SPIDERBAIT – THE FORUM – (MELBOURNE) – Friday 20 September 2024
Review: Craig Eriksson. Photos: David Harris
Tonight we experienced Spiderbait celebrating their Black Betty 20th Anniversary Tour at the majestic Forum Theatre in Melbourne.
Back in 2004, I can still vividly recall the first time I heard Spiderbait’s cover of the 1930’s Lead Belly song Black Betty. Its pure raw energy made everyone stand up, take notice, foot tap and sing along. It was on heavy rotation on Triple J & Triple M and reached #1 on the ARIA Singles chart. Spiderbait gave this old song their own unique lease of life creating an identifiable sound which has become an iconic Aussie anthem that everyone knows and loves, even my mum! At the time, I went out and bought the Tonight Alright album and also had Black Betty as my ringtone on my phone, that’s how much I loved the song.
Spiderbait are an Australian grunge / punk / alternative rock band from Finley, NSW. They first formed back in 1989 by bass guitarist and singer, Janet English, drummer and singer, Mark Maher (Kram) and guitarist Damian ‘Whit’ Whitty. They initially called themselves Spiderbaby and then in 1990 they moved down to Melbourne, changed their name to Spiderbait and started playing gigs around Melbourne at small grungey live music venues like The Tote.
My first introduction to Spiderbait was back in 1993. The guy that sat next to me at work (Patto) was a die-hard, obsessed Nirvana fan and played them to death, eventually converting me into a fan. Patto also discovered this local grunge/punk band called Spiderbait and he would play me some of their music saying we gotta head out and see this band live, they’re fucken awesome (ironically Spiderbait ended up with a song of the same name on their 2004 album). Listening to songs like Run, B&T, Old Man Sam and Too Much made me realise this was one hell of a quirky band that did not fit into any one genre as one minute they’re almost chilled reggae, next minute they’re fast and furious manic-like punk, then hard rock and grunge. A very dynamic, totally wild, energetic, unpredictable band with strong guitar riffs and almost tribal-like drumming. They started getting a lot of airplay on Triple J and people started to get on board. By 1995, they released their second album and had hit singles ‘Monty’ and ‘Jesus’. In 1996, they released their 3rd album Ivy and the Big Apples which had Calyspso and the single ‘Buy Me A Pony’ which was voted #1 song on Triple J’s Hottest 100. If you listen to this song you can easily identify that this song surely must have had an influence on them when they covered Black Betty. Kram singing and pounding the skins with huge guitar riffs and anthem backing vocals. Spiderbait have chalked up 7 studio albums, two EPs, three Compilations and had 24 Singles and winning multiple ARIA awards over their stellar career.
I once met Kram out in the carpark at The Middle Hotel in Ferntree Gully. Kram was performing a solo show that night and had pulled up in his van with his gear and was drinking a longneck beer. I went over and said “gidday” and joined him for a beer and a chat and a good belly laugh. He is such an interesting, down-to-earth guy and lover of all things music.
Last night, we got there early to get up on the front barrier to see Electric Stardust, The Vovos and Private Function who were the wonderful supports. Spiderbait opened with an acoustic version of Black Betty with Janet on the skins and Kram upfront on acoustic guitar singing. It was a gentle, toned down rendition of this iconic song and created a beautiful ambience in the theatre. Kram then got behind the skins and started drumming like a madman reminding me of Animal from The Muppets. Absolutely thumping the skins at a million miles an hour and singing Straight Through The Sun from the 2013 album Spiderbait. The crowd erupted and started body slamming, crowd surfing and headbanging two songs in. The atmosphere was electric and fans were beaming from ear to ear.
This was a straight-shooting, pure rock n roll show with no cinematic stage backdrops and basic but effective stage lighting. Fans got to enjoy the incredible musicianship of Kram, Janet & Whit. Kram is the spokesman for the band and spoke to the crowd only a few times throughout the show. Clearly their focus was to pack in a bunch of songs keeping up the high energy momentum of the show and have minimal talking other than talk a little bit about their hometown where it all started, how the three of them met and their journey over the past 30 plus years. You got a real sense of how genuine and humble the three of them are and thanking fans from the bottom of their hearts for all their support over the years.
Spiderbait played for a solid two hours with 25 songs exceeding fans expectation and delivering a broad and diverse Greatest Hits show. Having two singers offers a great mix of pop, punk and hard rock.
Janet has the soft vocals and sings many of the pop-like songs such as Calypso, Sunshine On My Window, Cows, Outta My Head and Glockenpop. Except Janet will then come out with some more punk-like songs like Shazam!, In This City, Fucken Awesome, Hot Water and Milk, Footy, Jesus, Chest Hair and even sang a cover of Motorheads Ace of Spades in their encore. Whereas Kram indulges in the heavier, meatier, hard rock songs and delivers some absolute bangers. Songs like Black Betty, Buy Me A Pony, Straight Through The Sun, Old Man Sam, Monty, Sam Gribbles & Fucken Ace. But Kram can also deliver the gentle material too, like his acoustic version of Black Betty. Kram invited his 14-year old daughter on stage with her cello to play By The Time I Get To Howlong while Kram played acoustic guitar. A very special and beautiful moment of the show.
Janet and Kram shared vocals on the jungle-like funky song Run, one of my favourite songs for the evening. Another standout song was Glockenpop with Kram sitting behind the drums playing glockenspiel, acoustic guitar and drums while Janet sang.
Whit is a great guitarist getting some really cool sounds from his guitar highlighted in the song Scenester which consists of fuzz, distortion and progressive rock. Throughout the show Whit’s guitar work was solid and creative with the diverse range of sounds and effects he was able to produce including running his strings up and down the microphone stand. For just a three piece band, Spiderbait sure do make an inordinate amount of noise.
There were many fan favourites throughout the evening with noticeable standouts being Buy Me A Pony, Black Betty, Fucken Awesome, Calypso and crowd sing-a-long to Sunshine on my Window. Kram’s an absolute machine on the skins and his drumming is fast and furious and you can literally feel it pound your chest for those of us up in the moshpit. The wilder Kram drums, the wilder the crowd gets.
Overall, it was an incredible evening hearing all of Spiderbait’s wonderful catalogue of music over their stellar 30-plus year career. The entire show was filmed last night so we may get to re-live the show later on. A truly remarkable, energetic, solid, rock ‘n’ roll show and milestone for the band.
TONIGHTS SET LIST (In No Particular Order highlighting great mix of their albums):
Shashavaglava (1993) –
– Run
– Old Man Sam
– Scenestar
– Footy
– Fucken Ace
The Unfinished Spanish Galleon of Finley Lake (1995) –
– Sam Gribbles
– Monty
– Jesus
Ivy & the Big Apples (1996) –
– Chest Hair
– Hot Water and Milk
– Buy Me A Pony
– Calypso
Grand Slam (1999) –
– Glockenpop
– Shazam!
– By The Time I Get To Howlong
The Flight of Wally Funk (2001) –
– Outta My Head
Tonight Alright (2004) –
– Black Betty (acoustic intro & full version to end the show)
– Fucken Awesome
– Cows
– Tonite
– In This City
Spiderbait: Greatest Hits (2005)
– Circle K
Spiderbait (2013) –
– Straight Through The Sun
Motorhead cover – Ace of Spades
