Live Review

Arpier @ Black Bear Lodge

It’s been a long time coming, but local scallywags Arpier have FINALLY released their debut EP, Ordinary Life. To officially launch the EP, last night the jazz-infused indie rock quartet brought it to life with a show at the always cozy Black Bear Lodge.

I arrive just before the four kick off their set. Having seen these guys play a good five or so times already, I had a pretty clear idea of what to expect. What I hadn’t taken into consideration however, was that since their last show (the launch for lead single Future), the band has expanded from founding frontmen Robert (vocals & guitar) & Liam (guitar) through new members Amy (drums) and James (bass). So this was the first show I’d seen with Arpier as a solidified, established band rather than having session musicians fill the bass & drum positions during previous shows. And hoooooo boy did this make an impact or what.

The band walked out a bit past 10pm to the queue from living legend & resident sound engineer Ed Gresack, and were welcomed to the largest crowd at one of their headlining shows to date. They kicked things off with a new track that I unfortunately didn’t catch the name of, and then kicked into crowd pleasers Future and Ordinary Life. Already, just three songs deep into the set you could tell that everyone on stage was absolutely pumped to be there. The songs were arranged to be more uptempo, dancy, and overall emulated more enthusiastic vibes than the band’s previous, more chill, mellow style of entertaining.

This was particularly relevant with many punters (presumably mates of the band) yelling out, requesting they do a “SHOEY!!” - the act of drinking a beer out of one’s shoe. Frontman Rob’s interaction with the crowd was also a notable improvement, often shouting back, “Yeah, well chuck us a shoe?!” in order to build up the hype that the crowd were throwing at them even further.

At this point in the set, Rob announced that they’d be performing a cover, which was responded to with an (almost in unison) yelling of, “PLAY WONDERWALL!” Rob admitted that it was indeed going to be Wonderwall, to then quickly admit that it’s just a prank bro, and that he and bassist James would be switching places on the vocals for this next song. Out of bloody nowhere, the band jump into the aggressively distorted, super catchy opening riff of The White Stripes’ Fell In Love With A Girl.

This was a big moment, a previously smooth-moving Mac DeMarco-esque outfit had switched over to the dark side of an absolute rock powerhouse, and absolutely CRUSHED it. It was similar to when Karmichael Hunt switched from the Broncos to play AFL, kicking a match-winning goal against Richmond in his final game, then switching back to play rugby for the Reds. Arpier's versatility was shown off, impressed many, then came back to its own style, through the new EP’s title track Ordinary Life.

We were then treated to new material, Love In The Arcade, Sailing Borderlines and a yet-to-be-titled track written by bassist James. 

It’s at this point that Rob announces that there is only one song left, only to be answered by the crowd this time with an inescapable chant of “SHOEY, SHOEY, SHOEY.” Looking at each other in what can only be described as fear, adrenaline, and happiness all in one, guitarist Liam bloody Morton takes one for the team, reaches for a punter’s shoe, fills it with beer and down the whole thing in one hit. Unbelievable. (See the pic!).

The band’s most recent offering, Isolation was the last song played, which went as well as anyone could hope. Of course, with the energy and enthusiasm of the room being so high, it came to no surprise that there was then a chant for an encore. After a quick on-stage deliberation, Rob resumed his spot on the mic and said, “We didn’t really plan anything for an encore, but here’s something anyway.” The something he was referring to was, again, a very out-of-the-blue choice - a cover of fellow local legends The Jensens’ biggest song, Shark Thunder, which went off, and sent the band out in a blaze of glory.

I’m ridiculously happy for getting to go see these guys this time around, seeing them develop from the slightly awkward just-turned-18-year-olds to the absolute fire set they brought to the table tonight was really something. 10/10 would recommend going to see Arpier at their next gig, whenever that may be.

- Jakob Rosenblatt

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