Photo: Mark Marin

An evening of all Australian music starts off with Danielle Caruana and her three-piece band, Mama Kin. The heavily driven piano songs are backed with infectious drum lines and complemented by Danielle’s strong, soulful voice. Although bare, there is plenty of passion in the performance and these guys clearly enjoy what they do.

Clairy Browne & The Bangin’ Rackettes follow and immediately take us back to the swinging ‘40s. With a six-piece band behind them, the three back-up singers, the Bangin’ Rackettes, match Clairy Browne’s every note with perfect harmonies and choreographed dance moves. There is clearly a lot of energy on stage, but occasionally this energy is lost somewhere between the musicians and the crowd. Nonetheless, these soulful and swinging acts are setting the night up beautifully.

The Cat Empire struts on stage and dive right into Falling, from their latest album Cinema. Typical Harry Angus songs – The Heart Is A Cannibal and The Darkness – have him contorting his voice every which way, resonating throughout The Tivoli and piercing every ear in the sold out room in the process.  The boys delve back into album number one with How To Explain, The Wine Song and of course, standard set finisher, The Chariot. They certainly don’t miss with the solos tonight: Ollie McGill is playing the hell out of his piano (as usual), even with a broken wrist (although we can probably do without the 10 minute solo from DJ Jumps). Being show number two in Brisbane amidst a succession of sold-out dates, this reasonably mature crowd has come ready to dance their Saturday night away, and these Cats prove happy to oblige.

RICHARD COOMBS

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The Troubadour - Sat Aug 28

It must be bizarre opening for a musical comedy act, but Pinky Beecroft does well to warm the crowd with charming between-song banter. The years seem to have mellowed the ex-Machine Gun Fellatio frontman, who appears to be completely at home perched in front of a keyboard playing jazzy piano licks. He performs songs by his new band, The White Russians, which are every bit as thoughtful and slyly catchy as you would expect, as well as Machine Gun Fellatio’s Unsent Letter and a bluesy cover of Blondie’s Call Me.

Despite Tony Abbott’s attempts to turn us against them, the substantial crowd tonight is testament that The Boat People are as popular as ever. The band showcase songs from their new album, Dear Darkly, which suggest a dancier, more synth-driven direction, whilst still maintaining the jangly pop sweetness that we have all learnt to love.

Justin Heazlewood, aka The Bedroom Philosopher, is one funny fellow. For those not familiar with his work, his latest album revolves around Melbourne tram culture and features humourous song titles like We Are Tramily. Northcote (So Hungover) is an instant crowd-pleaser, a song mimicking a pretentious indie kid’s one-sided phone conversation and featuring more puns than a newspaper headline. Yes, he does tend to recycle the same jokes, but by no means does it ever grow old. Musically, the performance is satisfying, owing mostly to his backing band The Awkwardstra. Luckily for him they are ridiculously competent musicians because really, without them, he’s just a guy prancing around on stage quipping jokes and trying miserably to breakdance – not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s hard to know whether he’s a musician, a comedian or a satirist; this reviewer would be inclined to say all three.

TIAN ZHANG

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Photo: Justin Ma

Our eyes locked across a crowded room, and in an instant we were in love. Except she didn’t have any eyes, and the crowded room itself was what I became enraptured with. It was The Old Museum on a windy winter night – somewhere between the high echoing ceilings, the old world charm and the vibrant early sounds of The Landing, tonight would be a lovely but all too fleeting romance. The Landing get things moving with an eclectic range of sounds, some reggae, some goodtime country folk, a dollop of funk and many fun harmonies.

The punters on the balcony blowing smoke rings and sipping brews outnumber those on the aged floor until Bang Bang Boss Kelly bust out some infectious melodies and leap from tall amp stacks. Acoustic folk with a punk rock attitude, the band charge through songs from their shiny new EP and even a fiery version of Folsom Prison Blues. Five young kids with sleeve tattoos probably shouldn’t be able to make a song about a desperate existence in correctional facilities sound so fun – the same could be said for their own odes to pretty girls and break-ups that are complemented by close harmonies and frantic guitars.

