LIVE

Rip It Up, Issue 242, 1 October 1997, Page 36

LIVE

LOVES UGLY CHILDREN Punters Club, Melbourne, Australia, September 3. With just a few stories in the local music press and an appearance on Saturday morning television, a relatively unknown and unheralded Loves Ugly Children kicked off their Australian tour in Melbourne. Lacking the exposure that high rotation on Triple J . gives, recommendations from expat Kiwis and memories of a performance a couple of years ago with King Loser and Garageland was all anyone had, so there was not much of a buzz about the gig. But if the reaction of the 100 or so people in attendance tonight is any indication, there wifi be next time. Opening with ‘Lilo’, LUC unleashed a fast-paced, high-

energy set that put punk pretenders and musical poseurs to shame. They rocked. The set was dominated by songs from their new album Showered In Gold, including ‘Voodoo Girl’, the bassdriven ‘Pump it Baby’, ‘Sixpack’, and ‘Suck’, which provided the only glimmer of recognition from an otherwise subdued audience. Aside from a few laconic comments from singer/guitarist Simon MacLaren about song titles, there were no attempts to win the crowd over with betweensong banter. This is easily done by visiting Kiwi bands by making a sheep joke before someone in the audience does (believe me, they will), or making fun of TV’s Recovery, a Saturday morning ‘youth’ programme that nearly all bands guest on. Instead, Loves

Ugly Children came, they played and they wowed ’em. The music was enough. -_ JENNIFER SCOTT SMOKEFREE ROCKQUEST FINAL 1997 St James Theatre, Auckland, September 19. The list of prohibited items at tonight’s Rockquest finale was a . long one; alcohol, drugs, cigarettes (naturally), matches, cans, bandannas, etc. Unlike last year’s show, those in charge of body searches this evening had done their job well. Instead of spotting groups of drunk and stoned teens, puffing away on rallies in the toilets, most were inside the theatre, guzzling bottled water and enjoying themselves. . The smiling kids weren’t even perturbed by Andy and Chanelle, the MCs and chattering morons for the evening, who nauseatingly ■ thanked the sponsors at every

opportunity. “Telecom, you rock!” - announced Chanelle. “Auckland City Council, you guys are fly!”, replied Andy. My friend Bill would call them, “corporate whores at a capitalist gang bang.” I couldn’t agree more so I hope they at least sold themselves for a hefty price. On with the show (and a quick apology that my recall on the running order of bands may be faulty). Unfortunately, three piece Dr. Baldrick suffer technical prob- . lems almost the moment they strike a chord. The guitar cuts out, leaving their tuneless, funk metal sounding limp. A recovery of . sorts is underway on the Superchunk-ish ‘Microdot’, but they blow it by staging a lolly ;. scramble — too cheesy. Like A Glove bound on stage, all five of them kitted out as Ace Frehley with antennas. The kids in the pit begin to bubble. Armed with two vocalists, choreographed . dance moves, drum solos, and bags of confidence, LAG launch into a wild three-song set of hard funk/metal, that graciously doesn’t resemble the Chili Peppers. “Like A Glove are leaving the building,” informs the recorded announcement. They had style. Next on were the band who should have won, Anarchy For . Sale. The guitarist strutted to the middle of the stage, and made sure every kid could see he was giving them the finger. Anarchy had attitude, they were both obnoxious and hilarious, and their rough-as-guts one minute punk songs mixed the Dead Kennedys with the UK Subs masterfully. Mr Guitar steps to the mic; “This song is nicknamed ‘L G. but we like to call it Lesbian Girls! The chorus? ‘Lesbian girls, 1 wanna watch you fuck. Mr Guitar steps to the mic again; “Party at Phil’s place if we win, if we lose, party at Phil’s place.” They shoulda won. Otago trio Deep Kick slapped out a sleazy funk/rock hybrid, with lots of slavish posturing, but - “ nothing in the way of an actual melodies or songs. They were super tight, and their power-chord . ballad prompted one lost soul to raise a lighter, but the grunge wank just droned on and it rapidly became tiresome. Babinski are four Epsom girls in Hawaiian shirts, who are without a doubt, the crowd favourite. At the beginning of each of their tunes, Babinski threatened to rock out, but then retreated to a tame, wah-wahed out, pop drone. “Are we going to get some moshing out there?,” queried the singer. ‘No’ was the simple answer. ‘P.U.C.’ bounced in a tame No Doubt kinda way, then ‘Slap a Spice Girl’ preceded Babinski’s departure. ' ■ The Phat Catz’s first song was 100% identical to the sound of early Supergroove — nothing more, nothing less. Not only that, but the leader singer was a Karl Steven lookalike, soundalike, and dancealike. Thankfully PC shifted direction, and showed they were equally at ease playing a snappy blend of ska, funk, jazz, and reggae. Blessed with the best sound mix of the final, and a breathtakingly talented drummer, Phat Catz were easily this evening’s most professional sounding band. The Androids from Canterbury were all set to burst dramatically out of giant cardboard boxes, and then they had a Spinal Tap moment. The boxes slowly fell open, and the singer stepped out to a microphone that wasn’t working. To add to their discomfort, the kids ignored the Androids’ angsty Hootie/Candlebox pop, and talked loudly amongst themselves. “This is our very last song, we’ll never be in Auckland again,” announced the singer. Clad in suits and ties, Well! trio Atlas Woods opened with ‘Surf

