Gig Lists - 2006

Last updated January 2008

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January


214. SNOWMAN
Love Like Violence 4 @ Amplifier Bar, Saturday January 15th, 2006

Snowman were damn brilliant at this show, I'd say the best set I've ever seen them play.  After the gig I wrote:

"I wanted to get down to this show in time to check out the Macarburettors but I was completely fucked from playing cricket and bowling 20 overs earlier in the day.  Hence all I ended up managing was to stagger down (literally) to catch Snowman, who were fucken' rad.  I hadn't seen them for about a year.  For the first half of their set Snowman played mostly new songs that that were very focused and catchy.  These new songs were very cool - Snowman's best crop of material yet. Joe-Snow was singing a lot of the new songs (rather than Andy), and a host of new instruments had been introduced into the songs and stage show.  It was quite incredible to watch the band's performance.  Ross was beating his skins like a madman, Andy was having lots of convulsive fits onstage (as well as screaming out "HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPHANIE EDWARDS!!!!" a lot) and Olga was brilliant as always.  After the new songs were out of the way the band played a bunch of older live favourites (Vampires, Frankenstein, Shake Your Brains, etc) plus two songs off their EP (Moodswing and Zombies on the Airwaves of Paris, which has got a bit of a makeover in how it is played - like all of the songs it's now faster, more powerful and to the point).  Some people were yelling out for Love is Murder for ages but the band didn't play it."

And on perthbands I wrote:

Snowman aren't an local band anymore, they've gone beyond that.  They had a sizeable and very enthusiastic crowd watching them, and their performance was so tight and powerful that locally they are way beyond their contemporaries.


215. THE PANICS, THE AVENUES & THE DIRTY SECRETS
Australia Day Celebrations @ Langley Park, Thursday Jan 26th, 2006

After spending a couple of hours down on the South Perth foreshore I got bored and did the massive trek to the other side of the river to watch the bands that were playing for free at Langley Park.  The Dirty Secrets were pretty boring / middle of the road.  The Avenues were ok - a lot better than the first time I saw them a couple of years ago.  They played their well known radio tunes (Company, Slow Moving), some new songs and a couple of covers (The Beatles' Taxman, which they introduced as "a song by our favourite band that isn't us" and History Never Repeats by Split Enz)

The band I really went across to see was The Panics.  They were great!  I was expecting them to be a bit shoegazey and boring, however they turned out to be really jovial and fun and looked really happy onstage.  Their set started with an instrumental song which I initially thought was the Star Spangled Banner (a hilarious song for the band to be playing on Australia Day!)  However it soon became apparent that the song was actually Advance Australia Fair!  I am evidently an idiot.

Jae Laffer made some interesting comments throughout the set, having a dig at the masses of inner-city residents watching the Australia Day Celebrations from the balconies of their million dollar foreshore apartments. "Happy Australia Day to the inner city residents, who it only takes one noise complaint from to shut down live music at your local pub for good" (a reference to the closure of the Grosvenor Hotel).  Jae also announced that everyone should remember that, "It is your god given right to have a beer in any public place you see fit, as long as you are not hurting anybody.".



February


216. BIG DAY OUT 2006
@ Claremont Showgrounds, Sunday February 5th, 2006


Highlights

Beasts of Bourbon = fucking awesome.  They played a bunch of classic songs (Let's Get Funky, Chase the Dragon, etc) and got James Baker up on stage to sing Dropout with them. At one point a bunch of people invaded the stage to dance crazily.  Most of these folks were from other bands (Adalita from Magic Dirt, Andrew from Wolfmother, Burke from, Gerling etc).  However, some random dude that Tex Perkins didn't recognise also jumped on.  Tex started screaming at the guy, "Take your fuckin' pants off!" and he didn't let up on the poor dude, who started shitting himself.

The Stooges - Even though they only played songs from their first two albums, they were fantastic and lived up to the hype that preceded them.  For a 59 year old Iggy Pop was rocking pretty damn hard - he still has the energy of a teenager.

Henry Rollins - doing his spoken word stuff - he was interesting and funny.

Meg White's rack


Lowlights

White Stripes - they were great back at the BDO back in 2003, but very ordinary this time around.  According to my notes they desecrated Pretty Good Looking For A Girl.

Another lowlight was the PA cutting in and out during Shihad's set



Full Line Up / Playing Times
I94bar Review of the BDO
X-Press Review

P.S. Most of the photos were borrowed from perthbands back in the day - I'm not sure who took them - if anyone knows tell me and I'll happily credit them.


217. NEW RULES FOR BOATS NO SHOW / MO WILSON & THE DRIVERS
WAMI showcase @ Forest Chase,  Wednesday February 22nd, 2006

I went to this lunchtime WAMI showcase in the Perth CBD to check out New Rules for Boats because I had heard good things about them.  Unfortunately they had pulled out of the show but Mo Wilson and the Drivers came to the rescue and filled their shoes.

From what I can vaguely remember, at this gig Rinnaz told me some a humorous story about Capital City...  apparently they were playing a show over east with Gentle Ben & His Sensitive Side, when they got kicked offstage for being too loud... to retaliate Capital City frontman Sam Scherr dropped his dacks... he subsequently got kicked out of the venue and had to spend GB's set outside!

New Rules For Boats X-Press Interview


218. WHITE SWALLOWS, THE ARACHNIDS & THE NEW INVINCIBLES
WAMI Dirty Rock 2 stager @ Hyde Park Hotel, Friday February 24th, 2006

and

219 RED JEZEBEL, THE SILENTS & THE BANK HOLIDAYS
WAMI Indie Showcase @ Amplifier /Capitol, Friday February 24th, 2006

and

220. SUBTRUCK
WAMI Heavy Rock / Metal showcase @ Rosemount Hotel, Friday February 24th, 2006


This was a fun night.  John, Buddah and I flittered between three WAMI shows.  I remember asking for playing times on perthbands before the gig and Heath told me I should stop gig hopping and just sit back, relax and order beer - which is damn good advice!

According to some notes which I wrote after the show:

  • The Arachnids singer reminded me of Chad Kroeger from Nickelback (appearance, not voice!)
  • Kim the White Swallows frontman forgot his glasses and couldn't read his setlist, so he kept having to pick it up off the ground after each song and hold it up close to his eyes, much to the amusement of the crowd.  Drummer Dan Salter had just got a cowbell which he kept whacking randomly during the last few songs.
  • The Silents "blew me away" and had "great hair, great lightshow, great performance"
  • Phil Subtruck said that he wasn't going to say anything funny onstage because Mike Wafer wasn't in the crowd reviewing the band (!!!)
  • We found a sticky Penthouse in the toilets in the parking center next to the Amplifier... gross... John or Buddah claimed it and at the end of the night it was 'donated' to my poor brother.


March


221. THE SILENTS, SNOWMAN & RED JEZEBEL
"Flicker & Flames" CD Launch @ Amplifier Bar, Saturday March 18th, 2006

I can't remember much about this show.  I watched a bit of Red Jez and Snowman, who were ok. Even though it was The Silents CD launch, I piked before  played because I was too fucked from playing cricket earlier in the day.  It was also Michelle's 21st down the road at the Belgian Beer Cafe and I spent some time down there chatting to folks, it was fun.


222. LOU BARLOW
@ Rosemount Hotel, Sunday March 19th, 2006

My uni mate John bought himself and his friend Karlie tickets to see Lou Barlow, but she piked on him.  I was lucky enough to score the resultant spare ticket (for free)!  Barlow played an awesome 90 minute set.  It was very indie - lotsa people sitting down in front of the stage.  John and I kicked back on the couches towards the back.  I'm not too familiar with Barlow/Dinosaur Jr/Folk Implosion's back catalogue so I can't tell you what songs he played, but they sounded great.  Barlow filled the gaps between songs with loads of funny banter about topics such as Simpsons marathons on TV, stories about drummers and discovering old Rosemount Hotel accounting books. I had fun.

