Peter Koppes & The Well

The Lounge : Melbourne

Concert Review by Monica Butler

Peter Koppes is better known as guitarist from The Church. Complete with drummer Richard Ploog (also previously of that band), Anthony Smith (ex- Icehouse) and Jim Leone (former Celibate Rifle bassman) he has formed a band called The Well. Forgetting previous accolades, Peter Koppes is intent on gaining a name for his individual work, and judging from his performance, he is heading in that direction.

Beginning the set with As You Will, which appeared on The Church's compilation Hindsight, Peter played with the confidence of the guitar virtuoso that he is. There was an intelligent fusion of screaming guitar and keyboards in many of the songs, but immediately recognisable in the track House On Fire (which is not a cover). Peter Koppes' deep and mature vocals fought against bursts of infuriating feedback which was perhaps one the only two disappointments of this gig. The other would have to be that the songs started to drag on a bit in the middle of the set. There were, however, quite a number of exceptional performances.

The song that paid homage to Jesus Christ (the man, not the son of God) portrayed each instrument to its best with an interesting keyboard introduction, stubborn bass, excellent guitar and superb drumming. Once again that amalgamation of guitar and keyboards was prominently displayed. There were songs about Arabia, the unification of Germany and the above-mentioned track about Jesus Christ. Add these up and you can imagine the atmosphere and ambient sytled music. No instrument was side-lined. At times they might stop to allow for lead breaks or the like, but the best songs were those where you could distinctly appreciate each musician's ability, as in the song Caravan.

The highlight of the night was going to be the song about Jesus Christ, but was shoved right off the top of the list with an instrumental that was totally mindblowing. There was a comment made about acid and I sincerely pity anyone who may have "blotted" that night because Peter's slide guitar was totally awesome. It built up to this wild frenzy of suppressed energy - like a bomb just about to go off. Register this one in the "magic moments" book.

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