Guitar Classic’, and revealed sev--eral painful truths; ‘I don’t drink, I don't smoke, and I haven’t had sex.’ Plenty of Nirvanaisms were on display, particularly on ‘54 Seconds’, before AW hit a nice groove to finish on ‘lt’s Up To You’. Cambridge band Trinket lived up to their name with a jangly set of fuzzy pop. A tribute to Different Stroke’s star Gary Coleman, entitled ‘Talkin’ ’bout Willis’, raised the big-dumb- rock quotient nicely, and Gordon Gano would’ve been proud to have penned the Femmes-like closer, ‘After School Jive'. . The last band on was the too-earnest-by-far, Neobreed, who brought dumped a personalityminus, grunge metal riff-fest on us. We got to hear ‘Jane’,"... the meaningful song of our band... it’s about this girl, you know.” Prior to a song that suggested Neobreed were ripping off Silverchair ripping off Nirvana, we were encouraged to not be so indifferent; “You guys should get into this a bit more.” Okay... after a marathon. night, it was ‘big announcement’ time. The top prize went to Atlas - Wood. Runner up was Deep Kick. And in third place, Phat Catz. Anarchy For Sale went to Phil’s . place with the ‘Stage Image Award’. I left the St. James, baffled. What unwritten rule did judges Shona Laing and Malcolm Black accept that I didn’t? That mediocrity must triumph in the end? JOHN RUSSELL BIC RUNGA, THE STEREO BUS, THE LUCKSMITHS Powerstation, Auckland, September 20. Bic Runga has shifted 30,000 copies of her album Drive in Godzone, and she has not done that without winning over the salt of the earth, middle New Zealanders. Tonight they’re - whooping it up at the Powerstation in their hundreds, and I feel like I’m at the Loaded Hog or the Fat Ladies Arms, or any one of those meat-market booze barns where chambray , denim and boat shoes are mandatory for us blokes. The icing on the cake comes when a guy in a Collective Soul t-shirt calls me a ‘faggot’ for ordering water at the bar. Ya gotta love’em. , The Melbourne trio, the Lucksmiths had been touring NZ throughout September, and on the eve of their return to Oz, they smiled nicely at the right person, and scored this gig. The Lucksmiths, standing in a row front of stage, operate at a leisurely pace, and deliver their off beat Violent Femmes-style pop with a winning sense of humour. Singer and snare drum king, Talisyn White urges the crowd to buy a copy of the band’s new album, What Bird Is That? It only costs 10dollars... “butthere might be a rocktax on it though,” he warns in a radio jock voice while waving the devil’s salute, “150 bucks!” In a past life, Dave Yetton fronted Flying Nun outfit, the JPS Experience, these days he’s at the helm of the Stereo Bus. And tonight, on their debut Auckland performance, make no mistake, the Stereo Bus sounded like God. From the outset it was obvious this wasn’t just Yetton and a bunch of roped-in lackeys, they felt like a real band who shared some sort of unspoken understanding. With three guitars out front, the sleepy, spacious tunes from their self titled album were injected with an all encompassing wash of energy. ‘Lie in the Arms’ was phenomenal. What sounded like a sweep of sustained keyboard melody was actually soaring unbroken guitar chords, and