Lou Barlow X-Press Interview


223. SUBTRUCK & THE FUZZ
Pig Iron CD Launch @ Amplifier, Saturday March 25th, 2006

Oddly enough, I filmed this gig, but I don't remember much about it, which is because I spent most of Subtruck's set worrying about framing shots, f-stops and sound levels!  If you want to see the results you should check out the Get Trucked DVD which features a bunch of my footage from this gig.  The Fuzz were a bit good too - some drunkard got up onstage with during You Must Be Dead and had a little sing and dance along.

Pig Iron CD Review in X-Press Magazine



224. 6 FT HICK
@ UWA Tav, Friday March 31st, 2006

This 6ft hick was fantastic!

This show is best summarised in two ways.

i) Tony, the Six Ft Hick bass player's comments on the Time Off Message Board:

First 5 seconds of the set, Ben jumped on the kids table in front of the stage and smashed a beer glass on his head. I laughed out loud at the expression on their faces. They thought they were gonna die, I think. Great venue too. How is it a university has waterfront property with a massive cool tavern/pub thing?!  I'm gonna say it again, Perth kicks ass.

ii) A video I filmed/edited of Six Ft Hick's set.  Enjoy!




Six Ft Hick X-Press Interview



April


225. THE DARKNESS
@ Metro City, Tuesday April 4th, 2006

I was pretty excited about this show because The Darkness were great at the Perth Big Day Out back in 2004.  Before the show I knocked back some beers with my friends Donna and Tom at the Brass Monkey. We then walked past another bar where some girl was doing a HORRIBLE rendition of I Believe In A Thing Called Love.  By the time we got to Metros it was totally packed out (sold out show) and we found ourselves in a shit spot... although I discovered an ex-Esperance kid was working behind the bar and he gave us free drinks so that was good.

My bad spot in the crowd may have contributed to my lack of enjoyment of this gig.  I didn't think the Darkness were terrible, but I did think they were a shadow of their former selves.  After the gig I wrote that Justin Hawkins looked like:

"A pale bloated rock star with bad man boobs that made him look like a woman."

Also, the Darkness did the whole "We love you Perth you are our best crowd ever" thing, which sounded lame - although apparently they were genuine (see below).

Pretty much everyone else I know who went to this show loved it, so maybe they weren't that bad.  I dunno.

Here's Wafer's review of the gig that was published in X-Press.

Dan Hawkins wrote this about the gig in the Darkness Tour Diary.

"April 4, 2006 Metro City, Perth, Australia: The last time we were here was for the Big Day Out tour in 2004 and it was the most ridiculously debauched tour we had ever done. It was also the most fun, getting to hang out, and travel with the other bands on the bill day after day is a very rare (and dangerous) thing. Aussies seem to be able to enjoy themselves at a show more than anyone else, which is why it is (and has been since Big Day Out), our favourite place to tour in the world.

Very jet lagged but still very excited we went out and did our best and the crowd were the loudest we've ever encountered (even louder than Milan!) They were deafening, and well up for rocking out. There were so many people trying to get in the queue was twice round the block and we had to go on later than planned to fit them in! The whole show was one big highlight and the party after, legendary… This Australian tour is going to be amazing…"



226. ZX SPECKY & PYTHON
Ben's Birthday Smash @ Hydey, Saturday April 8th, 2006


The press release for this show, as posted by Superstar Benny Mayhem on perthbands, read...

SATURDAY APRIL 8 @ HYDE PARK HOTEL
Bender's Birthday Smash 2006... presented exclusively by Blazing Strumpet Promotions!

Project Mayhem front-man, proud member of zxspecky, and independent record label executive "Superstar" Benny Mayhem cordially invites you to his Birthday Smash gig at the Hydey. Come down, it's free entry, cheap pool (40 cents!), even cheaper people (seriously!). There may even be complimentary treats, for those of you who get in early...

Here's the lineup:
PROJECT MAYHEM
ZXSPECKY
PYTHON
UNFAIR DISMISSAL
SUPERVILLAIN


Here's the rest:
Where: Higgins' Hyde Park Hotel, 331 Bulwer Street, West Perth 6005
When: 8pm till 1am (seriously, be early and reap the rewards)
Who: Bender regrets that, under Western Australian Liquor Licencing Laws, his teenage friends and pre-teen lovers are not permitted to enter the venue. All persons over the age of 18 are encouraged to attend this important society event. At a press conference earlier today Ben told the public: 'Bring me your eccentrics, your lunatics, your geniuses and retards; for I am your messiah'. Better do as he says."


I came to this gig following my Cricket windup dinner, so I was dressed in a suit and felt a bit out of place given I was at a Hydey punk rock show.  Thankfully I was pretty smashed, so I didn't care too much.  ZX Specky's new songs were great.  Also at this show I gave one of my four Jed Whitey Mongoloid Cage Match LPs to Sam from my cricket club.


227. THE PHARAOHS, THE WEDNESDAY SOCIETY & THE FAULT
Love Like Violence 5 @ Amplifier Bar, Saturday April 15th, 2006

This gig saw Duceman return to Perth for the first time in four months, but it was all a bit anti-climatic. After the show I wrote:

This gig was actually pretty boring. Band wise The Fault were ok, The Wednesday Society were better than the other times I'd seen 'em and The Pharaohs seemed pretty good but their mix was completely shit. They finished with a cover of Breed by Nirvana... they introduced it as "a song by the only band in the last 15 years that has mattered" or something along those lines.


Duceman took a lot of photos of himself at this gig - see below for a selection.




Love Like Violence Live Review, X-Press


May


228. HEAVY WEIGHT CHAMP & THEMATA (KARNIVOOL)
Lo-Fi Funeral CD Launch @ Amplifier Bar, Friday May 5th, 2006

My memory of this show is pretty hazy.  I have never really gotten into Karnivool, so I was pretty bored during their acoustic set (although it was pretty amazing to see how popular they are - the massive crowd response/screams they were generating was not something I was used to seeing at the Amplifier).  What I saw of Heavy Weight Champ was pretty good, although I spent most of their set talking to folks outside.  According to some notes I wrote after the gig I was laughing my ass off at Joel telling me about how he had to explain the difference between 'ass' and 'arse' to some kids at his school... but as I said at the start, it's all pretty hazy now :-(


CD Launch Review, X-Press


229. MACH PELICAN, ELECTRIC EEL SHOCK & THE VOLCANICS
@ Amplifier Bar, Friday May 12th, 2006


I knew nothing about Electric Eel Shock before they stepped onstage.  They proceeded to BLOW ME THE FUCK AWAY with the best set I saw in 2006 by a longshot.  They were kinda like a mix between Black Sabbath and Monkey Magic (the tv show)!  Their songs were catchy and humorous, but it was the stage show REALLY caught my attention.  There were loads of choreographed jumps in the air, basses over heads, guitars in mouths, and a drummer playing nude except for an extra long sock on his cock.  When the guitarist was playing big solos the drummer would stand up on the kit and pretend he was playing a big solo too.  Hilarious.  The photo above gives you an idea of what was going on (although these pics wasn't from the Amplifer show - they come from a show in Melbourne a few days later, and were posted on messandnoise.com)

Mach Pelican were awesome too - all the hits, a bunch of new songs, and a heap of covers (I wanna be sedated, Rock n roll high school, The KKK took my baby away, Television addict).  The crowd went nuts.  There was plenty of stage diving going on.  One idiot security guard tried to grab a stage invader, but all the security guard succeeded in doing was knocking the Mach Pelican bass players' mic stand over.

This was a great show!  It is why I go and see rock bands!

Mike Wafer's review of the show published in X-Press summed up the night perfectly - you should read it.