They’re a hard act to follow, so before I could line up for another drink, much of the crowd had dissipated, leaving The Re-Mains without much to work with. Some clamber for chairs once again on the balcony, others have already left with further plans for Saturday night, but the band stands their ground with another weird melange of slinky grooves, country-fried instrumentals and some Tim Rogers-esque rock & roll swagger from leader Mick Daley. Parting is such sweet sorrow, particularly when there’s uncertainty about when paths shall meet again, but as I walk down Brunswick Street, my mind already wanders to when The Old Museum and I can be together again.

MITCH ALEXANDER

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Photo: David Burness

A blend of Christian rock enthusiasts and old school metal heads are here to catch the top-selling biblical metallers Stryper. The yellow and black-clad glam rockers made serious secular waves in the ‘80s, while sticking faithfully to their Christian lyrical roots. Clearly, their poppy, spandex rock stylistically fit in most effectively with that same decade, hence them tonight testifying not from an arena stage, but instead from a respectably-attended Hi-Fi.

First up, Devine Electric bring a big, loud set of Zeppelin-flecked rock & roll, complete with writhing shirtless frontman. Decent volume for a support act, too.

Sensibly, Stryper have traded in the skin-hugging spandex for more dignified rock clobber, though with the yellow-and-black colour scheme and crosses still very much on show. Also known for their share of sappy ballads, they fortunately stick to just one example of this genre, the slushy piano number Honestly. The rest is righteous rock & roll, with impressive three-part harmonies from pouting frontman Michael Sweet, guitarist Oz Fox and bassist Tim Gaines. When the choruses kick in, you can see why Sweet is currently providing vocals for soft rock legends Boston – more than Crüe, Poison or Warrant, Stryper blend the metal riffing with the lush harmonies of classic FM rock. The usual Stryper stage act occurs – plentiful throwing of picks, drumsticks and paperback New Testaments into the crowd – but the highlights of the set come from moments like the encore rush of To Hell With The Devil. Whether or not you believe in the message, in 2010 there is still plenty of fun to be had with big-haired riffs and rock opera vocals. Don’t be a cockhead, you know I’m right.

MATT THROWER

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The Globe - Sat Aug 28

The hype surrounding the first ever Bastardfest has The Globe’s bar packed out and the main room bouncing to some of Australia’s finest extreme metal. Unfortunately most of that happens after Sciamachy’s set, which compromises tech and prog influences with a slew of insidious grooves. High Plains Drifter sound like whiskey and sunburn, and even if most of the crowd is drinking beer they’re vocal in their support of the thunderous groove lurking beneath the surface of the band’s southern metal set.

Next, Defamer play a set of harrowingly atmospheric death metal before Canberra doom lords Pod People slow things down. The crowd is highly appreciative of both sets. Under a changing backdrop of eerie artwork, Brisbane black metal act ASTRIAAL play a set; as polished as their live show is, a feral energy screams through the PA during the moments of tremolo-picked black metal madness in songs like Ode To Antiquity.

After an evening spent loitering near the bar, trying to get passers-by to buy them beers, Melbourne grind outfit Blood Duster take to The Globe’s stage. Both awesome and appalling, they call other bands shit, encourage nudity and desecrate vintage guitars, swaying precariously through their drunken romp of a set. If not outright dangerous, Duster are certainly unpredictable and from the rock & roll shout-outs of Three Ohh Seven Ohh to the sleazy grind riffs of Porn Store Stiffi, the crowd are right with the band, applauding every politically incorrect song and the unrelenting Dave Haley blast beats accompanying it. As sunglasses-wearing vocalist Tone Bone assures the crowd that this is their last song, Duster rip through Motherfuckin’, I Love The Pills and Dahmer The Embalmer before they actually finish their set with low-brow testosterone anthem Drink Fight Fuck, closing the inaugural Bastardfest with the infamy it rightly deserves.

TOM HERSEY

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The Troubadour - Fri Aug 27

Local indie youngsters Vasy Mollo warm up for the handful of people who’ve arrived early tonight with catchy tunes in the vein of contemporaries Yves Klein Blue. It’s a small crowd for the Nova Live & Loud winners, but a big step in the right direction for a group trying to shake the ‘high school band’ label.

