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Rip It Up, Issue 177, 1 April 1992, Page 30

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BONNIE RAITT Logan Campbell Centre, April 1. Three songs into her 1 10-minute set Bonnie Raitt had already performed her recent Grammy Award-winning single. Responding to the prolonged applause, she grinned, "Well, if that is what growing old is all about, I'll take it." In a career that spans more than 20 years, she is only just getting the rewards she has long deserved and we are all reaping the benefits. This, her first ever Auckland concert, was an unqualified triumph. Raitt performed with not only the impeccable expertise of a seasoned professional, but the exuberance and spontaneity of one who is clearly relishing her new level of popularity. As a singer she just seems better than ever. Her long-established confidence in various styles of rock, blues, ballads, folk —all of which were on superb display throughout the

concert— has clearly deepened with age. On record her voice has become richer over the years and the

evidence that this is not just a bonus of enhanced recording technology was obvious on stage. Her performance of even the most demanding numbers, such as 'I Can't Make You Love Me' was totally assured and beautifully rendered.

That song was one of several throughout the set in which Raitt addressed the tensions of middle age. Significantly, for a woman known primarily as an interpreter, two of her finest such songs are self-penned. 'All At Once' and 'Nick of Time' demonstrate that she must now also be ranked as an important songwriter. But it's as a guitarist too that she

commands the stage. There's no way that this woman is just a pretty face fronting a six-piece band. They may be exemplary—and nearly all male — musicians, but she's every bit their equal as an instrumentalist and she calls the shots. Both her bottle-neck slide playing and her four-finger plucking, so often restricted on record, were among the show's many highlights. Frequently, across a variety of songs and ranging over four different guitars during the evening, her playing and singing would complement each other to stunning effect.

Bonnie Raitt enraptured a near-capacity crowd and proved categorically that rock concerts can be simultaneously sheer, exhilarating fun and a valid means of expression for a mature and highly talented artist. Opening act Mark Cohn was a pleasant surprise. With engaging humour, some worthy cover versions and a few of his own songs he didn't just warm up the crowd, but won himself an enthusiastic audience in his own right. PETER THOMSON

OPERATION MUSIC STORM 1992 Carpark Battle of Bands Six diverse bands made it through to the final of this Battle. Rating one band against another is not necessarily a good or easy thing, but when limited prizes are at stake hard decisions have to be made. First prize was an

attractive $1,500 worth of gear from the Wellington Rock Shop, $550 worth of advertising from Windy FM and SSOO cash. The runner up received S2OO worth of goods from Tandy's and all finalists took home SIOO cash. First out were Latin funksters Solatino who are a popular band around the bars of the capital, but they seemed a little out of place on the Carpark stage. They played a competent set and had a few feet tapping. Banana Revolution stirred up the audience with their warm

reggae and ska. They tried hard, but need to tighten their sound. East of Kingston came out resplendent in red, . gold, green and jah vibes and settled in to a cruisey, tight, well presented show. Vas Deferens followed with their irreverent shock and roll with cliched licks, posturing and full on aural assault. Maybe they were too sober tonight 'cos it didn't quite gel, although they won the best haircut (no prize) award. Youth took over next with the reverent sound of Straight Up. This local ‘ Christian group rocked, funked and , rapped their way to first place with an energetic performance of god rock. A more secular approach to their lyrics would help their future, but their god was on their side and they triumphed with an exciting performance. Last band Escape started promisingly with a gentle pop folk feel, but blew it with a dodgy version of the Dudes' 'Be Mine Tonighf. An interesting overall sound reminiscent of the Waterboys or World Party, but not up to it on the night. The judges had no problem rating Straight Up tops, with the cool grooves of East of Kingston coming in second. A well organised event, showing that the future of local live music is in good hands. JOHNPILLEY LUNG FATAL JELLY SPACE A.Dog & Trumpet, March 20 I reviewed Fatal Jelly Space only the other day or January and they were more or less the same tonight, but with audible samples (good) and a longer set (bad, whoever you are). Well, actually if you're Lung and you're about to bugger off to Europe for a year and a day and you play the whole of your magnificent recent . album, even the echo-chamber crowd-alienater 'Sleep' (on special request), you're probably the exception to that rule. At a glance this band might pass for

almost normal. There's nothing outlandish any more about noise, rhythm and angst, guitar, bass, drums '■ and samples, but there's something about the way they use this standard equipment that's pure sex and

violence. The violence is obvious in the beautiful contempt with which Dave White treats his guitar, the way all the hits that are merely deafening on the album are apocalyptic in the flesh, the way songs are bent out of shape on what seems like a whim without losing any of their focus. The sex is in the way the basslines creep up and seduce you before you've opened your eyes and the way the climactic noise-avalanche always comes a few seconds late so you throw your body head first into silence. Or the way they barely used more than one chord all night.