X-Press Review
Mach Pelican Interview, X-Press, May 2006


230. AUGIE MARCH
@ Rosemount Hotel, Friday May 19th, 2006

Augie March are my good friend Jo's all time favourite band.  For years she had been telling me how great they are live, so I went along to this gig to see what all the fuss was about.  Thanks to Jo I scored an awesome spot, second row back from the front of stage (pretty good considering it was a sell out.

I was expecting Augie March to be kinda boring onstage, but they were actually pretty entertaining.  There is No Such Place was brilliant and literally brought a tear to my eye.  Another highlight was drummer Dave who was quite the comedian, talking shit between songs and cracking lots of jokes.  Towards the end of the set some random girl next to Jo and I lit up a joint and started blowing it in our direction.  Glenn Richards started mentioning something on stage about things going all "green" :-)

The set consisted of: The Cold Acre, Just Passing Through, The Baron Of Sentiment, Mother Greer, Thin Captain Crackers, The Honey Month, Bottle Baby, Sunstroke House, One Crowded Hour, Here Comes The Night, Brundisium, Song In The Key Of Chance, The Night Is A Blackbird, Clockwork, (Encore), There Is No Such Place, Train.


June


231. HARD ONS
@ Rosemount, Friday June 2nd, 2006

I love the Hard Ons.  It's disappointing that they aren't appreciated by a wider audience (there was only about 100 people in the room for this show) because they are a fucking amazing live band.  I walked in during their opening song, Every Time I Hear Techno I Pray For Death, and stood behind a dude who literally had his fingers in his ears because it was so loud!  I put my earplugs in, but it made the band sound shit and I couldn't hear Blackie's vocals, so I took one earplug out and everything sounded better.  However it was FUCKEN LOUD and my ear was fucked after the show.  It's amazing that one guitar can produce so much volume.

The band played a lot of new heavy songs that were eventually released on Most People are Nicer than us, a couple of tunes from Most People Are  A Waste of Time and a few classics (Just being with you, Don't wanna see you cry, Raining, Suck n swallow - which was epic as per usual).  Ray Ahn did his patented 'light cigarette / balance on tongue trick', and played lots of bass while it was positioned behind his head.  The band had a few problems e.g., Blackie knocked the kick drum mic over, but didn't realise he'd done so, and then complained to the sound guy that he didn't have enough kick his foldback!  Also Ray sang way more than usual, and I wasn't a big fan - he's rendition of Race Track was pretty awful.

Although the crowd was small, they were energetic.  The area at the front of stage was filled with glass and beer at the end of the set.  One trashed old dude got on stage and had a jump around, much to the bemusement of Ray and Blackie.  Later on the same dude got onstage again and gave Ray a bag with either a pill or some weed in it (I couldn't tell from where I was standing) which got a few laughs.

Most People Are A Waste Of Time CD Review, X-Press, April 2006
Interview, X-Press, May 2006


232. GIANTS OF SCEIENCE, THE FUZZ, KILL DEVIL HILLS & THE GIN CLUB
@ Rosemount Hotel, Sunday June 18th, 2006


The press release for this tour proclaimed:

Attention all fine Australian citizens. There are more things going on in this fair nation than the Socceroos feeble but worthless attempt for world domination. One of those goings on is being bought to you by Plus One Records and it starts next Saturday in Fremantle WA when our favourite sons The Gin Club and Giants Of Science take on a nation (or at least a state) when they join up with their West Oz cousins The Kill Devil Hills and the Fuzz for some very special dates in Perth, Fremantle and South West WA. So before you use the winter blues as an excuse, get on out, tell your friends, as there's a circus coming to town and it's full of the finest bands in the land (or clowns depending on how you look at it).

I had been waiting YEARS for the Giants of Science to return to Perth after their fantastic 2003 tour.  Unfortunately, they returned during the middle of my exams, so I could only get to one show. Not many punters turned up to the Rosemount - there were probably only 30-40 payers in the room.  The bands were all pretty stellar, especially the Gin Club who were probably the highlight of the night.  Ben Salter demonstrated his multi-instrumental prowess by playing guitar, bass and drums and singing at various times during their set!  His voice was awesome.  The Kill Devil Hills and The Fuzz were also good.  The Giants started off a little dodgy but picked up... they played Sisters, Mega Fauna, Snow Pea, Marcia Brady, Complete This Progression, Letter B, I Got It, Here is the punishment and maybe one more tune.  Steve's drumming was awesome, but the set was a bit anti climatic, partly due to the lack of punters in attendance.


233. YOU AM I, THE DRONES & THE SILENTS
@ Metros Freo, Friday June 23rd, 2006

This gig was pretty awesome.  I went with Trippo, John and his girlfriend Jess (who incidentally is a hairdresser and jokingly commented that John's dreads are 'prone to disease'!).  John was driving, so I took the opportunity to get drunk!

We scored the best spot in the sold out venue - in the upstairs section, front row, dead center.  The only problem being that there was some bitch next to me trying to weasel her way into our stellar spot by having physical and verbal fisticuffs.  Her argument was that i) She had been coming to see You Am I for 12 years, ii) I am only 23, so couldn't have been as big a fan as her due to my age iii) she should therefore be able to claim the spot I/John/Trippo/Jess had scored square and fair.  I pretty much told her to fuck off.

Band wise: we first caught a bit of the Silents.  I like their them.  They remind me of the 60s/psychedelia, but they put their own slant on it.  I thought The Drones played a great set, although Trippo disagreed with my assessment.  You Am I were FANTASTIC.  Their set started off with a bunch of new tunes before launching into a heap of classics, and I was in heaven.

Setlist: Thuggery, The Sweet Life, Baby Clothes, By My Own Hand, Gunslingers, Friends Like You, Good Mornin', Mr Milk,  Cathy's Clown, Handwasher (Tim Solo), Purple Sneakers (Tim Solo), Ordinary (Tim Solo), Jammies Got A Gal, Secrets, It Ain't Funny How We Don't Talk Anymore, Constance George, A Nervous Kid, Rumble, Berlin Chair, Thank God I've Hit Rock Bottom (encore) How Much Is Enough, Jewels And Bullets, Open All Night.



The Drones Interview, X-Press, April 2006
You Am I Interview, X-Press, June 2006


234. INSTITUIT POLAIRE, PAPERTRAIL, NEWS FOR AIRWAVES & SANSSANGRIA (ACOUSTIC)
Rohan's Birthday Bash @ Swan Basement, Friday June 31st, 2006

This particular day I went and swapped Custard rarities with Chad Burger at the Flying Scotsman for a couple of hours.  I went and hung out with Jo. I felt sick (headachey), but gorging some delicious Pizza With Attitude and watching the Mighty Boosh made me feel better.  We decided on the spur of the moment to go to Rohan (aka Bird of Paradox from Perthbands.com)'s birthday gig at the Swan Basement.  We had a great time, although much of it was spent sitting at the back of the venue pulling the piss out of everyone and everything that was going on.  I can't remember too much about the bands but Instituit Polaire were fab, definitely the pick of the night.


July


235. CAPITAL CITY (YES) SNOWMAN / THE SILENTS (NO!)
@ Rosemount Hotel, Saturday July 1st, 2006

The press release for this show read:

At the Rosemount this Saturday July 1st, some of Perth’s finest young bands of the rock and or roll persuasion play a show for the joy of the show itself. That’s right folks, it’s not a t-shirt launch, no-ones birthday and it’s certainly not a tribute night. However it will be one of the most smoking hot line-up’s seen in this fine town this year, local or not. Check this…. Snowman, who have recently returned from 2 quick-fire east coast tours supporting The Liars and playing their own headline shows over there, play their last gig before their album launch in August. They won’t be sighted in July due to a little foray into Reykjavik for half of the rhythm section, so get down to see them while you can. The Silents, who recently returned from a tour of the east coast with The Exploders, take a little breather after this show, so see the best dressed band on Rove Live while you can.  Capital City – well we thought we had lost them to London but it wasn’t to be the case, now they are back playing better than ever with a sniff of dance-ability to the swagger, the snottiest band in Perth are always a good addition to a show. Hoopers Store – we just like ‘em and they are bloody good. Tops Line-up. Tops time. See you there, tickets on the door."

