Live

Rip It Up, Issue 98, 1 September 1985, Page 36

Live

Dynamic Hepnotics Six Month Club, August 23 With a peppy track in the charts and a likeable follow-up not far behind, the Hepnotics appeared to myself to be single-minded, fresh and modern; on vinyl, perhaps, but not performing live.

The Economic Wizards were a bad beginning to a gig already lacking in energy and high in MOR ("I’d like to thank you from the heart of my bottom.") and left the stage without contributing anything new. Their set seemed gratuitous at best and was polite-

ly ignored by an audience waiting for the main act.

The Hepnotics arrived on stage with a very good beat indeed and a cheerful spin from a very ill Mr Robert Susz, whose voice and verve petered out about two thirds of the way through the evening; both, I suspect, are key to the Hepnotics and without which the band seems lost.

The central disappointment to the Hepnotics is that they are not, in fact, a soul band by any stretch of the imagination in live performance. They stick, rather, to the (extremely) tried and (not so) true R&B song structures for the majority of the set. The drumming was straightforward to the point of flatness and the bass playing was bad, varying little from a lax ver-

sion of standard blues riffs. Susz squeaked between songs with a pain that drew sympathy and at a length that drew scorn if he was going to sing then he shouldn’t have ruined his voice further by talking for such huge amounts of time Exhausted and frustrated, he finally confined himself to harmonica and let the band reveal its mediocrity. Which was a shame. The opening song (‘Funkin’ Good Time 1 ) and 'Soul Kinda Feeling’ stuck out as the great high points in a ditchwater-dull set that could have been performed by anyone. Practically every New Zealand band I can think of would have blown the Hepnotics right off the stage; the Netherworlds’ RWP cover of 'Hold On, I’m Coming' alone was better

than any single song performed that evening, in both energy and arrangement. The evening was finally killed by Graham Brazier Joining the band on stage with a mock camaraderie that was embarrassing and a joke about AIDS that frankly stank. Not a good evening and the crowd that had not already left enjoyed their sl2 to the full. This ; is. your jaded ' audience member speaking and I'm not itheonly^one^ftaAtan^^B Chad Taylor

The Narcs Tivoli Room, Sydney, July 27. The Tivoli Room is a cool blue rock venue on the main drag in Sydney. It features some good inhouse video of Australian bands, lots of flashing lights and a very powerful sound system. Tonight, along with local CBS band Full Marks, it hosts visiting New Zealand band the Narcs.

According to Australians, the Narcs received a fair amount of airplay with their ‘Heart and Soul' single but are otherwise unknown. It’s Wednesday night and the younger audience is noticeably absent. It!s Tears For Fears night at the Entertainment Centre a few blocks away. The Narcs have been recording an album and this is their only live show for a while Full Marks have eight onstage. Aussies seem to like powerful music but even they dont respond too well to this band. At last itls the Narcs.

From the opening 'Between You and Me’ on in, the keyboards add colour here to what could be a fairly ordinary band. Lead singer Andy Dickson looks very NZ in a black singlet and matching black guitar. Musically, they alternate between dance-orientated songs to get the

desired response and concert type material. The songs would perhaps sound better on record, but the best of them were 'Big Guns’ and 'When It Rains’. ‘Heart and Soul' sounds as good as ever and the new single 'Diamonds On China’, gets an airing as well. In their performance tonight the Narcs are all sincerity and hard work. The audience brings them back for an encore. This time the pressure’s off and a great rendition of 'Gimme Some Loving' brings the evening to a fitting close. With a hometown audience the spark would probably have glowed brighter but regardless the Narcs look as if they’re here to stay and the new album will decide that. Jason Kemp

Fetus Productions Windsor, August 30,31 ■ Blame the full moon? The bus strike? A weird I mix fof 4 people i comes to see Fetus Productions [at the Windsor on Friday night. This is Fetus Productions without the production not like last time's new-pictures-old-music show ... Part One, the Fetals, are a shock after the blindingly tame Texas Rangers. Jed Town and [rhythm section of lan Gilroy and Peter Solomon; they sound at times like the master tape of a Scorpions album cut into one-inch lengths, tossed in the air and spliced back together. Sometimes, the aggression is exhilirating, others, the baseness is depressing. gji Part Two is the Perfect Product, with Serum replacing Solomon on bass and [Simon Alexander assuming responsibility for a drum machine and a terrace of synthesisers. Interest stabs through the noise, but in the end the only

emphatic thing about it is the punishing volume. When, after 11pm, they begin to take off, it’s too late after a long night in a hot, crowded bar... down the road a little, afterwards, police charge about in small mobs as ordinary people start fights with each other without apparent reason. Blame the full moon? The bus strike? Saturday night, a later arrival, a

waning moon, a much better performance. The Fetals more jagged and topsy-turvy at the top end and even more muscly at the bottom. Poet types do dancing motions shoulder-to-shoulder with genuine ’eadbangers. 'Flies’ and a hackedup ’State To Be In’ are the highlights. But the Perfect Product are really the business tonight ... gradually they build and by the beautiful version of 'What’s Going On’ they are damn moving, really moving. This music has presence. This time, rather than trailing on into after-hours time, they close with a perfect note of positivism, Jed standing at the side of the stage, gently singing, "We are alive ... in Paradise ...” It's sort of unfortunate that a

rare Fetus Productions gig is, well, such a production it can be difficult to separate what’s actually going on from what’s cast onto the group by audience expectations. And perhaps it’s a characteristic of Fetus music that it will always be sufficiently close to the edge to straddle both the ''right” and ''wrong” sides of any line of judgement you care to draw through it. Like it was wonderful that they reached the heights that they did

by the end of the second night and a real shame that they won’t play here again this year. The third night would have been a monster. Moon or no moon ... Russell Brown

The Expendables This Boy Rob Windsor, Sept 8. Freeforming, slamming, jamming, cramming what’s the difference? The difference is clean and spotless. This Boy Rob weren't exciting. Neither were they boring but endless (seemingly) Doorsinspired cacophonies just aren't my cup of herbal tea. Only for short intervals did they really gel, and that only happened when the riddum section pared down to a simple and repetitive state. The guitar was nowhere in the mix a pity, because it might have pulled their set into some kind of order. Indulgence will get you nowhere fast. This Boy Rob need less musical exuberance and more self-imposed detergent, to get those notes really sparkling clean.

The Expendables were a totally different torment in a stranger kitchen. Sweet pain preached sim-

ply and in some cases beautifully. A mediocre and apathetic audience did nothing to dispel their visual and aural power, no matter whether it was portrayed in the quieter moments such as the opening duet of Jay Clarkson and guitarist or the angst of 'The Flower’, to the vicious silliness in a silly song about a spider. The real eye-opener came in the speedy delivery of "In between the gears, grinding deliciously between full on choke and open throttle.” Wanna see it again? Yes please! That wonderful and inexplicable Kiwi enigma was evident in the Expendables performance, something that was sadly lacking in the support band. Twas a great shame that the gig-going "punters’’ were absent probably they were all over the other side of town seeking slightly more dubious pleasures. The band deserved more than shy applause and a practically empty dancefloor. Pass the brillo pad and scrape the wax out of your ears people you don’t know what you’ll be missing until it’s gone. Don’t let Flash Gordon drive your tractor either. Joe 19