Review and photos by Craig Eriksson. Corner Hotel – 24 August 2024
Western Australian Garage Rock legends The Stems made a triumphant return tonight and played a captivating and memorable 40th Anniversary Tour show at the iconic Corner Hotel in Richmond to a sold out full house.
Upon arrival at the Corner, we entered the bandroom, grabbed a drink and made our way through the rowdy crowd to position ourselves in a good spot up near the front barrier waiting for The Stems to come out on stage. As I glanced around the room, I noticed a lot of familiar faces and paisley shirts. The vibe in the bandroom was electric and buzzing with excitement as fans waited in anticipation to see The Stems. I could hear fans chatting amongst their small groups about past times they’d seen The Stems and really talked up how amazing they are live.
The Stems formed back in 1983 in Perth, Western Australia by founding members Dom Mariani and the late Richard Lane (R.I.P.). The Stems have had a rollercoaster rock’n’roll journey over their 40-years as a band. They had great success between 1983-1987 which took them to the heights of independent fame and National and International acclaim performing with the likes of the The Saints and The Triffids. Sadly the intensity of touring, personality conflicts and industry expectations saw The Stems implode and break up in August 1987. They performed a reunion show 10 years later in Perth in 1997 and then had a 6-year hiatus. They reformed again in 2003 and toured Australia & Europe (2004) and the USA (2005). They released their album Heads Up in 2007 and did some tours with Radio Birdman and Hoodoo Gurus. They disbanded once again in October 2009. In 2013 they reformed with a new line-up that included Ash Naylor (Even/Paul Kelly) and Davey Lane (You Am I) to perform an Australian Tour and they supported The Sunnyboys. In 2017, to celebrate their 30th Anniversary of their classic debut album At First Sight Violets Are Blue they successfully toured throughout 2018. The Stems have been playing shows sporadically ever since.
To gain a further history and background of The Stems, Australian Musician recently posted this article –
https://australianmusician.com.au/news/wa-garage-rock-legends-the-stems-announce-40th-anniversary-tour/
First up, a special mention goes out to tonights support act – The Prize who kick started the evening. They were impressive, have a fresh sound and are one of the hottest new additions to hit the Naarm/Melbourne underground scene.
Dom Mariani announced they last played 5 years ago at the Corner and were excited to be back.
The current line up for tonights show consisted of –
• Dom Mariani (Lead vocals/guitar)
• Julian Matthews (Bass guitar/backing vocals)
• Dave ‘Huck’ Shaw (drums)
• Ash Naylor (Guitar / Lead & Backing Vocals)
The Stems played a stellar and electrifying show of their greatest hits along with a few covers over a 2 hour period which included two encores and 22 songs. This eclectic and nostalgic collection of songs highlighted their diversity and versatility of rock’n’roll music consisting of psychedelic, fuzz, funk, power pop, garage rock that has a heavily influenced 60s & 70s sound and guitar driven rock. A very distinctive and unique brand of music that remains iconic, hip, and timeless.
Their repertoire encompassed songs from their studio and live albums and was tight, fast, clean and created a feel-good vibe.
They performed 6 songs from their 2007 Heads Up album –
• Leave You Way Behind – which they opened the show with. This song has great energy, guitar riffs and had the crowd singing and bopping along right from the get-go.
• Surround Me – which saw Ash Naylor play his 12-string guitar;
• Get To Know Me – quite a funky song with great drum beat.
• She Sees Everything
• Undying Love – reminded me of Van Morrisons ‘Gloria)
• Get So Bad – a very Beatlesque type song.
They played 6 songs from their debut 1987 At First Sight, Violets Are Blue album.
• For Always
• Move Me
• Mr Misery
• Sad Girl
• Never Be Friends
• Man with The Golden Heart
For those that are not so familiar with The Stems, this is an incredible album and in the early nineties, Rolling Stone included it in the Australian Top 100 releases of all time. Every song on this album is a cracker!
They also played 3 songs from their 8-track mini LP, The Great Rosebud Hoax released in 1987.
• Just Ain’t Enough – Julian’s strong bass playing along with Ash and Dom on guitar made up for the absence of keyboards on this song.
• Tears Me In Two – Ash Taylor sang lead vocals on this wonderful fuzz rock song. I remember this being a big hit for The Stems back in the late 80s;
• Make You Mine – blended with AC/DC’s version of Baby Please Don’t Go.
Additionally they performed their new single Falling From The Sky released in 2024 and sang a few wonderful covers –The Monkees – I’m not your Stepping Stone; MC5 – Shakin Street sang by Ash Naylor; and The Beatles – Day Tripper
Dom Mariani completely ‘wowed’ us tonight with his wonderful voice and guitar playing. It was blatantly obvious that Dom and the band are all passionate rock’n’roll fans and have been heavily influenced by the likes of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, The Animals, MC5, The Monkees. It was very noticeable how much the band loved and enjoyed playing this style of music.
I have seen Ash Naylor perform countless times over the years in several bands and collaborations and he is an exceptional guitarist and live musician. The Stems style of music is custom-made for him. Ash is well known for being singer/songwriter/guitarist in the Melbourne-based band Even and he more recently joined The Church. Ash played in the Rockwiz house band; Paul Kelly’s band, Vika & Linda Bull’s band; Countdown Spectacular; Tex Perkins ‘Man In Black’ show. There is nothing this man can’t do with his musicianship talent, love and passion for music.
Ash Naylor was Australian Musician’s – Musician of The Month in October 2023 –
https://australianmusician.com.au/features/ashley-naylor-musician-of-the-month-october-2023/
You could also see that Julian Matthews and Dave ‘Huck’ Shaw are great mates and were playful on stage with Dave throwing his empty water bottles at Julian during song breaks. Julian would then throw his towel or empty water bottle back at Dave and burst into laughter.
We caught up with the band after the gig and they are the nicest, most humble bunch of guys and they hung around to allow their fans to get their merch signed, grab a selfie and have a chat with them. RESPECT!
I strongly encourage any lover of music to get along and experience one of The Stems live shows –
THE STEMS 40th ANNIVERSARY AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL TOUR REMAINING DATES
FRIDAY AUGUST 30
MANSFIELD TAVERN | Brisbane
with UPS AND DOWNS
SATURDAY AUGUST 31
MANNING BAR | Sydney
with THE NEW CHRISTS & DJ COTTERELL
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 6
FREO. SOCIAL | Perth
with RINEHEARTS & VANCOOL
Tickets are available direct from venues or Leicashow.com.au