Darren Hanlon / The Lucksmiths / The Girls From the Clouds / Anthony Atkinson & The Running Mates / Rob Clarkson

Andy J Ryan Apr 06, 2023

Candle Records Farewell Concert, Metro Theatre 18 August 2007
Tonight is a sad occasion, the 2007 Candle Concert is the last ever to be held in Sydney. The usually buoyant and joyous annual celebration of Candle Records artists is somewhat of a wake, mourning the closing of the label after 13 years. Candle Records itself has been the ultimate in boutique labels. More of a co-op than a business, the Candle Records family has nurtured the careers of some of Australia’s best bands and foremost lyricists The label largely running on the labour of love and enthusiasm of founder Chris Crouch, release artists chosen because of the love of the music as opposed to their potential commercial appeal.
If the label was to have a credo it would be: Give me your cheery, your quirky, your huddled musicians yearning to play pop. The whimsical lyricists of your teeming shore...
Candle has a roster predominately penning guitar pop, with the integrity of the lyrics as the centre of the songs. The label has clocked up more than 100 releases since 1994; their acts may not have huge chart-busting followings, but passionately devoted ones. Tonight’s concert showcases seven Candle acts, each playing small bite-sized sets.
There’s some pretty damn-fine and intricate music behind the lyrics too - from the grand soaring designs of Mid State Orange to the dreamy swirling strains of Small Knives. Best reflecting the song writing talents on show are the ever-honest observations of Rob Clarkson, who is back to solo singer-songwriter mode after a stint with the band Ruck Rover. Similarly Anthony Atkinson, the former singer-songwriter of The Mabels, now with his band The Running Mates, adding to the formidable, but largely under-rated legacy of his former band.
Jodi Phillis and Trish Young took The Clouds to the very brink of something big in the mid 90s, their perfectly suited voices oozing out of the speakers like stereophonic honey. In the more stripped back setting of their current incarnation as The Girls from the Clouds, the wondrous working of harmonies and vocal melodies really come to the fore. A delight that is over too soon and ending with more effusive thanks for Chris and the label.
The Lucksmiths are just a gem of a band, there’s a sprightly shimmering quality to everything they do. Endlessly charming and cheery, their songs are infused and trimmed with quirk, sunny melodies and bounce. They soon get everyone smiling, nodding and joyously tapping along and are even joined on stage by Russell Crowe (actually Darren Hanlon) on banjo.
It is left to Gympie boy-done good Darren Hanlon to finish the show. Starting with a plaintive tune played out on ukulele he was soon joined by long time collaborator Bree van Dyke on drums and occasional glockenspiel bursts. Hanlon’s songs are almost anecdotal bursts sent to music, whether wry, wizened observations or just a pun or word play that’s been picked-up and run with. If happiness is just a chemical, then there were some big doses administered as an array of gests joined the stage.
It wouldn’t be a Candle Concert without the all-star jam at the end, and musicians en-massed joined the stage for a ramshackle, but with much better haircuts than the original, version of ‘We are the World’. It was the end of an era for Candle Records, but the music will go on.