For such a stellar lineup, the gig turned out to be a big non-event, at least for me personally.  I felt shithouse beforehand (possibly due to staying up until 4am the night before watching Custard videos I'd just got from Chad Burger and DF Hannah).  I wouldn't have gone to the show, except I'd told Heath and Jon Miller that I would give them Snowman and Mclusky CDs.  I turned up and was surprised to find Capital City playing to a pretty empty room.  I saw a couple of their songs, they were excellent.  Then I went and gave Heath his cds and he told me that his girlfriend had just gone to see Guns n Roses and they were shit!  I then went home and died.


236. YEAH YEAH YEAHS
@ Metros Freo, Fri July, 14th, 2006

This was one of the most disappointing gigs of the year.  I was meant to go and see 6ft Hick at the Amplifier with Trippo and Matthew, but then I got offered a free ticket to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and I took it up as the band's recorded stuff isn't bad!  Unfortunately live the YYYs were very underwhelming.  They only played for 40-45 minutes before leaving the stage.  The crowd started cheering for an encore, but slowly a few boos started coming out when it looked like the band would not return.  However they eventually did come back on stage, played for another 10 minutes, and then left for good.  The mix was horrible for the first few songs of the set, and lots of sounds seemed to be pre-recorded (I could hear keyboards when no one onstage was playing keys!).  There was no banter from the band, and Karen O was nothing special in terms of a frontman.

The YYYs just didn't cut it. They weren't terrible, and with all the Metros lights and a huge crowd it was easy to tolerate them, but I think if they'd played the same set as the first band on at the Hydey or Amps without the expensive lightshow and hype, I wouldn't have paid much attention to them.  Buddah (who gave me the free ticket) liked them, but I know a lot of other people who went who, like me, were severely under whelmed by their set this particular evening.


237. SIX FT HICK & CAPITAL CITY
@ Mojos, Saturday July 15th, 2006

This gig was cool.  Matt, Trippo and I went to some 21st beforehand (actually I just rocked up for a while and ate free cake and tried to look like I knew who's 21st it was, even though I had no idea).  Then we went to Mojos.  I got in for free (thanks Rinnaz!).  Upon venturing to the bar I was instantly reminded of my love for spirits at Mojos - their glasses are HUGE.  Trippo also tried to play this arcade deer shooting game which looked awesome, but the damn machine wouldn't work and stole his $2.

Anyway, the bands.  We caught the tail end of Capital City's set.  They were great.  I love their new songs.  As for Six Ft Hick, their set this particular evening was the 'pick' of those I saw from them in 2006.  WIthin about 10 second of the start of their set, Gentle Ben was in a fight with a punter at the front of the stage, and was trying to put him in a headlock because the dude was pulling finger signs at the band.  The same guy was (literally) fighting other people later on too, including I think the manager of Mojos (see Tony Six Ft Hick's account of events below).  Gentle Ben was pumped after fighting this guy, and said something about "That's PUNK, PUNKS!"  He was also going on about how "People like Grant McLennan and the Ramones keep dying, but Jet keep living."  During one of his adventures into the crowd, Ben threw his sweaty torso onto Trippo.  I don't think he was impressed.  Ben also harassed a bunch of people dressed as Pirates, yelling at them "Aaarrrgh walk my plank"  Meanwhile, Geoffro Corbett announced that rock n roll is all about "Drinking piss and having sex with the person to your right, left, in front of you or behind you" at which point Ben responded "I'm spoilt for choice."  Geoff told some bad joke about how the Beaconsfield Miners trapped underground were so horny they joined the mile below club.  There were also the usual Six Ft Hick shenanigans - glasses smashed on heads, chests lit on fire, Ben moonwalking on the bar, climbing roof fixtures during All in Flames (and having some punter pour beer all over his chest and crotch - priceless).  I should also say that the band sounded fucking great - the oft-forgotten men playing the instruments (Dan/Tony/Fred) were on fire.  Geoff mentioned that Fred is a heritage-listed memeber of rock n roll according ("you can't knock him down") and Tony looked a bit worried when Geoff started unbuttoning his shirt during Beat Myself.

It was an awesome set, Matt and Trippo (who were losing their Hick-virginity) were impressed.

Tony (Six Ft Hick bass player) had this to write about the day/gig on his myspace tour diary:

"We lounged around watching the Mighty Boosh on DVD until our gig at Fremantle. I was feeling a little seedy from the previous nights gig, but after a gournet chicken burger from the joint next to Mojos and a beer, I was feeling fine. Sure Fire Midnights started their set and sounded great. Kate's guitar had decided to self destruct before the show so she was using Dan's Les Paul Jr, and she sounded awesome. She had a full Angus Young sound. There were two 'old school' punks slam dancing during the whole set, pogo-ing around and slam dancing into each other. Kind of cleared the front stage area a bit, but the SFM's drummer was giggling the whole way through. After them was Capital City. They sounded good, played good and the crowd thought they were good. But when they got off stage they said their set sucked... Dudes!!! Geez, if that was a crap set, I'd love to see a good one.

We got on and started our set, all things going well. Then durring the intro to 'Shitbird', I saw Ben jump off stage and try to unattach one of the afore mentioned 'old skool' punks head from his shoulders. This kept going and going, so we just kept playing the intro until Ben either killed this guy, this guy killed Ben, or the crowd kills both of them... Ben finally jumps on stage and starts singing the tune... But it's the chorus where it was supposed to be the verse... FARK@!! Anyway, we pull it together and finish the song. Afterwards Ben says to the dude that he doesn't appreciate people in the crowd giving him the bird (he doesn't like it. Trust me) The guy yells out "I'm from Queensland!" which somehow made sense. Then he gave Ben the bird again. We kept on playing and then I saw Pantha, the manager of the place started trying to kill this same dude. He had to be pulled off the guy by two of his bouncers. Apart from that the show was great. Kate & Krystal Jacknife kept heckling me by going "TOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNY" which was making me crack up and lose my total utter cool rock god mystique (I do look cool up there, don't I?! DON'T I?!!) We finished up the set and finished off our rider. We then all headed back to Jacknife HQ for many beers and Doritos. I was still feeling the effects of my flu so I fell alseep on the couch until it was time to head home. (I'm not quite sure how I got home, actually... I think Chris Capital City drove back) Anyway, I popped some Codral and went to sleep."


August


238. ROCKBAND
@ Campus Bands Curtin, Friday August 18th, 2006

This hardly classifies as a gig - I just ducked into the tav for 20 minutes during a lunchbreak at uni to see what was going on at the Campus Band heats.  I had the misfortune of witnessing an awful act called Rockband. I wrote on perthsounds:

I had to attend oral presentations at uni this afternoon, but had a 1/2 hour break for lunch, so i ducked up to the tav where campus bands was on.  I think I saw 'Rockband.'  During their first song their guitarist literally fell offstage.  It was funny.  Their first song sounded a lot like early Grinspoon.  Then, for their second song, they played a Grinspoon cover! At the end of their set they announced that tonight they are playing at the Bentley Stadium Sportsbar "with another great Perth band the J-Babies."

Every now and then it's good to have an atrocious band like this one inflicted on you... it makes you appreciate all the good bands in Perth.


