WE SAW OUR MOMMA AT OAF!

Tonight I’m seeing a band from Calabasas is a phrase I save for special occasions, such as the other day. Momma—a four-piece placed loosely in the grunge-pop spectrum—are currently on their first ever Australian tour, playing a Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne show with support from Armlock.

The band is fronted by Etta Freidman and Allegra Weingarten, two of my actual real life idols because of their talent and steeze. Momma entered my music hemisphere in 2022 with the release of Household Name, their third studio LP, and they became a much-needed distraction from the Coldplay albums I’d been worshipping at the time. Their catalogue included two other albums—2018’s Interloper and 2020’s Two of Me—and has since been expanded to include their latest addition, Welcome to my Blue Sky, which has perfectly captured life and love’s emotions with grungey fuzz, tight harmonies and slice-of-life lyrics—all of which I was so excited to bear witness to, finally, in person.

Two trains and some insane eggplant dumplings from Haymarket later, my posse and I were all of a sudden absorbed in Armlock’s atmosphere, who played one of the best sets I’ve seen them perform. Then it was Momma time. “Ettaaaaa,” the crowd was shouting over and over again. “Allegraaa,” I was shouting over and over again.

‘Last Kiss’ was the track that kicked it all off, and it only took a few songs before Etta was declaring that Australian audiences are her favourite. And it also wasn’t long until I was scribbling in my notebook about how good they were #journalism. ‘Last Kiss’ turned into ‘Medicine’, which turned into ‘Tall Home’, opening up the floor to the crowd who had been eyeing each other to see who was going to make the first move and get moshy. 

I’d spent those first 3 songs thinking how the hell am I gonna take photos in here? The OAF is notoriously dark and my camera is notoriously old, it was seriously risky business with the classic no shooting with flash rule. Yes, panic set in, but flash forward (pun intended) and I got some really funky results… Now I could put my camera away and enjoy the show.

Every eye in the crowd was stuck to Etta & Allegra like glue, as they shredded through riffs alluding to legendary acts Smashing Pumpkins, Letters to Cleo and Veruca Salt in a nostalgic yet honest homage to the 90’s.  Allegra used a pair of microphones, switching to and from the one with distortion applied—I finally learned how they make that noise in ‘I Want You, Fever’. (embed here)

When it got to ‘Speeding 72’, Aron Kobayashi Ritch—the band’s bassist and producer, who is incredible and has worked on many of my latest most-loved albums—swapped his bass for Etta’s guitar, letting her let loose on the four-string. “Play ‘Christian Brothers’”, shouts Harmony, my friend who’s known to cry in her car to Elliot Smith. (Spoiler: they didn’t play it, but I can see why—it wasn’t really the time or place).

By the end of their set I had barely enough voice for the “One More Song” chant but it came out nonetheless (I love that word), and it worked! They played ‘Rip Off’ as the crowd let loose for one final dance, and then departed the stage, their adoring fans clapping and cheering. Some, like me, were standing mouth ajar in awe. 

These guys are truly destined for grunge-rock stadium stardom, and I can’t wait to see it all take place. The pair are as unfiltered and uncensored in their music as they are online, and truly have a knack for expressive and catchy riffs and melodies. We all know that it’s a logistical nightmare for acts like Momma to make their way all the way down to Australia, and we truly hope they do it again soon—and I urge you to check them out when they do!