Review: Greg Phillips. Photos: Jason Rosewarne.
The Brunswick Ballroom (along with Memo Music Hall) has genuinely been one of my favourite Melbourne music venues for sometime as it usually attracts a discerning “listening” music fan, the sound is always pristine and if you’re in early and secure a seat it’s a comfortable concert experience too. I guess Im sounding old … give me a sticky date pudding and a red over a sticky carpet and beer these days!
There was a strange sense of sorrow in the air tonight. This would be the first time we’ve seen Jim Moginie perform in Melbourne since the passing of his friend and the people’s drum hero Rob Hirst. Added to the dismay, merely hours earlier the iconic Bluesfest festival had been cancelled, an event which had planned to honour Hirst through his Backsliders band mates and others this Easter. I’d guarantee there would be many Bluesfest attendees in the house tonight, who’d be wondering if they’ll ever get their ticket money back as the festival has been placed into liquidation.
Tonight’s music fare included support act The Faraway Three, consisting of Jack Howard on vocals and horn (Hunters & Collectors, Long Lost Brothers), electric guitarist/vocalist Nicky Del Ray and acoustic guitarist/vocalist Alyce Platt. The ‘three’ played a collection of each others heartfelt songs, showcasing their three part harmonies and delightful feel for space. It provided a time to sit, relax and contemplate life, knowing what raucous, rock n’ roll energy which was to come.
As you’d expect from a band led by Jim Moginie, they casually descend the famous Brunswick Ballroom stairs to the stage, plug in and with no fuss, kick straight into ‘Sunnyboy’, the opening rocker to the Family Dog’s new album Thunk, which they’re celebrating tonight. Featuring Kent Steedman and Paul Larsen Loughhead from Celibate Rifles and Tim Kevin of The Apartments, La Huva, there’s more than a touch of Oz-rock royalty about this band.
Beginning with a subtle organ vibe, ‘I Got Things To Say’ plays on a groove and allows Moginie to solo over the top with his laboratory of tones coming via has pedal board, which he’s constantly scrutinising.
The track ‘5G’ allows Steedman to come to the microphone to sing the politically charged song about the controversial fifth-generation technology standard for cellular networks. He and many in the room are clearly dubious of the science.
‘Forseeable Ruin’ sees the band work into a jam, watching each other and building something dynamic. Steedman gets deep inside the flow with his savage approach to the rhythm, while Kevin lays down a solid foundation, accompanied by Loughhead’s thoughtful work on the drums and cymbals.
On ‘Satan and The Chosen People’, the band echoes artists like Neil Young or Rage Against The Machine at their most dangerous, releasing some ferocious licks from the stage in a passage of chaotic but controlled electric vitality.
Jim’s gorgeous road word Gibson SG and amp are cranked up for ‘Destination Afghanistan’, not on the album but relevant in these warmongering days. This a classic garage rock band in its purest form, feeding off each other, allowing the energy to go where it wants rather than directing it artificially.
Kent cheekily mentions “knock ons”, a rugby term which is met with confusion with many of the AFL-centric Melburnians in the audience. “Blind Devotion” sees the band construct a barrage of noise with Moginie reaching deep into his bag of sonic tricks.
A heavy cover of Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4” is a pleasant surprise which the crowd appreciates immensely. The band then launches into a superb, mesmerising instrumental highlighting some wonderful eastern music vibes. The Dog then return to the Thunk album playing “The First Amendment”, with Jim suggesting we call out fascism in any form that we see it.
Jim tells us that they aren’t a cover band but will play another as they lay the mighty Midnight Oil’s Redneck Wonderland upon us. It’s wild, it’s eerie and overall magnificent. Next up “All Around the World” from Moginie’s 2014 ‘Alas Folkloric’ album, a track which could have easily slotted onto an Oils album.
Hunters & Collectors horn player Jack Howard, who has played with The Oils on many occasions returns to the stage as Moginie begins to tell us that ‘This song will be hard to deliver”. Described as a song written by “a brave man”, they launch into the Rob Hirst penned Midnight Oil classic Dead Heart’, doing him justice with a spine-tingling version of his tune, aided by Howard’s haunting horn lines.
The Dog left the stage to rousing applause, only to descend the stairs moments later to offer ‘One Day’ the final thrasher from the Thunk album. Ending an inspiring evening of music, they give us the superb ‘Electravision’, an earnest but trippy and beautifully melodic instrumental.
Rob Hirst and Midnight Oil might be gone but as long as Jim Moginie is around creating and performing music, the memories and the spirit is being kept alive by one of Australia’s most innovative and compassionate musicians and his new band of exceptional, music making brothers.
