Mammal – Max Watts – 19 July 2024
Review and photos by Craig Eriksson
Last night we went 16-rounds with Mammal at Max Watts! The Ox came out wearing a robe, boxing shorts and boots and moved around the stage like Muhammad Ali. “Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.” sums up tonights gig quite well. Blow by blow, Mammal punched out 10 of the 12 songs from their latest album, The Penny Drop (TPD) along with some fan favourites from past albums.
To gain an insight into Mammal, their reputation and what they stand for, you first need to understand that lead singer Ezekiel Ox is well known for being a political activist, spokesperson and artist. The Ox is the voice of the people and is not shy at calling out socio-political injustices and wrong doings in the world.
Mammal’s music does not fit one genre. Fans describe their music as high energy, manic, funk, political, heavy, bombastic rock n’ roll music to the ears, body and soul. It’s a scintillating beast! We all hear about high energy shows, but this is next level. When you enter a Mammal moshpit it’s like stepping inside the eye of a storm. Last night saw Mammal fans come alive, going wild, body slamming each other, spraying their drinks over everyone, crowd surfing, getting bruised, battered, drenched and grinning from ear to ear with euphoria. Lead singer Ezekiel Ox and Mammal deliver a very strong lyrical message with their music creating awareness about humanity issues and socio-political injustice in the world.
Mammal first formed back in 2006 and gained huge popularity and cult-like legitimacy right from the get-go. I was fortunate enough to see Mammal at Pyramid Rock festival held at Phillip Island back in 2006/2007 and at that stage, Mammal had only been together as a band for about 9 months. Mammal were the first band to play on the Saturday timetable at 10am and I was surprised how many punters made the effort and got up early to see Mammal. Holy guacamole! Mammal completely blew my friends and I away that day and we’ve been massive followers of the band ever since.
Mammal released their self-titled 5-track EP in 2006 which still remains on high rotation. All 5-tracks are Mammal anthems – New Breed Judas, Think, Hell Yeah, Inciting & Groove Junkie. We went and saw Mammal at The Evelyn in Feb 2007 and they recorded this show which became their 2nd release: Vol.1 The Aural Underground. By now, Mammal were well known for their live shows and toured relentlessly playing at 2007 Big Day Out and supported KISS. In 2008, Mammal released their debut studio album, The Majority. This album got regular airplay on Triple J and included the songs: Clear Enough and Smash the Pinata which still remain two of their most popular songs to this day. They performed again at Big Day Out in 2009 and toured overseas. In 2009 they released their 2nd live album –Vol 2: Systematic/Automatic. Sadly Mammal disbanded in Oct 2009 due to personal, political, musical and business differences. Mammal had a hiatus from 2009-2017. Thankfully in 2017 (almost 8 years later) they got back together. Nick Adams (bass) eventually departed the band and Kade Turner (Pineapple) joined Mammal in Dec 2020.
The Pineapple Story – Kade thought it would be festive to put himself out there and wear a colourful pineapple leisure suit and fans loved it and got onboard and the cult of the pineapple was born. Some fans turn up wearing pineapple shirts and shorts chanting pineapple. It’s comical, fun and absolutely hilarious! I even saw the merch had packets of Mammal Pineapple Swingers for sale last night (Chocolate freckles). This is a band that is serious when it comes to what they stand for, but they have fun along the way and don’t take themselves too serious if you know what I mean.
Tonight Mammal opened with Moscow from TPD. The Ox and crowd chanted ‘Around the world’ as Pete Williamson (guitar), Kade Turner (bass) and Zane Rosanoski (drums) cranked it with some seriously hard core funk. The opening lyrics of this song highlight just how much Mammal care and are concerned with what is going on in the world: Authority, justice, due process, honesty, integrity, law, right, litigation, penalty, amends, appeal. Authorization, rectitude, redress, code, compensation, correction, therapy, sanction, rule. Evenness, equity, impartiality, corruption, dishonesty, falsity, moral, injustice, unethicalness, unfairness, refusal. This is an amazing song and one of my favourites from their new album.
Slings and Arrows from TPD had everyone head banging, chanting and rockin’ out. This song is about the justice system sending us poor and broke, dreams are up in smoke.
The Majority – A strong and powerful song delivering the lyrics: They subdivide you cause its war time and you’ve gotta bleed, Justice comes at the expense of the majority. The Ox sings: Are you amused? And the crowd chants back: ‘I don’t think so!’
Clear Enough? (The Majority album). A very strong and confronting song making you question and think about what’s happening in the world. Limbs are flying and the spying, is the drug that they use to send you away.
Agree to Disagree (TPD) a fast, manic, chaotic song. The moshpit is totally ‘goin off’ to this song and it’s like a madhouse. Crazy beyond belief and these fans let loose. Euphoria at its peak. Mammal keep up the momentum and lead into Doubt (TPD). Born alone and you die alone. Getting fall down drunk, staring at your phone. I wanna connect with you again.
Nagasaki in Flames (Vol.2 Systematic/Automatic) – Zane’s drumming stands out in this song and The Ox dances around the stage in a frenzy, reminding me of Anthony Kiedis in the early RHCP days.
Live, Bold and Dangerous (TPD) – heavy as f*ck! The Ox jumps into the crowd and crowd surfs the moshpit as the fans go totally wild.
Bottom End (TPD) – Fresh Violet joined Mammal on stage for this song with is fun and has attitude. Lyrics: Bad girl, yah, I’m wicked. Mammal got the jams that we kickin.
Maybe (TPD) – The Ox sings this beautiful atmospheric ballad allowing the crowd to take a breather and come back down to earth. This song highlights the strength and beauty of The Ox’s voice and I could hear glimpses of Ed Kowalczyk from Live in this song. Stunning!
Think (EP) – A song from Mammals first EP. Lyrics: You’re thinking two more years of this, I’m gonna chuck it in and move to an easier place. This song makes you question and think about your life, where you’re at, where you’re hoping to go and all of life’s barriers and self-doubts that get in our way from getting there. It makes you THINK!
Five Days (TPD) was next followed by Smash The Pinata (Majority). This is my favourite song from The Majority album and judging by the crowd, everyones favourite. “Why don’t you come down and lower your eyes, and find out that we’ve got it all”. Love the energy of this song!
Mammal finished with The Penny Drop (TPD) – title track from their new album and is a manic, funky, chaotic song with incredible energy. Mosh pit launched into a complete bedlam aimlessly slamming into everyone and everything. A fan climbed up on the stage barrier and leapt into the crowd who caught him and he then crowd surfed the mosh.
The encore saw Mammal sing Keanu Reaves (TPD) and finish with the iconic and expected Hell Yeah.
If you haven’t worked it out by now, Mammal are a ‘must-see’ rock‘n’roll juggernaut, so make sure you get along to one of their live shows soon. Mammal’s legacy and legend will continue as The Ox concluded the evening by saying that the current line-up of Mammal are solid and they intend making a lot more albums in the future. Hell Yeah!