combined with a trance inducing, rumbling drum pattern, - it filled — me up from the inside out. The Stereo Bus went to extremes, laying down delicacies like ‘Be a Girl’ and ‘God’s Fingers’, then unleashing raucous versions of ‘Don’t Open Your Eyes’ and ‘Shallow’. I stood there, mesmerised, willing them not to stop, as it was such an affecting, exhilarating, exciting ride, that it was instantly addictive. Pure magic. The last time I saw Bic Runga live, she was standing alone on the main stage at Big Day Out singing ‘Drive’, and she had the whole stadium spellbound in the palm of her hand. The power of her voice and acoustic guitar were ’ all that was needed to get the message across. Nothing has changed. Tonight, when the all frills have gone, Runga is genuine and compelling, but when the band joins in. the whole vibe changes, and the performance becomes ‘by numbers.’ Runga’s band are expert musicians who play by the book, and there’s no .. evidence of them investing any emotion or enthusiasm into the music being performed. Overall, . they just don’t look like they’re having any fun, and this is reflected in the staidness of the music. Drive’s classiest tracks, ‘Sway’, ‘Delight’, and ‘Suddenly Strange’ receive the polished AOR treatment, and only ‘Bursting Through’ boasts a sense of spontaneity. At the encore, Runga steps out on her own, to sing and play ‘Drive’, and it was once again bleedingly obvious to me that this is when she’s at her most extraor- . dinary. JOHN RUSSELL SUICIDAL TENDENCIES Powerstatlon, Auckland, September 25. It seemed that many of the testosterone-overdosed audience hadn’t crawled out of their respective holes since the last time Suicidal Tendencies were in town, ~back in' 1995, and their impa- . tience for the appearance of ST hung as heavily in the stifling air of a sold out Powerstation as the smell of sweat, smoke, and booze. This is not the sort of atmosphere where it’s advisable for a support band to suck. Opening band Kitsch have toughened up considerably, trading in a fairly limp SoCal style for a heavier approach (with potential to be better still). Fighting for the attention of the bar-swarming crowd, they didn’t fare too badly. Muckhole, who have rarely disappointed of late, put in an adrenalized performance, aware of the different-than-usual audience, playing the most immediate songs from Kooza, and showcas-. ing a couple of rather fine new ones. Demonstrating how they’ve beedme one of NZ’s coolest live acts, Muckhole would have picked up a few converts tonight. In recent interviews, Mike Muir has been wildly excited about the latest incarnation of Suicidal, and as this show proved, justifiably so. With a rhythm section whose hair-raising ability and. obvious passion form a stronger backbone than the band have had in years, a new lease of life is breathed into the material, an x d Suicidal appear just as amped as the audience. Racing through a set of rock/funk/punk career highlights, that included a new ‘disco’ intro to ‘I Saw Your Mommy’, a scorching ‘Possessed to Skate’, and Infectious Grooves’ ‘Therapy’, by the time they hit ‘Pledge Your Allegiance’, the Powerstation was ready to do just that. Muir and co. again invested the adjective ‘suicidal’ with positive connotations, and it was awesome. TROY FERGUSON

REEF Powerstation Oct 7