239. TREES WITHOUT KNEES, BURGERS OF BEEF, ZX SPECKY & THE DOOZERS
Trees Without Knees Farewell gig / 'Lamefest' festival @ Mojos, Thursday August 24th, 2006

This particular afternoon Duceman return to Perth after spending many horrible months in Kalgoorlie.  Literally only a few hours after landing in Perth and we were at Mojo's celebrating the occasion.  The Doozers were pretty bad, but pretty funny.  They gave away chocolates during their set, which is always a crowd pleaser (well at least I was impressed).  There was some guy on stage with them who did nothing for the whole set but wear dark sunglasses and look really uncomfortable.  After the Doozers I went and talked to Chad Burger and met Pete Burger.  They had made me awesome Burgers Karaoke CDs.  They're great!  Up next were ZX Specky, who were the musical highlight of the evening, in particular their new tune with the refrain "Morning Birds, Fuck Off!  Morning Birds, Get Fucked!"  Superstar Benny Mayhem kept the crowd entertained with witty banter about all things lame (the show had been billed as "Lamefest").  Trees Without Knees were ok without being brilliant (although their Slinky song is great).  I then joined Duceman and talked to the ZX Specky dudes for a while and discovered that the aim of Dennis' musical career is to meet Myf Warhurst.  I reckon they should write a song about her.

Review of the gig - from Perthsounds
Burgers of Beef Ride To Victory CD Review, X-Press, March 2006


September


240. SUBTRUCK & TENGO FEUGO
@ Amplifier, Friday September 8th, 2006

This show was cool!  Alison, Gareth, Jo, Jeanni and Duceman were all there.  Duceman was getting shout outs from the bands for his return to Perth!  I was impressed by Tengo Fuego - I wrote afterwards: "Tengo were fucking cool, hail their riffage!"  Subtruck were brilliant as always, and pulled out a few olden gems such as Hardman.  Joking was the highlight of the night for me though - the bands' new songs are definitely a cut above their earlier material.  Afterwards I met Greg and Zoe Fuego (who are awesome) and we talked about all things Weezer, Fergusons/Bi Polar Bears and Ten Speed Racer. I was having a great old time and could have stayed at Amps for ages, but I had to be at Uni at 9am the next morning, so I left about 1.30.


241. THE BUZZCOCKS & CAPITAL CITY
@ Amplifier Bar, Sunday September 17th, 2006


The Buzzcocks were fucking awesome!  For a bunch of old bastards, they were full of energy - the effort they put into their set put pretty much all of the younger bands I saw in 2006 to shame.  They played a slew classics, bar my favourite (Everybody's Happy Nowadays), so I was pretty chuffed.  I also saw Capital City for the first time with Kate on second guitar.  I thought they were great.  They had a few technical problems (Kate broke a couple of strings, so they reverted to a three piece for a couple of songs).  After hearing a few songs with two guitars, when they went back to one I thought they sounded weak, revealing how much better they are with two guitars.  Mike Wafer's X-Press Review painted an entirely different story (I love Wafer's reviews, but totally disagree with him on this one).  Sam Scherr was also pulling out his wisecracks - I remember him having a go at West Coast Eagles supporters (saying that they were gonna go down, and Freo would win the flag.  He would have to eat his words!)

Gareth wrote a sweet review of the show on his blog, which I have cut and pasted below:

Here's my chance again to play "dodgy amateur gig reviewer". Mike Wafer... your job is safe.

Tonight: The Buzzcocks, supported by Burton Cool Suit and Capital City. Burton Cool Suit got onstage and started proceedings with some pleasant jangly indie rock. I can't say it really did it for me. They played well enough, it was just kind of pleasant and safe; not the kind of dangerous "I just spat at your grandmother" rock so beloved by Perth's punk scene. At some points in their set they did pull out one or two different moves, playing some harder stuff and the 2nd guitarist playing some nice quirky keys. But yeah, not really my scene. They played well all the same.

Capital City. I profess to be behind the eightball in regards to this band. I've been going to (and playing) gigs for years, and they have been playing for years, yet I have never seen them play before. Tonight they struggled with some technical difficulties, with their (relatively) new guitarist breaking the same string on her guitar twice (damn!). This broke up their set a bit. Sam, however, was a good rock n' roll singer, and I liked their mish-mash of rock, punk, blues etc. It had charm despite the disjointed set and broken strings. Apparently this wasn't one of their better nights, so I'd be stoked to watch them on a good one. The Buzzcocks. They strode out, Pete Shelley looking for all the world like your portly, cheery Uncle Bob who you only see at Christmas time. Ok, so they are old: in their 50s. We can't expect our punk legends not to have aged since 1976. And, in fact, they are the rockingest bunch of middle-aged guys around. Steve Diggle was the rock and roll animal, leaping about, pulling Townsend-esque windmills and generally hyping the crowd up. Pete Shelley, a more sedate stage presence, was in fine voice, sounding exactly like every one of those classic recordings. The set list began with new material, roughly about 5 songs. And they were good. But we were all hanging out for the classics. "Autonomy", "Love you more", "What do I get?", "Harmony in my head" and the absolute gem "Ever fallen in love (with someone you shouldn't have)". Fucking brilliant.

Steve Diggle complained throughout the gig of getting electric shocks from his mic, at one point telling the sound guy "I'm getting shocked you cunt". It didn't detract from his performance, however. At the end of the show he dramatically grabbed his mic stand and threw it down on the stage before shaking hands with those close to the stage.

The audience at this gig were pretty funny. Lots of British expats. Loud, obnoxious and drunk, they had a good time I'm sure. Kinda cool to see all age groups at this gig, mingling in a shared appreciation of good tunes. One of my questions before this gig was "Do you think there'll be a mosh pit?". Sure enough, the sweaty behemoths and over-enthusiastic punters (boys AND girls... let's not be sexist) formed a rugby scrum in the front of the stage for all of the Buzzcocks set, Pete Shelley watching intently at one point as a whole heap of them fell over. To be fair to them, I felt like jumping around like a loon at one or two points in the set.

So, in conclusion, I have tinnitis (massive ringing in my ears). And I'm also satisfied. Great gig, easily worth the 40 bucks. If anyone's interested, I will be uploading the three short vids I shot onto youtube. https://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Gorath79 (watch that space)."


Buzzcocks Interview in X-Press
X-Pressive Review


242. THE FAUVES & BURGERS OF BEEF
@ Prince Of Wales (Bunbury), Friday September 22nd, 2006

and

243. DAN KELLY & THE ALPHA MALES
@ Amplifier Bar, Saturday September 23rd, 2006

and

244. THE FAUVES & BURGERS OF BEEF
@ The Paddo, Sunday September 24th, 2006

This weekend was great!  I summed it up nicely by writing a blog at the time on myspace (cut and pasted below).  Notably, although one of my all time favourite bands was in town (The Fauves) and I loved seeing them, my favourite part of the weekend was the totally unexpected and fun couple of hours I spent at Amps on the Saturday night post-Dan Kelly.

WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD

The last few days have been awesome fun! So much so that I am actually motivated to write a blog! On Thursday night eight of us ex-Esperance-ites went to see the Lano & Woodley farewell tour at the Regal theatre.  They were pretty good without being brilliant. The best part was probably when some random dude at the front of the crowd jumped out of his seat mid-set and bolted through the theatre because he was busting to go to the toilet.  Woodley ran after him and then started to broadcast the man's toilet adventures to the crowd, which left the gent very red faced when he re-entered the theatre.

