) so if you want to see two fine up-and-coming independent bands, do yourself a favour!
Review by Scott A. Miller
This review appeared in issue #104 of Consumable, 1 April 1997
If you look at the Clouds of Sydney, Australia, long enough you can see anything you want - quirky pop band, grrrl punks, or metal heads. The Clouds can be light and fluffy, dark and ominous or just a little silly.
Collage is a collection of old demos, songs from the band's debut Penny Century, and material from the EPs Beetroot and Aquamarine. These songs have made the band a staple on the alternative charts down under since 1990 and it makes you wonder why this four-piece hasn't hit in America as often, especially in an era when practically every female-fronted band from Boston to Seattle was getting a listen and a web site.
The CD opens with the driving Aquamarine, which highlights the band's penchant for sonic assault, particularly through David Easton's guitar work. It's a nice song but it doesn't prepare you for the second track, Bubble Baby.
Opening with a thumping mid-tempo drum beat, Bubble Baby is squashed by a few hammered organ chords, then rebuilt from the ground up as guitar, bass, incidental percussion, lead vocals, background vocals and finally the opening drum riff are layered in one at a time. About 3:19 later, you realize the song never stopped building for a single second, and that the two-beat "break" right before Jodie Phillis wails the word "sin" was just an accent mark.
The third song, Immorta, again stars Easton's guitar, this time in an opening riff that reaches into your chest cavity and vibrates its way up the back of your head. The harmonies and interplay of lead vocalist Phillis and bassist/vocalist Patricia Young float across the top of the guitar action like, well, clouds.
In fact, each song seems to bring a new approach to the standard guitar-bass-drums-vocal lineup. If there's one staple to each of the disc's 12 tracks, it's the blending of Easton's ferocious guitar with the nimble vocals of Phillis and Young. So Far Away and the Jimmy Webb classic Wichita Lineman showcase the vocals at their prettiest. The massive Boy of Air, complete with John Bonham-like drumming by Raphael Whittingham, answers the musical question "what would it sound like if Sinead O'Connor got off her high horse to front a metal band?"
This is the second American album by the Clouds and it proves the band is as talented as any alt-rock creation in the states. The band is back in Australia touring and working on new material. If Collage is any indication, this may be the calm before a much-welcome storm.
Review by Michael Dwyer
This review appeared on mz.com - The online music guide
It's five years since Penny Century, three since Thunderhead - an eternity either way in rock and roll terms. Lose a guitarist (Dave Easton), add a guitarist (Ben Nightingale), go a few rounds in the US industry thresher and you might be forgiven for expecting a new band altogether in the backwash. Naaah. The Clouds' return comes in deliberate rather than giant steps, wielding the ol' thunder stick freely and tying tight rhythmic knots around Jodi Phillis and Patricia Young's increasingly improbable tunes. Yer snappy crossover single, it must be said, doesn't appear to be a high priority.
The main exceptions come from the sweet corner. Colourblind glides beautifully on an ethereal choral arrangement and hallucinatory images; Baby's Arms proceeds likewise on a murmuring bass and the singers' trademark intertwining harmonies. Cinammon is the real freak, a warped bossanova which opens into the album's strongest chorus and then a bizarre swingin' brass passage.
In the rather more dominant heavy corner, Here Now and Down From The Sky reveal their treasures fast, others (Anything, Shiva, Bonjour) fumble theirs in twisted structures and stormy dynamics which are better described as interesting than really engaging. From a pop perspective, Futura's flaw is a tendency to waffle in the melody department, pursuing complexity as an end in itself.
But hey, pop can eat Raph Whittingham's shorts, evidently. After a long, hard stint in the room of mirrors, the Clouds have chosen a more challenging ride. Hang on if you can.
Brian Chladil, Smash Artists
OK, so here it is, the official version. The band are breaking up, they've decided to call it a day because they feel that in the last seven years they have achieved just about all there is to achieve. They have been around the world a couple of times, or maybe more... the band cannot see another few years of slogging it out would make alot of difference to where they are now. Basically, they want to end on a high, and do not want to become the "alternative music version of The Angels".
There is no musical differences, no in-fighting. They remain the best of friends, and have no intention of never working together again. They will be going their seperate ways initially however, to explore life outside The Clouds.
So there you have it. The future? Well, the band are contractually bound to deliver a "Best Of" album to Polydor, so they may reform to promote a release, should Polydor decide to release it. They may also reform in the future