At least it felt like all this to me. Most of the audience actually decided to go home. But what the fuck, this is Rock Music, sickly, unacknowledged progeny of art, and the customer is always wrong. MATTHEWHYLAND NIXONS SEMI-LEMON KOLA LEADERS OF STYLE, SML Powerstation, April 4. What is it with starting times in this town? BFM broadcast a 9pm kickoff all day, but at a quarter to nine the Powerstation doors were still shut.

Before long there were about 20 of us freezing our butts off outside — the door opened to admit a couple of staff, but we were told to keep waiting. Fair enough if the bar itself doesn't open till 9pm on the dot, but at that late hour the Powerstation ought to let their customers inside. Are they still doing the vacuuming by then or what? Anyway, the reason for the early arrival was so as not to miss SML, one of those mystery groups made up of members of well-known bands who want to escape the straightjacket of their reputations by doing something

wildly unpredictable on the side. Guitarist John Toogood from Shihad was instantly identifiable even though he was wearing shades and had his tresses tucked up in a fez, Head Like A Hole's Nigel Regan was harder to recognise fully clothed. Also on stage, a drummer and a small dancing child and a video person sticking a camera up their noses. This was John escaping metal and.... getting to be less goofy, although they did play a song called 'Beef Jerky Hold the Mayo'. The best song was one that started with the bass line picked out like a cello before guitar weighed in, a bit of a jazz SAL influence there, otherwise creative time changes, vocal intensity and bursts of frenzied riffing were made to make up for lack of striking ideas. - Leaders of Style, yes well, rap isn't exactly my thing. I own a Licensed To 111 1987 tour T-shirt, that's about as far as it goes. But that's okay, because obviously Leaders of Style (two white boys, one wearing glasses) are big Beastie Boys fans too, right down to their New York accents. They were sort of like the Beasties minus cool guitar samples, although they managed to hold our attention by sheer force of ego. The one in glasses pacing the stage like a caged budgie, the stauncher-looking one allowing himself only one of those ridiculous rolling-pin raised arm movements. It was hard to work out the words, but the content was possibly all summed up in the final number 'Always In The Mood' which is, after all, the basic thematic thrust of so many popular songs. And then, rising teen sensations Semi-Lemon Kola, who opened their set with a breathtaking t ? extra-terrestrial instrumental that had people streaming towards the stage like an audience possessed, what with the music and the low blue lighting it was like that scene at the end of Close Encounters when everyone moves zombie-like towards the space ship.

Then the Kola's launched into their pop-dance-romp. Lead singer Tosh looked terrific in a black skirt over tie-dyed leggings and the crowd were ready to bop. Funny watching 'alternative' audiences banging their heads, dying to rock-out just like the head-banger audiences they despise. Problem is, it's impossible to mosh-out to an act like S-L Kola because these young bands are terrified of coming over 'rockist' or 'trad', so the guitar is kept frustratingly light and unfocused, any guitar solos are tentative at best and the only approximation of heaviness comes in the dominating rhythm section. Moreover, everything is overpowered by the singer's relentless vocal style. Tosh has bucketloads of the necessary charisma, but his emotional range is limited to a kind of endless blaring. I'm sure he could take his audience to much more thrilling places, quieter or heavier than he's allowed himself so far. But he is extremely watchable — using that stylised haka-type dance movement to punctuate the end of the set was brilliant.