On Friday afternoon I went down to Bunbury to visit my folks and see one of my favourite band's, The Fauves, play at the Prince of Wales. Apparently the band's show at Dunsborough the night before was a bit of a disaster, with only a handful of disinterested punters showing up. On stage Coxy apparently noted that, "This is our 980th show, and it doesn't even rate in the top 950" and afterwards the Doctor commented that, "In terms of meaningless experiences that was right up there."  Incidentally, my friend Donna told me that the show had received a plug on Hot FM (country commercial radio station) along the lines of: "Come to the 3 Bears Bar and see the Forves, remember, the band that sang that Dog song"). Anyhow, Bunbury. Prince of Wales. The crowd was reportedly better than the night before, as they paid more attention to the bands and danced a bit etc. I don't know anyone in Bunbury, so I felt a little alienated at the start of the show but then the Fauves came on and they were great, and afterwards I went and hung out with the Burgers of Beef tour party who were all very lovely and funny. Mongoloid Dave heartily endorses all things associated with Burgers of Beef. After the show Chad Burger, who is also a mega-Fauves fan, took it upon himself to introduce me to Coxy. I was a little apprehensive about this because for years Coxy has commented in interviews/articles that, (i) he has no idea what to say to random fans that approach him after gigs and (ii) he has a pathological fear of awkward situations. Thankfully things seemed to go ok and I tried to not say anything too dumb. Someone then told Fauves bass maestro Terry who I was and he came and mauled me which I found highly amusing and it topped off my night nicely!

I then proceeded to try and find my way back my parents house. It should have been a 5 minute trip, but ended up taking me about 25 because I got horribly lost. This is no surprise because my spatial/navigational skills are SHIT - as proven at Uni a couple of weeks ago when we had to administer IQ tests on each other and my spatial/navigational skills came out at borderline retardation level, where as my verbal/maths/comprehension skills kick ass. Apparently usually women have better verbal skills and men better spatial skills, so I am evidently a woman trapped in the body of man :-)

On Saturday I woke up with a horrible head ache and then hung out with my parents and watched the footy before driving back to Perth. I arrived in time to have some food and then race into the Amplifier to watch Dan Kelly & the Alpha Males. They were pretty awesome and spent lots of time slagging James Blunt and Thirsty Merc.  Towards the end of the set Duceman rocked up.  He was raging, as he'd just come from a wedding where he'd devoured 15 pints. It had been my intention to stagger into the Amps, watch the set, and stagger home immediately afterwards, but I ended up staying for a couple of hours afterwards and had arguably the best time of the weekend talking crap to various folks and watching Liam trying to start trouble with Sydney Swans fans. I also gave Liam (and inadvertently myself) a particularly memorable but highly embarrassing and inappropriate introduction to his new best friend Jill... so bad i shall not go into it for fear of retribution and possible jail sentences.

On Sunday night I ventured to the Paddo to see Burgers of Beef and The Fauves again. I was meant to meet Donna (and Trippo) there, and even though they were inside the venue for the whole time I was, it took us about an hour to actually find each other. The Burgers were in total rock mode and sounded noticeably faster and heavier than usual, and in between advertisements for Pert hair products they were doing little rock scissor kicks and stuff, they were great! The Fauves were EXCELLENT. They looked genuinely happy on stage, they got a good reception from the crowd, there was lots of amusing banter between songs, and they dipped a little further into the back catalogue that in Bunbury, pulling out a few Lazy Highways tunes and even Understanding Kyuss in the encore. Between songs the band would often tune up, and play one or two notes/chords to check their tuning. From hearing the chord(s) I was able to tell Donna in advance what each song was going to be, and I got everything correct. After the gig I met Jen Mountford (Ben ex-Fuzz drummers sister) and she gave me a heap of TOTALLY AWESOME tapes for a Custard/Dave McCormack DVD I'm compiling. They are hilarious - Molly Meldrum daftly talking about his favourite recipes involving Custard, the band discussing Ringo Starr's virginity, etc.

Coming home from the gig I got lost again. Damn those navigational skills.

Yesterday I went into work feeling very smiley and happy after a fun weekend, but I then struggled to get through my shift as I was fucked from the weekend. Then last night John, Jo and 3/4 of the Fergusons came around and we all watched the Fergusons DVD that I've been working on for months and just finished. I was a little apprehensive before showing the band the DVD, because it's quite revealing and the start of it plays out a bit like an episode of the Osborne's. Thankfully the band loved it and were laughing out loud for the majority of the screening. I am glad Jo was there to see this because she spent a lot of time helping me with the DVD (thanks 'fiend!). After the screening I crashed badly because I was by now completely fucked from the weekend and also because the little DVD screening was the culmination of months of work and I'd been a bit nervous.

As a result of last night I now have 1 1/2 cartons of Coopers and James Boag's sitting in my fridge, so I think I may be able to get myself through the next few days."


X-Press Interview with Coxy from The Fauves
Photos of the Fauves Saturday Show - by Dylan McArdle (I wasn't at that gig)


245. THE GRATES, NEW RULES FOR BOATS & GIGANTIC
@ Metropolis Fremantle, Friday September 29th, 2006


The gig was pretty awesome. It was the day before the AFL Grand Final between West Coast and Sydney so there was excitement in the air!  The night commenced with me picking Duceman up from the city. He was MAGGOT because he had just passed his iinet exam and he and his coworkers had been at the pub for hours celebrating.  We then went and collected former Curtin guild wench Katy McGregor, and headed to Fremantle and joined the queue to get into Metropolis.  Luck would have it that drunken Duce would spot the effervescent Jill (who we had met the previous weekend) in the line and we ended up hanging out with her and her lovely friend Jacinta (who was celebrating her birthday) for the rest of the night, which was lots of fun.

Getting into the grand final spirit was one football mad New Rules For Boats drummer (Joe) who, from memory, wore an Eagle mask for most of the band's set!  Speaking of New Rules, after a false start earlier in the year I was quite excited to see them. They were great, and lived up to all my expectations.  THey possess catchy songs AND great stage presence / funny banter.  Golby is hilarious.  I ended up buying both their CDs at the end of the night.  The Grates were good too, they played the obscure tune Shine Your Shoes which left the rest of the audience a little dumbfounded, but me very happy as it's one of my favourite Grates songs, and I was a bit disappointed when they left it off their album (I have a demo mp3 of the song).

The only real downer of the evening was that the venue was sold out, and there were a lot of fuckheads in the audience.  It made me appreciate seeing the Grates back in the intimate surroundings of the Amplifier in 2005.  After the gig Katie, Liam and I went and watched bad high school videos at my house for a while.  The next day many of the same persons from the Grates gig popped up at the Inglewood Hotel where we watched the Grand Final.  It was, again, a pretty awesome afternoon.  All in all I had an unexpectedly great weekend.

P.S. I think the photo of New Rules For Boats was stolen from a comment on their myspace.  I can't remember who took it :-(


October


246.  WOLF & CUB
@ Amplifier Bar, Saturday Oct 15th, 2006

Wolf and Cub sucked!  I thought they were boring, so I ended up walking out of the Amplifier half way through their set.  Matthew and Jo hated them too.  Jo spent most of the set in the girls' toilets playing games on her phone so she could escape Wolf and Cub's noise.

What else happened?  A hens night party bus stopped beside us when we were on Murray street, and Duceman told some girl on the bus that he'd punch her in the ovaries.  That's about all I remember.

X-Press Live Review


247. PROJECT BAD, THE LEASIDES, TILLEY DEVINE & CHELSEA LIGHTS
20 Minutes of Fame Heat @ Hydey, Thursday October 19th, 2006


This band comp gig was loads of fun. Jo and I went down to watch The Leasides, a band featuring our friend Gareth on guitar. He looked very enthusiastic when wailing on his axe, and his band were pretty entertaining. Second act on the bill was Tilley Devine, whom I didn't watch because talking to Jo, Greg and Zoe, making cranes and drinking beer.  Next up was Project: Bad, who were the highlight of the evening.  Before their set, Project Bad's  singer Vorn was talk to himself and asking where his seal was.  It was all a bit crazy.

I left the following assessment of Project Bad's performance on Duceman's myspace:

Jo and I went to the Hydey last night to see the leasides and also caught this punky band 'project bad.'  They have been the Amputee Porn Star's school of lyric writing. Songs about dead kittens, killing seals, chainsaws, gynecologists and d-i-y surgery, etc. The singer pulled out the little guitar hero guitar at one stage. They even got the crowd to separate into two sides of the room and run at each other (me included). You would have loved them!

