Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Colin ‘Are You Looking At Me’ Hay

Band: Colin Hay and band
Venue: The Corner Hotel
Date: November 22, 2007
Reviewed By: Lyn. Photograph by Mark Geisel.

After much anticipation, one of Australia ’s best male vocalists Colin Hay entered and began the set with acoustic guitar. Going Somewhere was beautifully sung with passion and desire. It’s no secret that this man hails from the 1980’s band Men at Work and its no wonder that tonight The Corner Hotel is close to sold out. I was amazed at how strong and powerful his voice is - I’m sure plenty of people had goose bumps.

After this amazing start Colin leapt into banter for about 10 minutes, telling us that tonight’s gig was being filmed for DVD, then continuing on about his life story. Born in Scotland, he came to Melbourne and had to learn the aussie accent, after being teased for his Scottish brogue. He proved to be quite the comedian, and we a very responsive crowd!

The rest of the band entered at the third song in, bringing the total to five on stage, Charlie on drums, Simon on guitar, Dorian on keyboards and the beautiful Celia on tamborine and shakers, playing with strength and happiness, all looking completely relaxed.

Colin has a new album out called Are You Looking At Me, so tonight is about both newies and old songs. At one point we saw the entire band played with bazookas, just when I thought I’d seen it all!

Celia goes off, how else can I put it, I couldn’t stop watching her at times! She puts amazing zest into her backing vocals and instruments whilst sporting both a very colourful outfit and expressions. Celia hails from Lima, Peru . It felt like Colin's microphone volume was a little high, as I couldn’t hear backing singers much at all.

Songs for the night included, Lifeline, Beautiful World, What Would Bob Do - a rather quirky song, as well as Down By The Sea - a rather haunting Men At Work song that sold 1 million copies from the album Business As Usual. Colin told us the band used to tune 12 string guitars when stoned (which didn’t work) and he wasn’t so sure he ought to be saying that when his parents were in the room!

Lonely Without You was followed by Looking For Jack, after which another story developed: He had the title Looking For…, but he didn’t have the next word. Then he had the chance to meet Jack Nicholson and there you go, the song developed.

Who Can It Be Now was a oldie but a goodie, and Overkill a crowd pleaser. It’s A Mistake then Are You Looking At Me required much audience participation and I must add I really like this song, a groovy, catchy number.

Land Down Under was received well, written by Colin for Men at Work, it’s a song sung all around the world and its appeal was not lost on the crowd. The night ended brilliantly with Be Good Johnny. I’m sure everyone went home with a smile on their face and wonderment for Colin’s unique voice.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Ding Dong Goes Electric

Band: Electric Mary
Venue: The Ding Dong Lounge
Date: 16th November 2007
Reviewed By: Lyn. Photograph by Mark Geisel.

I have been waiting a long time to see Electric Mary. It’s been at least 6 months since they’ve played and a year since I last saw them.
I rocked up very late at Ding Dong, so I just saw the last song from the support but judging from the amount of people up front they must have put on a show as the crowd seemed to be getting into their music.

Soon Electric Mary entered stage, Pete on guitar, Irwin or guitar, Tommy from Juke Cartel on bass (in the absence of Neilo) and Venom on drums. The crowd went wild, and then in strutted the man you cannot miss in his long coat and cowboy hat - Rusty on vocals. There is something about this man, I can’t take my eyes off him, he grabs the stage with such vengeance and adoration and the crowd seem to love him too.

The set started with Let Me Out then One in a Million, which contains dirty, dirty riffs. No One Does It Better followed, then with the song Hey Now Rusty sang while holding a jug of water! After about three songs Rusty exited the stage whilst we were given an instrumental break from the guitarists, and when Venom started his solo the audience chanted his name over and over. The way those boys play their guitars is amazing - sweaty guitar with huge rock beats. Then Rusty came back on stage and like a lion eating its prey he launched into Luv Me with much zest. Luv Me is an amazing song, beautifully sung, and showing off Rusty’s strong voice. We were welcomed with a new song called Sorry, which was apparently written on one of their road trips.

Electric Mary are a fast-paced band, short songs but well worth seeing. The last few songs were Crash Down On Your Head, which is a melodic tune, One Foot in the Grave, and lucky last was I Fell Out With My Best Friend, during which I almost felt like linking arms with my neighbours and swaying back and forth. Then they were gone, no encores, much to the crowds disappointment.