Then, the Nixons, about whom we've heard so much lately. How the bass player got egg in his beautiful hair at the Devonport gig courtesy of garage rock wild-man Johnny Psycho, how the Nixon's are the band people love to hate because they've got the most expensive equipment in town etc etc. I've seen them before and thought their urge to come over as 'interesting', rather than just a rock band was leading their sound dangerously close to the 70s prog-rock quagmire (Emerson Lake and Palmer!). However, I think the recent Nirvana concert has done wonders for them. Like the US superstars, the Nixons are a three-piece, both groups have a name beginning with N, both have unusually tall bass players and blonde singer-guitarists, but the real Nirvana legacy is in the fact that the Nixon's had at least three highly listenable, ►

► even catchy songs with noticeable hooks and riffs and melody, all the things so conspicuously lacking in so many 'alternative' acts these days. There was still an overabundance of aimless strumming, but they've killed that funky bass, stuffed it back down to the bottom of songs where it belongs and the guitar is once more dominant like it should be. Now all they need to do is find a better singer— Shaun's voice doesn't do the songs justice, and maybe if he wasn't singing he'd be able to do more interesting things on his guitar, instead of all that endless strumming. Still, the Nixon's were the surprise hit pick of the night. DONNA YUZWALK < IMAJICA, GNASHER, HONEYLOVE LEPER ASYLUM, HIERONYMOUS BOSCH Gluepot, March 14. An interesting night of sound and sight, of rock, punk, metal, techno. It was all there for only six bucks. The night headed off with Imajica, a new band around town. Not what I had expected at all from their name. Shame their set wasn't so short and the vocalist so stiff. Not bad though. Gnasher jumped up and proved that punk is not quite dead, but well and truly alive and kicking in Auckland. They should really have kept their set to 30 minutes maximum as one can only take so many covers in one night. Just enough time to hit the bar and return to my table and Honeylove sleazed into action. I must admit I do like these guys n' gals, but why aren't they megastars yet? I mean, they've got the moves, they've got the makeup and the squeaky voices and still they're not on RTR Countdown. Oh well, maybe next time. Leper Asylum, they're loud and they've got this death metal thing down, signed and sealed. I saw them once before at the Bluesbam and they ' were good. But not as good as tonight. They certainly kicked some asses and split some eardrums RRROOOAAARRRIII Finally the band I had come to see, Hieronymous Bosch. In full living chaos. I saw these guys last year at an Aural . Disturbance gig and so prepared myself for another ear-bashing. Sure enough, there they were, larger than life and twice as ugly. Max Ego, screaming and writhing behind numerous machines and samples. . Morpheus and Paul B grinding and thrashing behind on guitar and steel. Is this really music though? Who cares! I was a bit disappointed in the briefness of their set, but in that time I was subjected to what one might call

industrial anarchy to which anything melodic or resembling music was completely negated. Instead of stage divers, budding industrialists jumped the stage and added their own personal touches on steel and metal drums. Who else but Bosch would create a huge, towering sculpture of TVs and demolish it on stage — I don't know, maybe it's art. All in all a loud ending to an interesting night. SIMON BRADDOCK

NAKED LUNCH, THROW LOVE'S UGLY CHILDREN The Carpark, Jan 23. Three of Christchurch's better known bands at last ventured forth to the capital for a potentially brilliant night of hard-edged 'alternative' music. Naked Lunch began the proceedings with melodious guitar and a punchy bass line. I was expecting something a little grungier, but surprisingly, Naked Lunch's songs were well constructed and almost funky. All songs were performed enthusiastically, musically they sounded like a blend of the Velvet Underground and Skinny Puppy.

Throw are a three piece arising from the ashes of renowned Christchurch band Dolphin. There's a lot of * ' similarities musically between the two bands, but the new singer brings a twang of teen angst. Unlike Dolphin, Throw have a Manchester Beat sneaking into the fray. What often begins as a slow love song gets the distortion pedal treatment, kind of a surging anthemic thing. 'Honeyblonde' and 'Soft!/ stood out as potential singles. Throw will probably be the next big band to come out of ' Christchurch, judging by audience reaction and the quality of songwriting packaged into the two short sets. Lastly, Christchurch Battle of the Bands winners Love's Ugly Children took to the stage. Sounding initially like Black Flag they belted out a fast, energetic, grunty set. It would be good to see this band develop their style and perform outside of Christchurch a bit more. ' ' ,

The only bad thing to be said was the lack of people at the venue — could be due to the lack of advertising, but bands from the South Island need support at their gigs in the North Island as a simple economics thing or they won't be able to sustain travelling costs. Bands like Naked Lunch, Throw and Love's Ugly Children need to be tempted to tour more often and such a variety of good music should not be passed up, lest we miss out altogether. KAY MCMAHON