Oz rockers throw the biggest party at Java Rockin’ Land

Rock n’ roll theatrics: The Vines’ vocalist Craig Nicholls throw his guitar in the air during the show.JP/Ricky Yudhistira

Australian rock bands The Vines and Wolfmother could not stand further apart.

The Vines, a band from Hurstville, New South Wales, traffic in three-chord guitars, miles of distortions and occasional jagged solos that recall the glory days of Grunge.

The band’s guitar-paying lead singer Craig Nicholls displays his self-loathing and passive aggressiveness (two emotions usually reserved for Kurt Cobain, the lionized leader of Seattle greatest band Nirvana) like a badge of honor.

And the fact that Nicholls suffered from an acute anxiety problem — which at times threatened to break up the band — only makes the Nirvana comparison more apt.

Nicholls himself does not mind the comparison. In a 2004 interview, he said: “I first heard Nirvana when I was around 14. I knew it was not the Spice Girls. It was serious. They’re like The Beatles — all their albums are great.”

It also helps that Nicholls is gifted with the same primal scream and howler monkey vocals perfected by Cobain. (The promise of a new Nirvana, elevated the Vines to a status never before achieved by other Australian bands. The Vines graced the cover of Rolling Stones magazine in 2002, with a feature story portraying Nicholls as a troubled rock star on the verge of insanity).

The only difference is that if Cobain had a penchant for writing vague lyrics like “I miss the comfort in being sad” or “Meat-eating orchids forgive no one just yet,” Nicholls is more literal about his emotions with lyrics like “I wanna get free,” or “Come on, f#*k the world.”

The Sydney-based Wolfmother stands on the opposite end of the spectrum.

The band played the kind of music that would not be out of place in stadiums throughout the 1970s. Guitarist-cum-vocalist Andrew Stockdale has mastered the craft of writing songs that draw from the excess and bombast of the 1970s classic rock — galloping riffs, grandiose organ, lengthy guitar solos long gone in the wake of the onslaught of Grunge.

But if Kyuss or Queens of the Stone Age infused wit and a truckload of irony in their rework classic rock – so that it can be relevant to indie kids and hipsters — Wolfmother has an honest take on 70s rock, with no other purpose than having a big, dumb, fun time.

Stockdale — whose skills on the fretboard have won him comparisons with Tony Iommi of the Black Sabbath — possesses Robert Plant’s howl and wail, and Jack White’s yelp, qualities that make him one of the most recognizable vocalists in post-Millenium modern rock.

The band’s tongue-in-cheek take on classic rock is so earnest that music fans mostly believe this is how rock music is supposed to be played. Lyrically, Stockdale dwells on fairy tales and imagery from the medieval era, making it difficult, especially for rock snobs, to second-guess what he really wants to say.

“The biggest challenge in rock these days is to remain true to who you really are,” Stockdale said in a pre-gig interview. It is not immediately clear what he was trying to pinpoint with that statement.

But whatever their take on rock, both bands managed to achieve what bigger bands in the festival failed to achieve in the 2010 Java Rockin’Land festival, throwing the biggest party and bringing the most fun to rock fans who gathered at Carnival Beach, Ancol, North Jakarta, over the weekend.

With the Smashing Pumpkins managing to irk even their die-hard fans for their business-like approach to their first gig in Jakarta, and the pride of Wales Stereophonics turning their headlining routines with a limited amount of attractions, the frenetic show of The Vines and the high-octane gig of Wolfmother came as a saving grace for rock fans.

And it seems that over time, Nicholls has managed to deal with his anxiety problems. Except for the times he launched into his larynx-shredding howl, he looked like a regular rock star eager to please the fans who had paid to attend the festival.

Even when fans shouted a number of The Vines old hits like Get Free, Winning Days, or Ride, Nicholls politely turned them down by saying: “We’ll get to that after this.”

And he certainly knew how to work the crowd by opening the show with upbeat lesser-known songs ridden with feedbacks and three-chord riffing that could fire up even casual fans of the band.

And by the time the band got to their most famous song, Ms. Jackson, a cover of hip-hop duo Outkast’s 2001 hit, concertgoers knew they had joined a big celebration of rock music.

But more than a celebration, for many of The Vines’ younger fans, the music Nicholls wrote is a powerful means of release, a catharsis for their angst and anger, especially in songs like F@#k the World, Get Free and Outtheway.

These young fans took to heart the lyrics from Get Free: I’m gonna get free/Ride into the sun/She never loved me — some singing along with dewy eyes.

The biggest attraction that night — and one with the biggest cathartic power both for fans and Nicholls  — came at the end of the show right after Nicholls wrapped up the closing song F@#k the World.

It may have only been theatrics, but the way Nicholls destroyed his gear was a rare sight in rock concerts this days, especially after the passing of Kurt Cobain and Pete Townshend of the Who’s retirement.

Soon after the conclusion of F@#k the World and the last note of distortion from his guitar faded, Nicholls threw his guitar in the air before smashing it onto the stage, throwing what was left of the instrument at the drum kit of drummer Hamish Rosser. The guitarless lead singer then walked off the stage without saying a word.

No one screamed for an encore after this. Not only because fans could not ask for more, but because the Grammy-winning Wolfmother had already kicked off their performance for the night at the festival’s main stage.

Fans quickly realized their money had been well spent. Wolfmother delivered a big rock spectacle indulging in all the excesses prevalent in the seventies. In fact, Stockdale came close to overdoing it many times during the show.

Stockdale has embraced almost all the clichés from 1970s classic rock: the lengthy solo, even the Rob Tyner’s afro hair. But he remained a modest front man, literally standing on the side of the stage, letting the bass player and piano man Ian Peres take the center stage with his leaps, jumps and incessant abuse of the Hammond Organ.

But, the mild-mannered Stockdale is also a charismatic leader whose guitar licks, sprints across the stage, palm-up gestures exhorting the audience to applaud and effective speech, never fail to impress the crowd.

The band as a whole was so at ease on stage — despite the band’s thin back catalogue — that it was not afraid to pay homage to classic rock by playing a rendition of The Who’s Baba O’Rielly and The Doors’ Riders on the Storm, which turned out to be the highlight of their Java Rockin’Land performance.

As Peres was goofing off when he started banging that famous intro piano riff from Baba O’Rilley, all festival goers went wild, singing along to the massive Teenage Wasteland chorus — perfectly summing up what a rock festival should be about.