The last band on the bill was the Chelsea Lights, who sucked big time.  Their music sounded like it should be on the OC soundtrack.  I had more fun hitting around an inflatable balloon around the venue than watching this band.  I applauded enthusiastically when they FINISHED their set, as it meant I no longer had to be subjected to their music.


248. SNOWMAN & SCHVENDES
Snowman Album Launch @ Gilkinson's Dance Studio, Perth, Saturday October 21st, 2006


This gig was pretty average.  Snowman took a punt by having their album launch at Gilksons Dance Studio.  It's basically a big square room with very high ceilings.  It's a nice venue (they serve Absinthe!), but it's acoustics do not suit bands.  As  a result, Snowman sounded pretty atrocious to my ears - very tinny.  Also, it was difficult to see what was happening onstage, unless you were lucky enough to be right up the front.

To top off an average night, Duceman was exceedingly drunk and had a major fight with Jeanni after the gig.

Snowman launch photos - from Anthony Tran's website
Snowman CD Launch Live Review, X-Press
Snowman Interview, X-Press


249. THE MEXICANS, THE DEVIL RIDES OUT & CROSSBONEZ
@ Amplifier Bar, Friday October 27th, 2006


This gig was ok, nothing too special.  The atmosphere was pretty low key, due to only a small crowed being in attendance.  The best part of the night was The Mexicans guitarist's awesome shredding.

Review of the gig, X-Press


November


250. THE DEVIL RIDES OUT & THE SUREFIRE MIDNIGHTS
@ Rosemount Hotel, Wednesday November 1st, 2006

This was a pretty uneventful mid-week gig, with a small crowd in attendance.  The Devil Rides Out were entertaining.  Joey K announced that one of the band's songs was called Lead Pusher, but I accidentally thought he said Lamb Butcher!

The only other thing of note that I recall from this gig is that Duceman handed me a pint of beer, and told me to taste it.  I decided to chug down as much of the pint as I could handle.  I felt a bit bad when I then discovered it was a special Coopers vintage ale that had cost $16 for the pint.

Devil Rides Out Interview, X-Press, Oct 2006
Devil Rides Out Action Figure Live Review, X-Press, Oct 2006


251. TOMAS FORD VS THE AUDIENCE
@ Blue Room, Northbridge, Thursday November 2nd, 2006

This show was fun!  I went into it knowing nothing about Tomas Ford.  I was only there because Liam was reviewing the show, and I was his +1.

Upon entry to the gig, I had to sign a waiver that Thomas was better than me, and could do whatever he wanted to my body.  I then had to put on overalls that covered all of my clothing.  I then entered the Blue Room with about 20 other folks.  What followed was an hour of Tomas throwing himself over the audience, making lewd suggestion and so forth, as he concurrently sang over the top of a variety of electronic beats.

I ended up getting a blow up doll shoved in my face by Tomas.  This was nothing on Duceman, who ended up having a lengthy pash with Tomas, which was surreal.

The best part of the night was when Tomas started singing Xanadu.  A disco ball was lowered from the room, bubbles appeared, and we all got up and danced around the room in a conga line.


252. GUITAR WOLF & MACH PELICAN
@ Amplifier Bar, Friday November 3rd, 2006


I walked in to this gig to find Mach Pelican playing to a packed Amplifier Bar.  The band was great, although slightly less enjoyable than usual because they weren't headlining (and therefore had to play an abridged set).

Guitar Wolf started with a big instrumental rock into.  They then stopped playing and combed their hair (I kid you not) and generally looked cool while a backing track played for a minute or so.  I didn't really enjoy the first half of their set, as it was nowhere near as tuneful as Mach Pelican had been.  However, the second half of Guitar Wolf's set was brilliant.  A highlight was when the singer went "crowdsurfing", standing on punters hands and taking his mic stand with him.  He continued to sing while this chunky dude from the crowd came up on stage and played guitar for 5-10 minutes.  The crowd yelled for an encore, but it wasn't to be.


Dylan Mac's Photos


253. THE PANICS, THE BANK HOLIDAYS, NEW RULES FOR BOATS
@ The Bakery, Saturday November 11th, 2006

This was my first gig at the Bakery .  It was a sell out.  New Rules for Boats were on first and were typically enthusiastic and charming.

Next up were The Bank holidays.  They were not bad.  Tread Easy stood out as the catchiest song in their set.

By the time The Panics started, the room was uncomfortably full.  Thankfully, the crowd thinned out slightly over the course of their set.  They sounded good, and debuted a lot of new songs.

I enjoyed this show, but I also made me feel like a rock kid at an indie gig.  It  made me realise how much I like loud distorted guitars and fast drumming pummelling my ears at 100km/hr.

What else happened?  I wore the Mighty Boosh t-shirt that Jo made me,  and was surprised and flattered to have every second person I spoke to say how awesome it was, and/or ask where they could buy one from!



254. ABDOUJAPAROV, ZX SPECKY, THE HOMICIDES & SEX PANTHER
@ Hydey, Saturday November 18th, 2006

This gig was as fun!  All the bands sounded terrible, which was a reflection of the Hydey's poor sound rather than the bands, who all played really well.

Sex Panther and the Homicides I hadn't seen before.  Sex Panther were great.  As for The Homicides, Johnny Ajax mentioned something about having taken a lot of speed and he was yelling at the bar staff to "get me a fuckin jug of beer."  ZX Specky were entertaining as always, and Abdjouparaov's set was full of great pop-rock songs.  Apparently the band's guitarist got drunk in a park in Adelaide two days earlier, was arrested, and subsequently missed the plane to Perth with the rest of the band.  Rock n roll!


255. 26 PARALLEL & THE TOUCH
@ La Bog Band Comp, Friday November 24th, 2006

Liam and I were goning to see Hoss play at the Hydey, but we gave them the flick to go and see my mate John's band play in a dodgy band comp at La Bogg Inn.  Vikki's brother's band The Touch were also on the bill.  They looked as though they'd been transported to the gig from the 80s.  Big hair, bad clothes, sychnronized kicks, and lots of wailing on tehir guitars.  It was derivate but highly entertaining stuff.

My main other memory of the night is discovering that the bog is literally a shithole.  You can't even drink beer in their beer garden!


256. AUGIE MARCH
Escape to the Park Festival @ Kings Park, Saturday November 25th, 2006

and

257. SWAYBACK & SANSANGRIA
Sanssangria CD launch @ Hydey, Saturday November 25th, 2006


This was an unexpectedly brilliant night. One of my favourite gig-going experiences.

The night commenced with Jo and I watchingthe Borat move in the city, which was HILARIOUS.  We then drove up to Kings Park and watched Augie March on a big screen, from outside the fenced-off part of the park in which they were playing. They sounded good and told funny stories. Then went to the Hydey, and saw SansSagria  play an eclectic bag of tunes but sounded good.

The highlight of the night, however, was Swayback.  We knew nothing about them, and they proceeded to blow us away.  Jo thought their singer, Brenton, looked like Howard Moon from the Mighty Boosh, and she was totally right (mixed with mid-90s Andrew Cox).  The band put on a very entertaining show, featuring plenty of rock moves and loads of banter.  At one point Brenton got up on the foldback speakers so that he could see into the crowd and look all rock n roll, only to accidentally hit his head on the speakers hanging from the hydey ceiling.  It was hilarious.  He also got up onto the bar at one stage.  Their song were good live, and they played 'Swayback Says' with the crowd (a game spoofing 'Simon Says' in which the band got eh crowd to repeat silly things they said).



