Concert

Mammal last Thursday

Mammal is the sort of band that incites riot, sometimes they are nasty and sometimes they're just plain dirty. I hadn't seen them since early 1973, big and bold with Sam Hunt in front of the town library, pounding away at "Gimme Shelter" and "Delta Lady" while people in the crowd threw bottles and boogied. Mammal have no class you see, they're too goddam messy; like sleepwalkers, shuffling to the microphone to mumble the title of the next son; thenestsong 'sby .....ah......TenWheelDrive.....then keeping it moving for eight minutes. But don't be fooled by the music, really they're a bunch of lazies; thissong'sby....Neil Young...."Ohio", long and tasty with some delicious harmonies; then into "It's All Over Now" and "Johnny B Good", and a bit of good stuff like Free's "Wishing Well".

I remember when they would play "I'll be Creeping", then the air would fill with evil and bad, and the crowd would shrink together. On Thursday night something could easily have happened; the Union Hall was in darkness, the light show was flashy, the guitars were screaming. Rick Bryant was screaming, the drums were pounding!! and people were throwing themselves into a frenzy. What did happen? Well Mammal played some fine music and die people had a good time. There was Rick Bryant blowing into a saxaphone, and new member Peter Kennedy on guitar and some good original music; a round of applause for "Masquerade" and "Children of the Mist". They still play those damn good Tamla Motown songs: "I Heard it Through the Grapevine", "Can't Get Next to You" and "Cloud Nine", faithfully copied right down to the four-man choruses, which shows, if nothing else, they've got real taste; not the sort of thing you'd expect from a Wellington band. Mammal is really a University band after all, almost an institution, and they've been around. On a recent trip to Christchurch apparently they lost money; with this sort of interest and support Mammal could easily become extinct. Is this a good thing? No! Let's try and get a Mammal motif emblazened onto the Victoria University pendant, organise a "save Mammal" campaign, support Mammal by buying their records and going to their concerts. After all, Mammal is kin man.....

—Brian King