The Night Pavement Built a House in my Heart

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Written by Dale Slamma

I walked in halfway through the first song to find a joyful crowd shaking their manes like horses. There were pockets of genuine dancing all over the Enmore Theatre. I like those original Indie boys − silly, gentle artistic souls in t-shirts who threw off the shackles and redefined what it was to be a man. They’re all grown up now but they’re still tall, angular and dangerous. They seemed always to dance with their elbows pointed in my direction. Pavement at the Enmore Theatre Friday 6 March 2010 I missed the 90s. I was somewhere else, listening to albums on vinyl, and until last week I had never heard of Pavement. I went in blind, expecting some kind of lame New Metal. Here’s the part where I admit I was at least 150 per cent incorrect: Pavement are violence and melody contained politely within a pop sensibility. They are undeniably the architects of the Indie sound. As the band hit their second song everyone in the audience shed ten years, we all went back in time. I started remembering things I had no idea I’d forgotten.

Onstage there were two drummers − a fuzzy bespectacled one and another one, in a hat, who turned out to be more of an auxiliary noisemaker than a dedicated second drummer. He pulled out cowbells, tambourines, a pipelike object and regularly screamed into a handily place microphone. The great mystery of the 90s has now been solved: the way to get a prominent tambourine sound is to have a man in a hat shake one directly into his microphone.

Stephen Malkmus was ridiculous, and danced like there was no tomorrow in his own charming uncoordinated way. It was pleasant, polite music but still with that warm golden fuzzy sound. The melodies shared a closer link with actual rock’n’roll than I expected. One melody was almost lifted directly from Buddy Holly’s 'Everyday'.

By the end of the show Pavement had built their own house in my heart. There was nothing but joy, music and a little time travel in the Enmore that night.

I stood behind the sound desk for a little while, the lights girl had that Australian way of sitting almost behind the beat, right heel rising and falling in rhythm, left finger tapping lazily at the light buttons, hair carelessly drawn back and jeans rolled up like shorts. She was adding one hell of a visual layer to that warm sound. I only wish the band could have seen her sitting there producing fantastic results with her slouched and casual focus, the perfect collaborator for the slacker kings.

Pavement is now playing Golden Plains festival, then Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane and then they return to Melbourne. Due to sold out shows, new dates have been added. See below.

To read what a fanatical Pavement fan from way back had to say on their latest release, click HERE.

PERTH On sale
When: Mon 08-03-10

Where: Metro City

Special Guest:

Gersey

Tickets from:

Megatix online or 1300 634 284

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BRISBANE Selling Fast
When: Wed 10-03-10

Where: The Tivoli

Special Guest:

Gersey

Tickets from:

Ticketek online or 132 849 or Rocking Horse Records ph: (07) 3229 5360
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MELBOURNE SOLD OUT
When: Fri 12-03-10

Where: The Palace

Special Guest:

Gersey

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MELBOURNE Selling Fast
When: Sun 14-03-10

Where: The Palace

Special Guest:

Gersey

Tickets from:

Ticketek online or 132 849, Greville Records, Polyester Records (City & Fitzroy stores), The Espy Hotel and The National Hotel (Geelong)