258. SWAYBACK & THE JAYCO BROTHERS
@ Swan Basement, Thursday November 30th, 2006

Jo and I had so much fun watching Swayback at the Hydey that we decided to go and check them out again at the Swan Basement.  Once again, we had a pant load of fun.  There were about 40-50 pepole watching the Jayco Brothers, whom I found mildly entertaining.  Following the Jayco Brothers set, most of the crowd disappeared.  By the time Swayback started, the crowd consisted of myself, Jo, Andrea (who was doing the door), the members of the Jayco Brothers, and a friend of Swayback's. That was it. It was a bit sad, but also cool because Jo and I sat at a table at the front of stage and could heckle the band / ask silly questions.  Swayback's frontman Brenton called me 'Mr Mangina' because I was wearing my Boosh shirt, and then asked me to request a song. I requested the New Sound.

I've seen bands throw in the towel and put on bad shows when playing to such small crowds, but Swayback took the low turnout in their stride and played well, showing they have a great sense of humour.  After the set, Brenton came and had a chat to Jo and I.  We started talking about the Fauves, Dave McCormack and Gentle Ben.

This gig was $4 very well spent.


December


259. SIX FT HICK & THE VOLCANICS
@ Mojos, Friday Dec 1st, 2006


This ranks as the worst Six Ft Hick show I have seen. Not that they were bad - the show just wasn't up to their usual high standard. Also, I was very tired.  The highlight of their set was an awesome cover of Chinese Rocks.


260. BURGERS OF BEEF
Quadruple A-Side CD Launch Spectacular @ Bassendean Hotel, Saturday Dec 2nd, 2006



The press release for this launch stated:

Well the night you have all been waiting for is nearly upon us. Burgers will be launching their brand spanking new 4-track EP 'Quadruple A-Side' next Saturday the 2nd December. It will be a different kind of launch - Burgers will be celebrating the entire five years of their existence, with a Burgers retrospective. Playing two sets expect to hear old songs that haven't been played for years, rarely played songs as well as all the faves. Tomas Ford will be guest MC for the evening, making sure we know what song we are up to. All this and more will be taking place at the Bassendean Hotel (25 Old Perth Rd, Bassendean) from about 8pm onwards. There'll be cool tunes inbetween sets incase anyone feels like dancing. Entry is a mere $5 - with all manner of merchandise available including the aforementioned new CD 'Quadruple A-Side". So, tells your friends, family and anyone who cares to listen, this is going to be a special night never to be repeated!

This gig was fun.  The turnout was small (maybe 40 punters) and the acoustics in the venue weren't flash, but the Burgers put on a humorous and unique show, playing their entire back catalogue in chronological order.  Tomas Ford did a great job as MC, and provided special guest vocals on a couple of tracks.  I got thanked in the Burgers commemorative launch booklet, which was very nice of them.


261. SIX FT HICK & CAPITAL CITY
@ Hyde Park Hotel, Sunday December 3rd, 2006

This gig at the Hydey was 100 times better than the 6 ft Hick show I'd seen at Mojos two nights previously.

It was an early show, from 6-10pm.  Sic Ft HIck were on at 8pm, as they had to catch a flight out to Brisbane shortly after the gig.  Daylight aving had set in the night before, and it was still very light when the band started playing.  I saw a couple of families walk past with their young kids, looking in the windows bemused at Six Ft Hick's antics.  There were some technical problems (fucked microphones) but the band took it all in their stride, playing a great set. Ben ripped a boot off from girl at front of stage and filled it with beer, and Geoff skulled it, then refilled it, and passed it around the crowd.  About 10 punters drank out of it!


262. THE PHARAOHS, THE DEAD FRENCHMEN & THE WEDNESDAY SOCIETY
@ Amplifier Bar, Saturday December 9th, 2006

This gig was pretty shitting.  By 10pm. only about 25 punters had turned up.  As a consequence, there was a lot of "damn daylight savings" talk going on.

The Wednesday Society were the pick of the bands (and all the band members worse matching black jeans - it kinda looked like a uniform).  The Dead Fenchmen were atrocious and the Pharaohs set was lackluster compared to the one they put on earlier in the year.  They broke up shortly after this gig.


263. ELEVENTH HE REACHES LONDON, PAHLEMIK, BAMODI
@ Rosemount, Wednesday December 13th, 2006

My memory of the band's at this gig is very hazy.  My main recollection is that Jeanni and Duceman decided to have a swimming race (which never eventuated).  Alsion came too, which was fun.


264. TIME SOLDIER
@ Hydey, Saturday December 16th, 2006

and

265. SUBTRUCK
Get Trucked DVD Launch @ Rosemount Hotel, Saturday December 16th, 2006


This wasn't a bad night, without being great. It commenced with Alison, Duceman and I ducking to the Hydey to see Time Solder, a band I had heard great things about. Essentially they are New Rules for Boats, minus Miranda, and with the addition of the Time Captain (Oz).  He is a tall skinny dude, who  dressed in ultra tight white jeans and white top, whose pasty appearnace bears a vague resemblance to Howlin' Pelle from the Hives. The Time Captain performed all kind of zany robotic dance moves, which were highly amusing. At one point he pulled out snake costume which he put on, and then started gyrating about.  The rest of band dressed up in outfits appropriate for space travel (silver space suites, etc).  Sean had both a guitar and bass strung around him for the first song, and he played both before Golby took over bass duties (he was also playing keys).  They sounded pretty stoner / 70s rock, and were highly entertaining.

We then ventured to the Rosemount for the Subtruck DVD launch (I produced the DVD!).  The launch was ok, but a bit bizarre. The turnout was disappointing.  I had a nice chat with the band, and a bunch of friends.  Subtruck played well, and I got thanked, which was nice (and a bit strange, because I'm not used to it!).  I had fun.

Mistake of the night - I thought some girl on the table sitting next to me was a perthands.com forum member, who goes by the username of 'cex godess.'  My first words to this girl were "We've met before - you're the sex goddess".  Unfortunately, it wasn't her.  I'd really put my foot in my mouth!


266. RED JEZEBEL, SCHVENDES, ELEVENTH HE REACHES LONDON, SIN CITY, THE JAYCO BROTHERS A Not So Silent Night @ Rosemount Hotel, Saturday December 23rd, 2006


My memory of this show is pretty sketchy. I think I spent a lot of time in the beer garden chatting to folks.  Sin City's set was ordinary. I didn't like their new bassplayer (this was at least the 4th bassplayer they'd had). I don't remember much about Schvendes or Eleventh's eets (except that Jill and her friends hated Eleventh!). Red Jezebel were quite good.


267. THE SEA OF TUNES, ABBE FUZZ & THE PERTH MINT, SEX PANTHER
NYE FIESTA @ Rosemount Hotel, Sunday December 31st, 2006

and

268. SNOWMAN, THE SILENTS, THE TUCKER Bs, THE WEDNESDAY SOCIETY, SUGAR ARMY, BOB EVANS, OKI OKI!
Amps Legenday NYE @ Amplifier/Capitol, Sunday December 31st, 2006


This was an odd, unpredictable and exciting new years eve. It started with Duceman and I at the Rosemount. We watched the Sea of Tunes, a fabulous Beach Boys tribute act comprising members of several well known local bands.  After a while, Vikki arrived and we chatted for a while and watched some of the other bands.  Eventually we left the Rosemount for the Amplifier.  We had all pre-purchased tickets (actually, I'd won mine from X-Press).  According to the Amplifier's promotion for the gig, ticket holders were "VIP's" who wouldn't have to line up to get in.  This was a complete pile of crap.  The  line to enter the venue stretched down the lane almost all the way to Murray St (i.e., about 25 metres), and we all had to line up.

Once inside, things were better.  I saw a little  of Bob Evans and Sugar Army, both of whom were ok.  I watched the whole Silents set, and it was great.  Jill and I made jokes about the band members' hair.

Later on I tired to watch Snowman, but Capitol was too packed to get a good spot.

The rest of the  night was spent talking to various folks, particularly Vikki.  We ended up parting at about 5am, after we got kicked out of the venue because it was shutting.