Those of you who have committed the requisite good deed to hold Mashemon’s album Disposal Music in your paws will know it’s a good listen, and those who paid the requisite sum to enter this benefit gig for Catalyst Media’s Nerve Magazine saw a performance more than worthy of the good deed first committed to possess their music. The normally sedate surrounds of Next To Nowhere, the subterranean social centre underneath Bold Street’s News From Nowhere, was packed with people young and old, regular and less familiar, sober or not so sober who gave the space an atmosphere all of its own, and a magic as infectious as the most catching disease you can stomach to think of as you read this!
Lights were dimmed, music was played and after hours of anticipation and rumour, Mashemon appeared on stage in some pretty dapper looking suits guitars in hand and ready to assault the crowds with their intelligent music and sharp yet beautiful lyrics. The majority of the set was drawn from their aforementioned good-deeds obtained album and the crowd were surrounding the band at every moment during the set, revelling in the activist fuelled melodies of band components Rocky and Ronny. The dynamic sound of their set filled the area with their polished anarchist energy and one of the best things about the set was their use of multi-media. The animated films playing on the screen just behind them were fascinating to watch and really added a cinematic dimension to the performance that was appreciated especially by this reviewer.
One of Mashemon’s best qualities is the fact that they are brilliant performers, innovative and making the whole thing as natural as eating cereal for breakfast. The duo are as convincing on the stage as off the stage, and have a gift for translating the urgent, intellectual energy of their recorded output easily in the live format. There was definitely a hint of magic in their performance and songs such as religion questioning Brick, with its killer opening statement of “God is watching… worked for seven days, ain’t done much since” is up there with the best opening couplets and like the rest of their songs has a very definite message to be discovered in its hyper intelligent language. Similarly, Facts, concerns itself with war, “The patriot walks a path of war/There might be Christ on every corner/ But he ain’t got nothing ain’t been done before”, yet in a tonal juxtaposition has an almost joyous feel with its use of keyboards and the riffs that come out like screams of electricity. Magic!
There is much that one could say about Mashemon, but in doing that we’d be missing the point that there is a lot to recommend in this excellent local band that have made the perfect middle ground between grassroots artists and accessible music with vital messages that will be understood by many. In short, a good night! More of this and I’ll definitely to going Mashemon’s way!
Review by Sebastian Gahan.
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