For those wanting more there was the EP Definition Of Insanity and tees available for purchase.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Victims of the Killers

Band: The Killers with supports Howling Bells and Louis XIV
Venue: Rod Laver Arena
Date: 14th November 2007
Reviewed By: Lyn. Photograph by Mark Geisel.

Tonight I saw San Diego ’s coolest new band, Louis XIV. A harmonised, dark eyed, sultry 6 piece all bloke band that formed in 2003. American garage rock!

A violin was a nice change in a band and the backing singer Brian Karscig has an amazing voice, very melodic, almost to the point of sounding feminine. Not to say the lead singer, Jason Hill, wasn’t good - he was a rock dude, going off like a raw prawn out front, working the crowd, and the crowd seemed to work right back! Drummer, Mark Maiggard, threw out a few sticks to a very pleased crowd to finish off their set. The only fault with this show was the sound was way too loud, not very pleasant on the ears.

Next on stage was Howling Bells, I was looking forward to seeing them as I’d liked what music I’d heard. They formed in 2005 and are a home-brewed 4 piece Australian band now living in the UK . Juanita Stein, the sultry singer in black, sang like a gypsy with her rich, crisp, mature voice. Thankfully the sound was much better and the moody red and blue lights started the set. They suited a big venue okay but a smaller venue would be more fitting. Juanita announced they have released a special CD to coincide with this tour. I did think the singer may have been a bit more of a rock chick out front but they all put on a great show with some groovy rock tunes. Their set ended with the hit tune ‘Low Happening’.

With a second show at Rod Laver arena almost sold out I must admit I didn’t realise just how big a band The Killers had become. Seeing them at BDO in Jan I was looking forward to seeing them in their own show and inside! A white curtain was hoisted up so the front crowd couldn’t see what was going on. We on the side could see Christmas lights, roses and other flowers all decorating the stage – over amps and keyboards. The keyboards seemed to be covered in some weird white structures almost Star Wars like, but when the big lights went on later I realised they were supposed to be antlers! With ‘Sam’s Town’ in large writing on the wall above the stage, red velvet curtains around the stage hanging from the lights, it looked very cool! As the crowd waited a Mexican wave started. The next minute the lights went down, the audience screamed with happiness and boom visuals were projected onto the white curtain till eventually it was pulled down and lights went on stage and the band started and confetti exploded out into the middle of the floor. It all looked fantastic!

Brandon Flowers in suit and blue bow tie was up and down on wooden crates which were front of stage for some leverage and he continually walked up and down which pleased the punters. Brandon commented ‘This is not a tennis match; it’s a Killer’s show’! When You Were Young and Bones were some of the first songs. Brandon wooed some girls in the front by throwing them flowers from the stage, then they went into tunes like Smile Like You Mean It and Jenny Was a Friend of Mine. The guitarist David Keuning reminded me of an 80’s guy in an 80’s band, he was seriously making love to that guitar, it was like the guitar was part of this body, and he would speak to the audience with passion. I couldn’t quite see the bassist, Mark Stoermer, he seemed to be rather concentrated on his playing. Drummer Ronnie Vannucci was like a wild man playing his drums. A big highlight for me is always Somebody Told Me, which was played very early on in the set. Wild, Sam’s Town, Uncle Jonny and Read My Mind were to follow then Mr Brightside.

Louis XIV came back out to do a cover of the Frankie Valli song Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, and they all seemed rather mischievous by then - maybe a few drinks off stage! Next treat (if that is the right word) was the song All These Things That I’ve Done and out came people in pig and corn outfits, running around stage. I’m not sure what that was all about but I couldn’t take my eyes off them!

The Killers came, we saw, we were their victims.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Not-So-Sweet Alabama

Band: Alabama 3 with support Roger That
Venue: Hi-Fi Bar and Ballroom
Date: 11th November 2007
Reviewed By: Lyn

Gotta love The Hi Fi bar, I love the good size and the fact there is air conditioning!

Heading downstairs to the main room we were greeted by the sounds of ‘Roger That’, a four piece band from the Gold Coast. Tonight there were lots of guitar riffs, great vocals and smooth drumming. Jesse Bailey the vocalist said the crowd tonight is their biggest yet! I was quite impressed with this band and was surprised everybody was sitting down and not dancing. Lots of people were already there but didn’t want to rise up off the floor just yet even when the singer asked them to. The band seemed very connected, high vocals, talking vocals, whistling in songs – Jesse has a big voice. They did a cover of I’ve Been Waiting So Long by the band Cream. They did the song justice, very energetic. I noticed after their set they were signing many cd’s for impressed punters.