Sydney’s Step-Panther leap straight from the ‘70s with the Dick Dale-inspired nerdy art punk of their Surf EP. Milwaukee features some delightful gibberish from drummer Julio, while the one-minute gem Surf is over before it should be. Tracks D Minus, Superpowerz and Jimmy are classically punk – there’s Buzzcocks-style vocals, a Jonathon Richman sensibility and Velvet Underground influences aplenty.  The Man, The Myth, The Moses begins with the darkly prophetic spoken word of bassist Jose, drawing influence from The Door’s An American Prayer, before exploding into a psychedelic feedback freakout. Awkward frontman Stevesie sums it up before strolling back to the bar, “We’re a fucking good band and don’t you forget it!”

Equally unassuming in their delivery are fellow Sydneysiders Cabins, on tour to promote their altogether gloomy debut album Bright Victory. The brooding vocals of sinister opening song Hounds draws punters from their couches and it turns out frontman Leroy Bressington is ‘that guy with the cool shirt’ who’s been casually chatting about the place all night. It’s a struggle to catch the words through his thick drawl, but a close listen rewards ears with the bizarre narrative of Mary (“She was young with eyes like diamonds / That must have hurt having eyes like diamonds”). A psychedelic cover of Edwyn Collins’s A Girl Like You fills the room with rain-clouds before Oceanic Blues attempts (and fails) at a switch in mood. With Bressington hunched over for the droning keys of popular single Catcher In The Rye and The Moon, a just-over-half-hour set concludes with haunting unease; a characteristic of Cabins.

MEG COLLIS

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The Powerhouse Theatre - Thu Aug 26

Local quintet Swing Manouche open Brisbane’s first Gypsy Jazz festival with a generous set of jazz standards and gypsy originals from their recently released CD, Out Of Nowhere. Original track Up At The Lab is cool and breezy with a spirited clarinet solo, as frontman Ewan MacKenzie and accordion player Kay Sullivan alternately improvise. Saxophonist and vocalist Dan Cosgrove stylishly sings Michael Bublé’s All Of Me to an appreciative crowd of foot stomping retirees. The songs of two-fingered grandfather of gypsy jazz, Django Reinhardt feature heavily, as the quintet finish with his most famous tracks Minor Swing and Dark Eyes.

The Gypsy Swing Quintet of New Caledonia perform a similar set of Reinhardt classics, led by French guitarist Michel Trabelsi. Anniversary Song allows the group’s three guitarists to show off their mastery of “le pompe”, a distinctive percussive technique that takes the place of drums. As Michel speaks in a gentle French accent about “the paschion!” he feels for his music I’m filled with a sense of yearning, perhaps the secret to happiness lies with my dusty old guitar and an early caravan retirement. At any rate the Reinhardt hits keep coming – there’s the melancholy Blue Drag and exuberant Troublant Bolero, faultlessly executed by the acoustic guitar trio, double bassist, and violinist. Jewish folk song Yussel, Yussel (Joseph, Joseph) features extensive and frenetic guitar improvising of virtuoso standards. It just looks so damn easy! Reinhardt’s Minor Swing begins with bluegrass style duelling of the children’s song B-I-N-G-O and if you’ve seen Deliverance you’ll know just how intense these musical standoffs can be. George Gershwin’s well known ‘30s jazz standard I’ve Got Rhythm is met with great enthusiasm before an encore performance of yes, you guessed it … Reinhardt’s Dark Eyes.

MEG COLLIS

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The Cavern, Nobby Beach - Mon Aug 23

Novocastrian singer-songwriter Amy Vee is the curtain raiser at The Cavern’s weekly original acoustic showcase. Promoting her new Sleeping Dogs Lie EP, the set also draws from her time as a member of The Virtues. Onstage, Vee makes use of looped live sound – an innovative way to flesh out her warm, honeyed vocals and finger-plucked guitar.

Away from his eight-piece roots band, Tom Richardson takes the opportunity to show off his solo prowess. With some new songs on the set-list, the dreadlocked Victorian calls on Warrnambool slide guitarist Luke Watt to assist on a couple. They close with a blistering rendition of Robert Johnson’s Walking Blues – some distance from the Jack Johnson-esque roots that kicked the set off.

Haba Dudes are rounding the night out with their blend of gypsy and folk. Promoting their new album, Take From The Rich, the local quintet feature both a guest clarinettist and vocalist as they play a mix of new and old tracks. While their stripped back numbers make for pleasant adult contemporary listening, the more the band yield to their gypsy urges, the more entertaining they become. With a strong violin line holding everything together, they can afford to unleash more. Tonight’s gold coin donation cover charge = money well spent.

NILS HAY

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