After a wait (and I must add, some very cool tunes to listen to) what greeted us this time were four chairs on stage and some microphones. Yes, tonight was the acoustic performance of The Alabama 3. As their website says: 'We make Sweet Muthafuckin Country Acid House Music' and are from Brixton, London and not Alabama as their name suggests. Even Tim Rogers had ventured out for a listen.

Enter guitarist then the rest of the band. Their set was very uninteresting, no name anywhere letting us know who they are, no special lights, just the boring back drop. I was surprised about this and it made the stage look very unappealing, even the lights didn’t change much from what I saw. The crowd remained sitting down, a few punters had cowboy hats which seemed in the spirit of the band. I don’t have much to say about the band in general - I wasn’t particularly entertained by what I saw and ended up leaving very early in the set (maybe that was my problem).

If someone can email in a better review, please do so! Maybe I need to see them in rock style!?

Monday, November 12, 2007

Cup Eve Gets Messy

Band: The Mess Hall supported by The Silents
Venue: The East Brunswick Club
Date: Monday 5th November 2007 (Cup Eve)
Reviewed By: Lyn. Photographs by Mark Geisel.

A sold out Mess Hall gig at the EBC. It was a very full room already, so we got our beverages and found a better position away from what seemed the pathway of punters.

The Silents are a 4 piece male band from Perth, sounding rather similar to The Vines. I get the feeling this is what The Beatles would sound like if they were still around. They had great harmonies and beats with some bad hair chucked in, and got our toes tapping and heads bopping. Many cheers from the crowd and the room soon built up ready for the main act.

The Mess Hall is usually a two piece band from Sydney - guitar and drums - yet they always sound bigger than a two piece. Having been a fan since their debut album with a half naked boy on the cover, tonight we were here for the new album Devils Elbow, which is their second full album to date. Tonight I wasn’t sure if it was a treat or just strange, but on stage a third person with guitar greeted us. I thought this guitar player was excellent, but I’m not sure how fitting for TMH who I guess I’m used to as a two piece! Tonight we got old hits such as the forever bopping Disco I and Disco II, Lock and Load, Feel Like a Dog and Pills as well as many tracks off the new CD. Pulse was pulled off spectacularly, although the noise of the pulse had a few of us blocking our ears. The first single release Keep Walking proved a hit with the crowd who moshed to the whole song.

TMH prove time and time again that no doubt they’ll be rocking for a long time to come.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Mammal at the Ding Dong Lounge

Band: Mammal, supported by Many Machines on Nine
Venue: The Ding Dong Lounge
Date: 2nd November 2007
Reviewed By: Lyn. Photograph by Mark Geisel.



We entered the Ding Dong rather late in the night to find many punters already grooving to the second support act (unfortunately missed the first).

After getting ourselves a beer, we headed up to get a better view of this band that seems to be popular with the crowd and even I found myself grooving away to this electronic, rock beat. I didn’t get a chance to read the play list and the band didn’t have their name anywhere that I could see - what is it with bands that can’t even put a name on the drum kit, some sort of paper, or texta on a tee shirt! Somewhere, anywhere, argh!!!?

I couldn’t understand what the singer was saying when he did mention their name either… so anyway, after they finished I went to the merchandise stand and asked who they were, bought the cd and even though it took a few listens to enjoy it as much as the gig, I feel they’ve nailed their music, which is hard electronic rock, live! Their name is ‘Many Machines on Nine’ - MM9 - hailing from Sydney .

I enjoyed the singer’s exuberance up front, mixing with the crowd very well, fully pumping and grinding and overall they are a talented display of musicians. The grind of the bass riff went through the audience; sometimes I thought they had a similar sound underneath to Korn. Check them out!

Zeke and co. came out in full force, Zeke claiming the stage as his, Zane on drums we were told is a ‘buddhist monk with the funk’! Pete, the guitarist strutted his stuff in the middle of the stage entertaining the crowd, and Nick played with amazing grooves as per usual, with his bass guitar.

Visits to the crowd from Zeke, treats of about 4 new songs, political banter but no glitter ball hat, this was Mammal tonight!

One punter tried to get the crowd singing ‘Aussie Aussie Aussie’ whilst Zeke was talking but Zeke wasn’t having a bar of that and quickly quietened the guy up.

A truly energetic gig and perhaps my fave Mammal gig this year. And yes Zeke, we hope you enjoyed the chicken!